Lzed travels

[Lzed]

Very warm drive up to the family farm on Friday, somewhere in mid 30’s. In the wee hours of Sat, ie 2am or so the wind came up and thunder and lightning, I had windows open as well as the roof vents and wind was blowing curtains around and rattling the vents so woke me up, got up and closed everything. The morning was cloudy but sun was trying to come out but cool at around 18. I went on several walks around and have a lot more pics but will likely wait till I am home to post them. On one walk it decided to rain enough that by the time i got back to the motorhome with the dog we were both soaked, Sat afternoon we drove into Outlook and found the rest of the group, 8 families this year but after the one rain it was cloudy. After supper it started clearing.

Had a great visit with everyone. This morning at around 11am we headed for Calgary and got here around 5:30. Another hot day and drive with temps again in mid 30’s. motorhome ran fine until I tried passing someone out for a Sunday cruise (even though it's Monday). Last year on our long trip we lost power to the transfer switch for the two gas tanks. Fixed it this spring but we had over 100 litres of almost year old gas. Everyone said throw in some methol hydrate and make sure I had spare fuel line filters. The methol hydrate will get rid of any water in the fuel and is more commonly used in winter to stop gas lines from icing up. In this case it will get rid of water but also clumps other impurities together which is why I have spare filters along. Anyway when I tried passing this guy it started surging a bit so filters were getting plugged. Stopped in Drumheller to fill up and decided to change both filters. Thankfully they are fairly easy to get at, one by the fuel pump in between the gas tanks and the second is actually in the side of the carb, only took 5 minutes and back on our way.

This is tonight's sunset in Calgary, taken with vividHDR in Lively mode

Didn't have time to find a closer spot, there is a berm beside the highway close to Karen's sisters place where we are staying so I walked up there.

Will try and post more tomorrow. Not sure yet when we head for BC, maybe find out tomorrow how Karen's adopted mom is doing and if they are going to let her go home...

 

[lisamjw]

Beautiful sunset, Larry! Glad to hear things are going well on your trip.

 

[Knobody]

Incredible shot!

 

[lookingGlass79]

Wow this must've been just breath taking! So beautiful! How do stop taking pictures when the subject is just so massive and so beautiful?! I always end up with so many pictures that are similar but slightly different and I don't want to delete any of them....now I have nearly 7,000 pics on my iPad and my memory is getting low...lol! In process of transferring to Flickr pro account just for storage. Had to do something. Glad your having a nice holiday! And getting some great pics!

 

[MuzzMelbourne]

Great colors and subject.

 

[Knobody]

Wow this must've been just breath taking! So beautiful! How do stop taking pictures when the subject is just so massive and so beautiful?! I always end up with so many pictures that are similar but slightly different and I don't want to delete any of them....now I have nearly 7,000 pics on my iPad and my memory is getting low...lol! In process of transferring to Flickr pro account just for storage. Had to do something. Glad your having a nice holiday! And getting some great pics!

Free Cloud Storage.

http://www.iphoneography.com/journa...ree-cloud-storage-for-your-iphone-photos.html

 

[Lzed]

Wow this must've been just breath taking! So beautiful! How do stop taking pictures when the subject is just so massive and so beautiful?! I always end up with so many pictures that are similar but slightly different and I don't want to delete any of them....now I have nearly 7,000 pics on my iPad and my memory is getting low...lol! In process of transferring to Flickr pro account just for storage. Had to do something. Glad your having a nice holiday! And getting some great pics!

I take a lot of pictures, at sunset and sunrise the light can change a lot in a short period of time. If I had of been fast enough the clouds to the east were all lit up, not quite as dramatic but really nice. By the time I got up to the berm that had all gone. When I get too many on the iPad I move them to the desktop, nice thing with my iMac, not much to take it along. In the motorhome there is a side table with a flip up table, it has space and holes for bottles of liquor but I found the iMac fits in there and can't move around.

