I uploaded quite a few photos to Flickr today, most of which I had hoped to write about. But I think you’ll have to settle for a summary instead.
Alouette Lake (Part 1)
At the end of May we spent a three day weekend with friends canoe camping on Alouette Lake. It’s a large-ish lake nestled in the mountains at the edge of Golden Ears Provincial Park. The weather was great on our paddle up to the narrows, soft evening light reflecting off the glassy water and rich colours all around. We were treated to great food by Agnes the whole weekend, including turkey dinner with all the fixin’s.
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For those following along at home, the reason that I haven’t written in so long is that I simply haven’t had the time. I’ve been home barely 5 days in over a month! This week finds me in Kokomo, Indiana, a nice enough town about an hour’s drive north of Indianapolis. Sadly not the Kokomo of the Beach Boys’ song…
With the weekend to kill, I spent a few hours today walking around downtown Indianapolis and then took to the trails in Eagle Creek
State Park. It was pretty hot today, but overcast and threatening to rain all afternoon. At least it was cooler than earlier this week.
Indianapolis is smaller than I expected, but pleasant and sprinkled liberally with historical buildings. Most of my time in the city was spent wandering past the various war monuments near the city centre. I also drove past the Indy track but there wasn’t much to see, save some massive bleachers.
Eagle Creek was a nice getaway, just what I needed to recharge my batteries. All of my fellow park-goers were either picnicking (what’s the proper spelling there, Yogi?) or fishing. I couldn’t help thinking that only the amateur fishers come here, all vying for the same undersized fish, if any exist here at all. At least they were outside and seemed to be having fun. The trails were wide and gently rolling, only challenging due to the heat.
See more pictures on Flickr.
It’s hard to believe that after two and a half years in BC that I’ve never made it over to Vancouver Island. But yesterday I met with a client in Port Alberni and took the opportunity to take in some of the great scenery on offer. I would have liked to visit Tofino, but that will have to wait for a future trip.
Cathedral Grove
MacMillan provincial parkstraddles the #4 near Cameron Lake on the way to Port Alberni. It’s a fantastic spot with some short trails that wind past towering Douglas fir and red cedars. I was practically alone for most of my stay, which is just the way I like it. (although a person or two would have been nice, if only as a reference for scale)
This is a really accessible park, perfect for bringing the whole family. The trails are short and smooth enough to accomodate a wheelchair. While my preference is for more rugged, isolated parks, I think we need more places like Cathedral Grove. People need some exposure to wild, natural places so that they have a greater appreciation of the natural beauty of this planet and the impact that our way of life has on it.
Qualicum Beach
At the eastern end of the #4 is the town of Qualicum Beach, with a view across the Straight of Georgia. The grey clouds that had dogged me since I broke out my camera in Port Alberni finally began to break up a bit. A scene this expansive is hard to capture, so you’ll have to imagine what it was really like.
Rathtrevor Beach
Another provincial park south of Parksville, Rathtrevor is your basic campground-on-a-waterfront. With the tide low, the exposed beach stretched far into the straight, and there was even more driftwood washed up here. Still in my steel-toed shoes, I chose to stay out of the sand and just enjoy the fading sunlight from further back up the shore.
Hot on the heels of my transition from CDs to MP3s, we have finally invested in a digital camera. Strangely enough, we have spent the beginning of this millenium using a device known as an “SLR camera” which uses a curious material called “film”.
Now, our SLR camera is a very nice thing indeed and will continue to be put to good use when high-quality prints are required. But a digital camera gives us a smaller, more portable option that theoretically allows us to take as many shots as we’d like for free. Theoretically.
The camera in question is a Fujifilm E500: nothing fancy, just a compact 4.1 Mpixel unit that was very reasonably priced. What sold me was the “28-90mm” lens (in 35mm terms) and the ability to put the camera in full manual mode, both unusual at the E500’s price point. I could have gotten more zoom, but I find that wide-angle comes in handy more often — after all, you can only back up so much. This is by no means a fantastic digital camera — we hope to one day replace our current SLR body with a compatible digital one — but it’ll get the job done.
Thanks to the generosity of Will Luke, I now have an account at Flickr where I’ve posted some of my fledgling attempts at digital photography. I’ll spare you all the out-of-focus test shots of our cat, I promise.
Photo taken by Morgan Petroski 
, posted on Flickr.
Great triathlon shot I spotted on Technorati’s triathlon tag page. The photographer did an excellent job with this one.
