Travel Theme: Turquoise

I am very late to respond to last weekend’s theme that Ailsa posted but it is quite a meaningful theme to me. This is more of a story of my life post rather than just cool pictures. For great pictures, check Ailsa’s post here: https://wheresmybackpack.com/2017/02/19/travel-theme-turquoise/

My sea kayak is turquoise and my most memorable travels were spent in that craft exploring BC’s beautiful West Coast. Our very first touring trip we rented a turquoise double after flying up the coast in an 8-seater plane to Bella Bella. We knew nothing about kayaking back then in 1998 but we went on a week long trip on our own in one of the most remote areas along that coast. It was awesome and we lived to tell the tale. It’s still on my list to go back up there one day. Ever since I came to Canada, kayaking has been a big part of mine and Jeff’s life. Be it touring, racing, or just getting out there to get some fresh air. I love it!

First touring trip Bella Bella – turquoise Necky Tofino Double

1999 – the first paddle in my Necky Looksha 4. I still own it.

Brooks Peninsula

Brooks Pensinsula

Brooks Peninsula

There are some more fond turquoise travel memories mind you – all of them involve water though.

North America:

Blue Lake, BC

Kluane National Park, Yukon

Kona, Hawaii

Denali National Park, Alaska

Australia – it was tough to only pick a few:

Fraser Island, QLD

Birrabeen Lake, QLD

Cape Tribulation, QLD

Morty and I, Great Barrier Reef, QLD

Great Barrier Reef, QLD

Travel Theme: Shimmer

It has been some time since I contributed to this theme. Not for lack of awesome themes but lack of time to decide which picture(s) to use. This morning though, I took a picture of Chatter this morning in the snow which I thought just fits this weeks theme “Shimmer” perfectly. The picture has not been taken while traveling but I was sure the little hummer was thinking “Why did I not travel south with the others?” Dreaming about traveling is almost as good as traveling 🙂

Check out Aisla’s awesome collection here: https://wheresmybackpack.com/2016/12/17/travel-theme-shimmer/

Travel Theme: Stillness

Even though I have been following Ailsa’s travel themes religiously every week I have not participated in a long time. Many times I started sorting through my pictures and found a few fitting ones but by the time I was done with sorting the week was over and a new theme came out. But this week I am going to make it. To break up all the fishing posts. And because I love piece and quiet around me. And I do not have to go far to find it luckily. Here are my contributions to STILLNESS. Check out Ailsa’s here.

One of my favourite Okanagan Lake pictures. The lake is huge – 100km in length. So to find it completely flat is rare. Nov 2012.

People always say we don’t have beaches in BC. But that’s only because they don’t want to work getting there. Takes a few hours to make it to the below spot on Brooks Peninsula. Hence we usually have it all to ourselves. Not always though is the open ocean that calm.

Winter is a great time for quiet. This shot was taken on our very first ski trip in the winter of 2011 when after a grey day the last rays of the setting sun just started to poke through the cloud cover and created a splash of gold in the otherwise white to back winter scenery.

Eagles can make same pretty loud screeching sounds. But more often than not they sit in the tree and just watch. Nothing moves except for a blink of an eye every so often.

Still shot of a pretty fast motion. This Anna’s hummingbird is just stretching which enabled me to take this picture almost in focus even with my super zoom point and shoot.

 

Travel Theme: Autumn

My favourite time of the year to take pictures in my favourite place to be – BC. Check out Ailsa’s collection: http://wheresmybackpack.com/2014/10/31/travel-theme-autumn/

Travel Theme: Purple

I haven’t had any entries for a while – no time to search for appropriate pictures in the summer. But I took this shot today on a rainy day in the mountains and played with it a bit. Thought that would be a fitting entry. Check out Ailsa’s great pictures: http://wheresmybackpack.com/2014/07/18/travel-theme-purple/

Fireweed

Travel Theme: Misty

What a great theme this week! Check out Ailsa’s blog. I remember lots of misty days in my life. Our West Coast is most beautiful when it is foggy and misty. But usually those days do not lend themselves to picture taking as much as the sunny days. Most misty picture only work if you know the story behind them. Anyhow, I found a few that may just work.

