Wednesday

Wednesday, May 14th.

Today we got up around 6:30, had some breakfast and then set out on the road. This day was going to consist of Paul taking us around to different spots through Banff and Banff National Park where he knew we would find some sweet animals. The weather in the morning was um, shitty. It was cloudy and chilly, but not too bad for shooting. While Mom and I were exploring the area around a lake, Paul and Dad spotted a Pileated Woodpecker. Now this may not sound exciting, but Paul explained to us that the birds are not rare, but extremely shy and close to impossible to photograph. After we captured it on a film we took off again. The rest of the morning consisted of us stopping at various scenic view points where I made sure I took plenty of panoramic shots. I also spotted a bald eagle but only took a bad picture. During one stop we happened to run into a small heard of Big Horn Sheep. It is really awesome being here because instead of just taking pictures of the animals, Paul often runs after them. To photograph the Sheep, we climbed up a steep rocky slope and hid in some trees in order to get the best shot. Awesome. After the sheep shoot we returned back to home base (the cabin) for lunch and a quick nap.

Upon our return to the wild, we noticed that the sun had begun to poke out of the clouds. This meant that more animals would be out and about and ready for us to chase them. We went back to every spot we had been at that morning, and took more and better pictures of the sights from the morning. As the afternoon went on, we headed into the actual town of Banff to do some grocery shopping as well as a chance to see the town. The town could be described as this: take the town of Princeton, New Jersey, specifically Nassau Street, and drop it in the middle of a mountain range. BAM! (Emril) Thats Banff. I thought it was nice, but it didn't appeal to Mom and Dad (Dad put it so elegantly as to say the town 'sold out'. Wow, what a square). I can see where they are coming from though as much of the town seemed to be built just to appeal to the tourists. I had my camera with me and was afraid of looking 'touristy,' but that feeling subsided when I saw a group of young asian girls with Hello Kitty backpacks and huge bear hats on their heads, posing in front of every building for pictures for their facebook (shudder).

After our trip through town, Paul took us to a few places around the town that he thought would be hot spots. His instinct turned out to be a good one. In this tiny meadow sandwiched between two roads, we found 5 Mule Dear. They were extremely calm and for the next hour, Dad Paul and I moved around them and got very close to them taking lots of pictures. Very nice! After the Deer shoot we posed for some scenic shots and headed home. However we made a detour at a fantastic lake with a mountain range in the backround. Paul wanted to wait for the sun to set so we could get some totally uber shots. Now, let me remind you, we are in North Western Canada. It was 8:30PM, (2030 for you Canadians, and Chris Thiel) and it was still light out. It doesn't really get dark until 9:30 or 10. Crazy. We waited around a bit, got some good pics and headed back to ze cabin where we had a wonderful dinner of leftovers, which actually was really good. Paul is a great cook. I'm going to be traumatized when I come home and don't have a personal cook anymore (No offense Mother). Tomorrow were off to Jasper!