Thanks for all the big smiles.  I am looking forward to the next five days.   Keep on smiling!

Here is a little sneak peek of  today’s great images.

Spring is here. Hurray!

Next time the sun is shining, go for a little walk and see for yourself.

Life is Beautiful!

Life IS Beautiful

You all know I am a little bit of a gangster at heart.  We had a wonderful celebration at Sunrise Banquet and Conference Centre in Cloverdale. The Gangster’s Gala was a fundraiser to offer scholarships in memory of Amy Langelaan.  The decor was circa 1920′s. Our night of fun included zoot suits, fedoras, flapper dresses, all that jazz and , illegal alcohol.

Our night’s live entertainment included the lovely Joy Chapman, the classic rock band Heist and a special performance by the great Joanne Chiasson.

It was  a wonderful evening of great entertainment, tasty food, lot’s of drinks, dancing, photos and meeting many incredible  people.  Thanks to all of you for making this a very memorable night for me.  Let’s do it again next year!

Check out the fabulous ambiance and the magnificent silent auction table. ( Is that a Tequila Gun on the table? )

The super talented band Heist rocked our hearts and dancing shoes all night.  They’re not only great artists, they are also real gangsters. Check out these pics.

While our headliner Heist was keeping themselves well hydrated, we were treated to sizzling performances by the lovely Joy Chapman and the fabulous Joanne Chiasson.

We were treated to numerous memorable performances by all our fantastic artists.  Jazz hands and ABBA are my favorite. Go Girls Go!

My night would not have been complete if I did not take any fun photographs.  I was treated to many beautiful smiles and to a few impromptu pose off’s.  Wow everyone was working it like supermodels.  Thanks for all the great poses and for making me smile.

Soo many smiles, soo much fun, thats what New Years is all about.

I had a wonderful exciting night. Gangster Gala was a huge success. Everyone had a lot of fun and we raised a lot of money for the Amy Langelaan Scholarship Fund.  Thanks for a great night. I’m sure the Dancing Queen is proud of us. I look forward to seeing all of you next year.   HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Andreas

There are not many words to describe the determination, the passion and the beauty these salmon have .

It is easier for me to just to show you a few pictures, and for you to go and experience this Sockeye Salmon run for yourself.  Enjoy!

A beautiful Sockeye Salmon lying on the bank of the Adams River, he must have completed his journey only a few hours ago.

The river was red, as far as the eye can see.

After swimming for hundreds of km the salmon choose a partner and then lay and fertilize the eggs. Here is a couple paired up waiting for the right moment.

Up stream I found some fresh eggs nesting on the bottom of the river. I never thought they would be this colorful and beautiful.

When the salmon have laid their eggs, they stop swimming upstream and wash up on the shore. Their decaying bodies will provide valuable nutrients to their eggs and the trees in the surrounding area.

The underwater view of the salmon fighting to swim upstream is truly spectacular.

Ragging currents, ice cold water, eggs floating by and many obstacles are just part of this salmons journey.

As the sun was setting at my back, I took one last picture of this most spectacular place. It is one of my favorites for sure. The hard part is waiting 4 years for the next big run. I hope to see you in 2014 on the banks of the Adams River. Come out and see this wonder for yourself.

I was reminded again Life is Beautiful!

After taking a few photos of the elk and doing a victory dance ( for seeing some new wildlife) we continued into Jasper to get some coffee and some breakfast.  After fueling up my belly and Joy’s we were on our way to our first POI (point of interest)  Angel Glacier.  The road to the glacier is only accessible by car, large trucks or buses are not allowed on the beautiful windy, freshly paved road. After only a few winding km deep into the mountains the sun emerged and so did the frost. We had entered the Rocky Mountains, beautiful, rugged and cold. As we arrived at the base of Angel Glacier, I could not get out of the car fast enough to take in the most breathtaking view I had seen in a long time. Here is my view.

From Angel Glacier we drove through large expansive meadows painted in the most beautiful fall colors. We passed a few glacier lakes some rough patches in the road and many POI’s before we arrived at our next stop, Athabasca Falls.  The falls were very nice, but the canyon that the falls carved out of the sedimentary rock was purely amazing.  Next we were of to Goat Lick POI. I have wanted to see a mountain goat or a big horn sheep for such a long time we did not take any detours on the way to this POI.  The lighting was perfect, the time of day was right and my trusty navigator advised me that it was only a few hundred meters to the view point.  I could barley keep my eyes on the road as we got closer.  I would finally get to see a mountain goat at Goat Lick view point.  I jumped out of the car grabbed my camera and my big zoom lens and started scouring the hillside.  Wow what a beautiful place.  If I was a goat, I would live here too I thought to myself.  There was only one slight problem. I could not see any goats.  Aleks was pointing her eagle eyes through her binos at the hillside as well and could not find any mammals either.  I was almost disappointed that I did not see any goats at Goat Lick, but here is the view that I did see. Absolutely spectacular even without goats.