Visibility less than 10m – West Coast of Vancouver Island BC

Foggy morning in Naka Creek – Vancouver Island

Moving in and out of the clouds on the Peak to Peak Gondola, Whistler BC

Hiking the meadows in the Monashee Mountains, Near Revelstoke BC

A cold fall morning at Peterhope Lake, Interior BC

And sometimes you just have to get above the clouds – Alaska

The rainy side of the Big Island of Hawaii

Eucalyptus trees shrouded in mist – you can only hear the birds. Blue Mountain NP, New South Wales, Australia

Misty Jungle – Tropical North, Queensland, Australia

Best time for hunting – Vogelsberg, Germany

Travel Theme: Statues

I missed last weeks travel theme again – not for lack of pictures just lack of time to post them. I was surprised how many statues I found in my pictures – not my usual motives. Not quite as good of a collections as Ailsa’s – check here – but worth a blog post nonetheless.

Inukshuk – One of their purposes was to communicate direction in the harsh and desolate Arctic. As such they were a tool for survival, and symbolic of the the unselfish acts of a nomadic people – the Inuit – who built them as signposts to make the way easier and safer for those who followed. This one guided us of the mountain in Whistler BC

In winter the beach in Pentiction BC is not quite as inviting as in the summer – those statues don’t care

This humongous spider is not a movie star – it is supposed to attract visitors to a modern art museum in Ottawa, ON

Parliament Building in Ottawa, ON

MGM Grand – Las Vegas.

These dancer are enjoying Bondi Beach like the rest of us, New South Wales, Australia

One would expect to find this one in Canada – but we found a whole bunch of them in a gorge in Karijini NP Western Australia

Anthony Gormely planted 51 of these sculptures across Lake Ballard in Western Australia – they were modeled after the citizen of Menzies, a nearby gold mining town

A house full of statues – Barcelona, Spain

La Sagrada Familia – Barcelona

Travel Theme: Pink

I was humming and hawing for a long time if I should participate in this weeks theme. As a color, I am not a “pink” fan. I would never wear pink clothes. But than I remembered this one wonderful evening sunset shot I took last year in the Cuttle Islands on our kayak trip and thought maybe I post just that. And then I started looking through my pictures and discovered a lot of nice natural pinks. Maybe you could argue that some of them are a bit more purple. Now I had too many to choose from…. here is what I narrowed it down to. Check out Ailsa’s awesome collection as well.

The only man-made pink I like – Pink Salmon Fly

One of the few pink animals – Galahs in Yanchep NP, Western Australia

Most of the grasslands in the Thompson/Okanagan region of BC are used for cattle. Some people say it destroys some of the natural diversity of the area. I found this flower in the grasslands around Tunkwa Lake, BC. A place where they try to rehabilitate the original grasslands – no cattle allowed. I have unsuccessfully tried to find out what it is. I have never seen it anywhere else again. Somehow that made it special to me.

My happy place – sunset in Checleset Bay, Vancouver Island BC.

 

 

 

Travel Themes: Gardens

Nature is my garden. I usually get more excited finding some flowers in a meadows after a long climb up the mountain than arranged flower beds. I do like Botanical Gardens though but there hardly ever seems time during our travel to visit one. For some great garden pictures visit Ailsa’s blog: http://wheresmybackpack.com/2014/03/14/travel-theme-gardens-2

One of the few exception was found in Australia – this botanical garden just happened to be in a big national park we did some camping and hiking in. Green Mountain, Lamington National Park, Queensland.

Elkhorn fern – one of the many ferns which can grow HUGE

Can’t remember the name of the only flowers

Fern tree

And in Germany you can find a lot of “Tiergaerten” = animal gardens or parks. They are not like zoos where animals are kept in cages but are mostly open fenced in areas that display the local wild life. Only disadvantage, you don’t always get to see the animals.

Winter in Tierpark Waldsolms

Elk

But most of my garden experiences are in Jeff’s parents garden – relaxing, BBQ, good company. That’s what gardens are for in my mind. Here a couple pictures from Maynetta’s garden.

Vancouver does have a lot of parks and gardens as well but again, if the weather is good I rather spend my time on the water or in the mountains. One day though we went as a group for a photo shoot at the Nitobe Memorial Garden at UBC – not the best of days for picture taking, a cool day in April, but a fun time nonetheless.

Travel theme: Tempting

It was tempting to skip this one … not really :-). Ailsa has a great collecting as usual but I like the dog and snowman best. Check it out: http://wheresmybackpack.com/2014/03/07/travel-theme-tempting/.

Ever come across a big flock of seagulls sitting on the beach – so tempting to run them off

Loki can’t resist the temptation of the smell of food.

It’s not only tempting but irresistible for kids to disturb the big puddles in the parking lot before getting into the car

“Hug me!” – a temptation I could barely resist at Hallo Bay Alaska.

It is always tempting to try to find the narrowest passages through the rocks on a calm day – but sometimes the paddle is in the way