So far trip is going really good, will likely head for BC tomorrow, not sure if we are going to drive right through or not. BC interior is either nice at mid 20’s or hot at mid 30’s, depends on which weather app I look at I am hoping it's mid 20’s... Karen's sister and husband stayed here a couple more days. They were/are going to drive down to San Diego and Sunnyvale but when we were coming they put it off a couple days. Also have a chance to visit with our daughter that lives here.

Our son Steven and his GF went down to Bismark for the long weekend. Talked with him last night on FaceTime for about an hour, he had a good trip outside of some other drivers having death wishes. Trying to pass semi's when they can't see far enough so but they managed to get past... Bought lots of stuff that he can't find here in Canada.

This is sunset at the campground in Outlook on 31Aug, vividHDR Lively mode

This little gal is Lily she is a cancer survivor, she has been in remission about 4 years now. I wanted another picture of her, the sat night she was wearing a red bunnyhugg that had devil's horns on it and said "Cute, But Evil" Reality is that she is a really nice young person with a more mature attitude then many.

This was taken with 645 Pro II

Monday morning, some were doing crafts and others packing everything up to leave.

The group had rented 8 spots all together and RV'S are parked most of the time in a big circle. The central area is were we all sit around with a big fire at night. This is I think the sixth year that we have been there. Normally our son Steven and Janelle are also there. They really missed Steven’s cooking

Last couple are vividHDR Lively mode

 

[Lzed]

This is the campground in Outlook, panoramic taken in PhotoSynth

I tried a pano of the sunset in Calgary but it messed up the one part, rest though came out pretty good.

 

[Lzed]

I am loosing track of day of the week
Friday ( I think) we left Calgary and headed for Kelowna BC. Got away around 9am and got to Kelowna around 6pm. Not a bad day for driving, at least at the start, just overcast and cooler. Golden BC is right around 1/2 way and some interesting clouds so took a few pics when I stopped.

645 Pro II
Took this between Banff and Golden, in front is one of the wildlife overpasses. Surprisingly enough they work and most wildlife do use them, although the 8' high fences they run along the highway helps...

645 Pro II
Clouds in Golden BC

Between Golden and Revelstoke it started to rain and din't stop until Vernon which is about a half hour drive from Kelowna. Only one construction delay for about a half hour just before Roger's Pass summit.

My older brother lives in Kelowna so we stopped to see him. Can't stay at his place as he lives in a gated community and they have all kinds of rules so we stayed at his shop (he does millwork (cabinets)) so not the best place for photos but some nice sunsets while we were there.

vividHDR both are Lively mode
Yesterday I decided to rebuild the flip up table in the motorhome. The old one was not the best made and wobbled a lot and people always try pushing on it and I thought it would come off the wall.

New one is made from 3/4” natural Birch plywood. Once I get home I'll take it out and stain and lacquer it so it will match the paneling fairly good. Monitor fits under it and the bottom is hinged o keyboard etc all fit under it.

vividHDR
This is also fastened a lot better so right now it is a lot better then the old one. I put a full 3/4" back on it, sticks out an inch or so on this side and about 4" on the other to cover some holes in the walls from a 12v power outlet that we have never used and an antenna outlet that I took out. It is also fastened to the wall using almost 3" long screws.

Only one incident building it I managed to catch my hand with the chisel. Was trying to heat up the old laminate and remove it and in one place to chisel went through and caught my hand so right now I have a cut about an inch long and about 1/4" deep just in the fleshy part of the hand and fingers, debated about going to get stitches but thought I would not and just used superglue. Seems to work pretty good and holding so far.

 

[Lzed]

This morning we were planning on staying in Kelowna but the guy my brother shares the shop with showed up at 11 pm and had a fit when we were there. I'm not sure what his issue was but in the end we moved for the night and this morning we drove down to Keremeos which is between Penticton and Princeton BC. We found a little campground which is pretty nice and they have Internet. Not too bad for $32 a day. Internet has been a bit sluggish so uploading pics takes longer. Warm here at +29 and rest of the week will be about the same or warmer. Only saving grace is that there is a cool breeze. If need be I can run air.

Landscape here is about the same as most of the southern interior, mostly pretty arid.

Our dog was fascinated with the sheep

Although she may be left on the side of the highway if she doesn't stop growling, barking and whining when anyone comes to close, getting really annoying and I don't have her kennel along this trip, slipped my mind when I was packing...