The stunning mountains and winding river views continued on for many more km on our way to Columbia Icefield Glacier.  Here is a picture of what I call a river bend.

Wow! Yes, that was the word of the day. Maybe even the word of the trip, besides mammals anyway. Driving through the Icefieds Parkway turned out to be more stunning than I could have ever imagined. Checking our time, I realized that this short little trip (Jasper to Banff) is taking us a long time. There is too much to see and not enough time. It was 1 pm and we still had many POI’s ahead of us. Our next stop at Columbia Icefield Glacier was breath taking and humbling.  Standing at the base of such a huge icefield surrounded by mountains of gravel that the glacier once deposited, I felt small and insignificant.  After climbing up to the glacier, past bedrock that has deep scratches from the glacier grinding over it, we were treated to a wonderful view. Here is our view.

The view of the glacier left Aleks and me speechless and breathless for a few km as we continued on our journey down the Rainbow Highway.  Why the Rainbow Highway you ask?  Here why.

The rich fall colors along highway guided us to our next POI. Peyto Lake.  Aleks told me that it was a short little hike to a viewpoint just past the parking lot. Considering the state of my slipped disk in my back, the snow on the ground and the straight up goat trail ahead of me, I wondered if this would really be worth it.  I had seen so many beautiful mountains, lakes and vistas all day.  If we skipped one POI we would not miss too much I thought.  After a slow crawl up the trail and many cheers from my wife (you can do it honey), I arrived at the viewpoint to Peyto Lake.  I am glad I did not skip this POI. Check out this killer view.

What goes up, must come down. Yes I made it down the goat trail (I did not see any goats, only a squirrel throwing many cones to the ground) and back to Joy, to continue to our next stop. Time was of the essence and we had to make good time to get to Lake Louise to see the sun going down.  We did not stop at any more viewpoints along the way. As we arrived in Lake Louise, I was slightly disappointed.   The sun was behind the mountains and the sky was not changing into beautiful sunset colors.  The lake looked cold and dark. It was beautiful in it’s own way.  I took a few pictures and realized that although the sky was not turning pink and orange like I had expected, the reflection of the clouds in the lake looked like flames under water.  My patience and determination paid off. Check out this cool shot.

Ready for the hot springs, we drove straight from Lake Louise to Banff.  Daylight was almost gone and we were stuck in a construction zone driving at very slow speeds.  It was almost too dark for mammal sightings as we spotted a female moose on the side of the road. WOW. We finally found the ever elusive Canadian moose.  This was  turning out to be a great day for all kinds of sightings. We saw mountains, lakes, rivers, glaciers, elk, squirrel, moose and a herd of large elk standing in the middle of the road as we drove past the welcome sign into Banff. Because the hot springs were closing soon, we skipped dinner to have a warm soothing natural bath in the hot outdoor pools. I loved sitting in the hot water as the outside temperatures dropped below zero and icicles were forming on my hair. It was a long eventful day and we fell asleep quickly after setting up our sleeping quarters at the Banff campground.  After a good sleep and a chilly wake up we set out on our mission of the day. Find some Hoodoos.  What is a hoodoo you ask. Here is a picture of a hoodoo in Banff.

Hoodoos are rock formations carved out by rivers. Drumheller is the hoodoo capital of Canada.  On our way to Calgary, Joy started to vibrate a little more than usual and then bang, blew out a tire. To our luck, we were only 12 km away from a tire shop and swiftly purchased 2 new tires so we could be back on our way to Drumheller. Not only does Drummheller have hoodoos, it also has the Royal Tyrell Museum and a large collection of dinosaur bones. Wow. Real dinosaur bones.  I have never been a big fan of dinosaurs, or even thought much about them.  They lived millions of years ago and if they existed or not, they did not impact my life in any way shape or form.  I thought it would be interesting to see some bones and to learn something new.  It’s was raining when we arrived in Hoodoo Land, but we checked out some of the local hoodoos and I found a moose as well. Here is a hoodoo and my favorite moose.

The next day it the rain fell out of our rainbow all day. The dry Drumheller desert was turned to mush.  We spent hours at the Tyrell Museum looking at dinosaur skeletons and learning about life on earth millions of years ago.  I was totally blown away.  Standing beside the remains of a gigantic Abertasaurus and a Tyrannosaurus Rex was the most humbling experience of my life.  They were bigger than life, beautiful and real.  I could not get enough of them. My favorite of course was a large flying dinosaur the Pterosaurs.  Here is a picture of 2 dinosaur skeletons.

I have a new respect for life and our planet after learning about the evolution of our animals and our planet.  We had arrived at the end of the rainbow and found our pot of gold.  It was another wonderful trip, proving yet once again that Life is Beautiful.

