Night Sky - Kananaskis

Last night I did a photography class on taking photos of the Milky Way. We went out into the mountains (near Bragg Creek ~1 1/2 hours from Calgary). I hired a wide angle lens and now I want to get one!
On the way home, I saw the greenish tinge of an Aurora on the horizon, so I pulled over and took some more snaps. It was my first time seeing an Aurora here and I was pretty excited to see it! 2:00 AM is apparently the right time to be out taking photos! ;) 
Here are some snaps from the night.
I hope you enjoy.
xo

Jimmy Simpson

A few weeks ago, I did a hike with a group of people to Mt Jimmy Simpson. It is a peak above Bow Lake / Bow Falls and has views of surrounding peaks and glaciers, and it is near the beginning of the Icefields Parkway (the road to Jasper). 
It was a challenging hike, steep and mostly rocky and boulder terrain, we did a fair bit of scrambling, and there was no real defined path (because it was mainly just rocky fields and ledges). The way up was fun until we got to the scree area before the saddle where you walk along the ridge to the peak. We got to the scree area at about 4pm and it was very steep, loose and difficult. We saw some people come down as we were getting closer to the first of the two saddles, and they set off some fairly large rocks / small boulders to run down the hill. We were all out of the way, but it was a little scary to see the size and speed of those rocks. We started the hike at 10 am and because we still weren't at the peak (or the saddle), and because of the loose and challenging scree / rock run, we decided to turn around. It is good that we did turn around because we didn't get back to the cars until 6pm (and then we had the 3 hr drive back to Calgary). It was a long day but we had some beautiful scenery, great weather and good company.
Here are some shots from parts of the hike.
xo

Bow Lake

Bow Lake 

View of Bow Lake from the hike 

View of Bow Lake

View of the saddle and the scree hill (the "trail" goes next to the snow patch), the peak is to the right (out of view) 

View back, just as we turned around

San Francisco

I think that San Francisco is a beautiful city. I had fantastic weather when I was there, with temperatures around 20 degrees - but it felt warm to me. I was in a t-shirt and still felt warm (others around me were in t-shirts too, it wasn't just me!). It feels like such an active city - so many people were out running, walking or cycling.

I stayed in the Marina district, within a few minutes walk of the Palace of Fine Arts (see below)... and some very fancy looking houses. I was also a short walk to the waterfront, which was nice (to be so close).

 The Palace of Fine Arts

 The Palace of Fine Arts

I got the first ferry over to Alcatraz Island on the Saturday, so I managed to see it before the crowds arrived. I definitely am glad that I did that. I was also fortunate to have fantastic weather that morning too - not low cloud, just sunny skies and pleasant temperatures. Sunday morning had low cloud that didn't lift for a while, so the visibility would have been limited that morning. It is an interesting place and I learnt a lot.

 On the ferry to Alcatraz Island - view of Alcatraz Island and the Golden Gate Bridge in the background

 Guard tower - Alcatraz

 Old Warden living space

 View of the Golden Gate bridge from Alcatraz Island

Inside Alcatraz 

On Sunday morning I went for a run around the Marina area (as part of my training), which I loved. I had planned on running across the bridge (2.7km long), but I heard that it gets busy with walkers. So I just ran along the water front area instead. I don't mind that I didn't run along the bridge that morning, because it was a little cloudy. But when I went back out later, it was gorgeous - see the photos below.

 Golden Gate Bridge from the south side

Another view of the Golden Gate bridge from the south side

Hike to Lodge

Some friends and I hiked out to a lodge in the Banff National Park - Shadow Lake Lodge. It is 14 km one-way trip. The winter path usually requires cross-country skiing or snowshoeing to make your way to the lodge. But because we have had a 'warm' winter, there was not a lot of snow, so we were able to walk the trail. 

Below are some photos from the trip.

 We stopped and had breakfast in Canmore on the morning of the trip up (this is where I took Paul, Liz, Maddy and Dan for breakfast too!)

 The lodges

Shadow Lake and Mt Ball (covered in cloud)

Paris, Brighton and Lewes

Eiffel Tower - there was low cloud the day that we were wandering around. 

 Eiffel Tower

 Grand Palais - ice skating rink inside

 LaFayette - large (and pretty) shopping centre

Little alley that we stumbled across that had pretty shops and lights lit up for Christmas

 Old cemetery in Lewes, SE England

(this is a few hundred metres down from where I used to live in Lewes in 2006 and 2007. We had amazing weather when I visited Lewes for the day. It was beautiful and sunny, and I felt kind nastalgic during my visit)

 Harvey's Brewery in Lewes (on the the River Ouse)

 Lewes High Street

 View of the River Ouse

 River Ouse / Lewes

 View of Lewes from the golf club

 Lewes

Lewes Castle entrance

 National Gallery, water fountain at Trafalgar Square, London

Big Ben, London

 Notre Dame island (if that is what it is called!), Paris

 The Louvre, Paris

 Arc du triomphe du Carrousel, Paris

 Palais Garnier - old opera and ballet house

 Inside Palais Garnier

  Inside Palais Garnier

  Inside Palais Garnier - Grand Staircase

This is the most beautiful building and staircase - I have not done it justice!

 The eye, Paris

 Arc de Triomphe

 Eiffel tower - sunset shot

Eiffel tower - night shot (the tower lights up and sparkles on the hour every hour)