These were all taken with vividHDR in lively mode

 

[lisamjw]

Nice travel shots, Larry. These mountains are gorgeous!! Hope your hand feels better.

 

[RoseCat]

Looks like you're traveling through some really gorgeous scenery!!

So sorry about your hand... I had my own little "travel accident" when arriving back in London from Ludlow where I somehow fell going down stairs and slammed the back of my head on the cement steps, receiving a bump on the head and a cut elbow in the process. Not fun to do anytime let alone traveling! I had Nurse Vix take care of me though.

 

[Lzed]

Looks like you're traveling through some really gorgeous scenery!!

So sorry about your hand... I had my own little "travel accident" when arriving back in London from Ludlow where I somehow fell going down stairs and slammed the back of my head on the cement steps, receiving a bump on the head and a cut elbow in the process. Not fun to do anytime let alone traveling! I had Nurse Vix take care of me though.

Ouch! Yes always a pain when your travelling but I am glad you had Vix to help nurse you

Not the first time I've done something stupid and probably not the last. I have a framing hammer so it is heavier then normal and has what they call a waffle head so it doesn't slip, can drive a 3.5" nail in two hits at most and in softwood one hit. Several times my fingers got in the way not nice and hurts like the dicken's... Finger turns black and blue pretty quick and a couple times I have had blood vessels break under a nail, only way to relieve pressure is to heat up a pin and pierce the nail to let the blood out. Over the years I have done other things so it's not unusual for me to come in the house dripping blood. Funny thing is that if it is my own blood I'm fine but if it's someone else's I get queasy

 

[RoseCat]

Ouch! Yes always a pain when your travelling but I am glad you had Vix to help nurse you

Not the first time I've done something stupid and probably not the last. I have a framing hammer so it is heavier then normal and has what they call a waffle head so it doesn't slip, can drive a 3.5" nail in two hits at most and in softwood one hit. Several times my fingers got in the way not nice and hurts like the dicken's... Finger turns black and blue pretty quick and a couple times I have had blood vessels break under a nail, only way to relieve pressure is to heat up a pin and pierce the nail to let the blood out. Over the years I have done other things so it's not unusual for me to come in the house dripping blood. Funny thing is that if it is my own blood I'm fine but if it's someone else's I get queasy

 

[Lzed]

Last nights sunset!

This morning I walked the dog way down the old railway bed which has been turned into a walkway. Trying to see how far I would have to go to get the power lines out of the picture. As far as I walked they were always there, oh well, not much I can do. Might try removing them in TouchRetouch or Handy Photo, will see.

One thing I did do last night is comparison shots in the various HDR apps, probably a couple hundred pictures. One the sun dropped behind the mountains you can see it was still pretty bright but if I looked towards the farmland the mountains turn to silhouettes and in a standard pic you lose detail. With HDR it was a lot better. Apps did give some interesting results but I will probably find somewhere to put them on the web and post a link here.

On my walk this morning I got pretty close to the river.

This is looking east back towards Penticton. vividHDR did really good considering where the sun is.

This is looking west towards Princeton.

The river is the Similkameen River and a few Km's farther down the path there is a covered bridge. It is called the Red Bridge and spans 310m or 942' over the river. While we are here I will try and get some pictures of it. Originally built in 1907-1908 for trains. It was used until 1954 when that railway line was abandoned and shortly after was turned into a walking bridge. In 2005-2006 it was restored including new cladding. It is the only remaining covered bridge in Western Canada.

 

[lisamjw]

These river images are just lovely, Larry!!

 

[Mikeraboy]

Great shots Larry, great scenery. Vivid HDR really came through.

 

[Lzed]

Tried removing power poles and lines in HandyPhoto, did not to bad but if you know where to to look....

May try one of the lighter foreground pics but I don't think it will go that good. Will see... Are here for another couple days. Karen's adopted mom is not doing well at all, very hard visit for Karen today. At this point she reminds me a lot of how my mom looked and talked in her last couple months, but you never know how things will go.