That is a question I have asked myself many times.

The answer: 3227km @ average driving speed 89 km/hour = 36 hours of driving +79 point of interest stops.

A couple of weeks ago I went on a road trip to Banff which I had promised my wife I  for a few years now.

The timing was right, Aleks had a few days off, I moved my schedule around , the weather was nice, and Joy ( our Ford Focus Gipsy wagon ) was aching to hit the road again after being parked for only 2 days.

We departed somewhat early in the morning to our first stop the Adams River sockeye salmon run. As we climbed up the Coquihalla Highway the magnificent fall  colors mixed with the majestic blue of the fall sky. There were so many different vibrant colors, it reminded me of a rainbow. This picture was taken from the edge of the highway.

A few hours later we arrived at the Adams River spawning grounds to find one lonely salmon in the river. After waiting for four years to see this massive salmon run again we were a week to early. The majority of the salmon were still on their 17 day journey traveling 485km from the ocean to the spawning channels. Below the lonely salmon waiting…….

The time was only11:30 am. At this rate we would be in Jasper by early evening.  A few rest stops later, at least 10 points of interest and another fuel stop we arrived in Wells Grey Park.  Joy was eager keep going to Jasper, but my aging body decided we should rest for  a while.  We set up camp in Pyramid campground and checked out many of the beautiful points of interest. Aleks wanted to see the Mush Bowl, I wanted to see Helmcken Falls and we both were looking frantically for mammals. We love mammals and we are always looking for them. Bellow is Helmcken Falls.

After a fast sleep and a hot cup of coffee were on the road again. Our mission of the day was to drive to Jasper go to Miette Hot springs and spot many animals. The rainclouds parted, the sun came out and our journey through the rainbow continued.  We were treated to many spectacular rocky mountain views and fiery meadow vistas. Below a Rocky Mountain view just east of Jasper.

After approximately 1000 km of highway and 12 hours of looking for the elusive Moose we had not seen much wildlife this trip. Our goal for this trip was to see some moose, bighorn sheep and mountain goats. We slowed down at every juicy meadow hoping to find some big mammal grazing.  Bellow a juicy meadow.

We arrived at Miette hot springs just as the sun was going down.  After 2 days of driving and camping, our bodies enjoyed the hot natural spring water. The pools were beautiful and the views were stunning. The air was cold and the steam rising of the pools was reflecting the last of the falls brilliant colors for the day.  On our drive from the hot springs to the campground we spotted our first new mammal of the trip. A beautiful fox with a huge furry tail. He was trotting down the road beside us. He ran alongside of us for a few minutes trying to figure out what we were.  After all that fresh air, hot water, good food and a mammal sighting we could sleep in peace.

The next morning we rose early. Our mission of the day was to drive the Iceland Parkway from Jasper to Banff. The trip is only 245 km, so it should only take us a few hours to make it to Banff. This would give us lots of time to explore all the points of interest. 37 exactly according to Aleks.  On our way from Miette to Jasper Aleks spotted some movement on the side of the road and asked me to pull over. It was just after 7 am and I did not have any coffee in my system. It is too early to start stopping at points of interest I told my lovely wife. She shrieked. Mammals, Mammals. honey there are mammals.  I stopped the car immediately.  Beside the road were 6 big elk grazing and rutting with each other. What a beautiful sight. Wild animals are simply amazing to watch in their natural habitat. Below two elk rutting.

I am running out of time tonight to finish this post. Check back soon for part 2 of Rainbow Highway.

For a few years now I have wondered where Blue Herons nest, and what young Blue Herons look like!

Two weeks ago I was very fortunate to see hundreds of young Blue Herons nesting in the trees in Tsawwassen BC.  At first glance at the trees there did not see any birds at all, but I could hear an unusual chatter. When I first spotted the large birds, perched in the trees I was amazed. There were about 150 pairs of herons nesting in about 20 trees. Watching a full grown heron landing in a tree is a magnificent display of agility and grace.( Some are a little bit awkward!)  I was able to see between 2 and 3 young herons in some nests, as they stood up, stretched their wings and begged their mother for food. The little herons are more adorable than I could have ever imagined.

In the middle of the nesting Blue Heron colony stands a big old Douglas Fir tree with an eagles nest perched on top.

To my surprise I spotted little fuzzy eagle head pop up and look over the edge. Wow. This was better than any National Geographic show I had ever seen, and only15 min from my house. We do live in a beautiful province and city. So get out and explore your neighborhood! You will see……….Life IS Beautiful!

This is my first post on my “Life IS Beautiful” blog.

I have been privileged to be able to capture many beautiful images of Life as a photographer.

My mission is to share the Beauty of Life with you.

Enjoy!