Wide Open Spaces

Living in my new western home I notice the mountains calling my name each Saturday. Yesterday was no different. The day dawned warm (yay) and sunny and so I hopped in my Jeep and set my course for The Rockies. It is a beautiful and luckily for me, short drive and on this early spring Saturday, I could drive with my arm out the window! Ah freedom!! I set my iPhone playlist for “driving tunes” and not surprisingly, one of my favourite songs popped up just as I was entering the mountains – Wide Open Spaces by the funky Dixie Chicks. My new theme song!

My road took me to the stunning spot you see above, Lake Minnewanka, just north of Banff, Alberta. Like most of my drives so far since moving, I did not have a planned destination…just head west. Well, I saw the turn-off for Banff and Lake Minnewanka and thought, why not? On this day it was a snowy, windy, curvy scenic drive that resulted in this wide open space. I actually pulled off the road, got out of my Jeep and just stared. The sun welcomed my pale face, the wind smelled mountain fresh and crows let out their haunting cry of spring. Surreal!

I did manage to take a few pictures in between my fresh air trances. You can find them in my Awesome Alberta Adventures gallery. And please watch this space. In a month’s time I plan to take my very first photography course! While I completely enjoy taking snaps, it is high time I exchange my photographic f-bombs for f-stops 🙂 and luckily, I will have a National Geographic photographer as my teacher atop a mountain in Banff. Please check out this fantastic Photo Workshop and join me if you can!