Drove past the covered bridge and I thought it was foot traffic only but I saw cars driving through. Will try to get pictures before we head back to Calgary around the end of the week.

Have really been enjoying the little RV park here, owners are super, very clean park and talking to other rv people staying it is a favourite with all of them. Lots stay here for a few days despite living less then an hour or two away. Will certainly be on our list of places we liked.

Karen for the first time in a very long while talked about buying a site out here and sell our place in Regina. Only concern I have is heat here, can get to mid 40’s in the summer though winters are milder then home. This year I have struggled with heat more then Karen.

 

[Mikeraboy]

Can't see the wires. Good job. Good photo. 98 degrees in Maryland today.

 

[Lzed]

Can't see the wires. Good job. Good photo. 98 degrees in Maryland today.

Been warm here at around +32 or less then 1/2 deg from your +90. It is running at least 10 degrees warmer then normal. Karen's listening to radio from home and they are saying that farmers almanac (surprisingly accurate most of the time for long range) says home is supposed to be colder winter and more snow then normal Not really what I wanted to hear....

 

[Lzed]

Real short visit with Karen's adopted mom... She was really confused and sick this afternoon. The therapist was over this morning for physio and another this afternoon so they are working her pretty hard. Not sure when we head back yet....

On the way back to the RV Park I took some pictures of the Red Bridge

This is the Similkameen River looking to the west. I had pulled off the highway. vividHDR continues to delight me, most other apps would have given me a much poorer result

The Red Bridge from the same spot. This was done with KitCam and was zoomed a fair bit.

From here the road continues away from the river and around a bend where it gets closer again. There is a pull off rest area but the side along the river is all fenced and there is enough trees that you can't see the bridge so we drove farther down and onto a side road that goes over the bridge. I thought it was a walking bridge but it's not, it's a traffic bridge but only one lane. Didn't see any weight limits so drove over it, this is the sign bust before the bridge..

Looking at the bridge

We found a road where I could turn the motorhome around and took this with vividHDR

Heading back over the bridge.

We stopped part way over the bridge, pretty quiet and nobody coming behind us or from the other side of the bridge.

Funny in what some people call a covered bridge. I expected that it would be covered with a roof but no The structure is covered but the road is open... At least I can say that I have seen it and driven over it....

 

[Lzed]

I downloaded a couple more apps that I have been pondering for a while. Lumiere, I had the free version and liked it but wanted the full res and minus the watermark. I also had been looking at Cameramatic for quite a while so got it. I am playing around with both of them this morning. Both apps will let you load from cameraroll. Lumiere at full res and any aspect ratio.
Cameramatic is another app along the lines of Hipstamatic but more control over all the filters, borders, light leaks etc. it will also open from cameraroll but it is only 1:1 so you can zoom and slide the picture around. On a iPhone 8mp it saves at 2400x2400, on my iPad it is 1930x1930

This is the Red Bridge done in Lumiere

Gives the picture a completely different feel, I quite like it!

 

[Lzed]

Meant to add this picture also....

Lumiere is $1.99
Cameramatic is also $1.99 but also has two in-app purchases, one for cross-processing and one for Colour, both are $0.99. The basic version includes both but the in-apps add more variations (yes I got them both )

 

[lisamjw]

I downloaded a couple more apps that I have been pondering for a while. Lumiere, I had the free version and liked it but wanted the full res and minus the watermark. I also had been looking at Cameramatic for quite a while so got it. I am playing around with both of them this morning. Both apps will let you load from cameraroll. Lumiere at full res and any aspect ratio.
Cameramatic is another app along the lines of Hipstamatic but more control over all the filters, borders, light leaks etc. it will also open from cameraroll but it is only 1:1 so you can zoom and slide the picture around. On a iPhone 8mp it saves at 2400x2400, on my iPad it is 1930x1930

This is the Red Bridge done in Lumiere
View attachment 43058
Gives the picture a completely different feel, I quite like it!

The first image of the river is beautiful!

 

[dalgeri]

Really enjoying your travel pics and stories Larry, your sunset shots are wonderful. Hope your hand is healing......superglue? Yikes