Une Visit Surprise ( A Surprise Visit)

Recently I stopped in a beautiful place where I have long wanted to go but never had the chance.  It was more beautiful there than I thought it would be.

Can you guess where it might be?

We had lovely weather for the visit which is wonderful since it was raining heavily enroute.

I  have lots of lovely photos to sort and share with you over the coming weeks. Enjoy the rest of your week! and be sure to see what others are doing in Our World Tuesday.

June 13, 2013 Update - Thank you to those of you who stopped by and took the time to comment. I want to thank those who also took a guess at the location of these photos. Those of you who guessed "Quebec City" are absolutely correct!  It is a beautiful city and I would love to visit again sometime. A bientôt.

Beautiful Views From the Top

It has been so many years since I visited New York City (NYC). I didn't think I would ever be back just because there are so many places to visit and saving funds gets hard when you want to help on the mission field. But recently I had to (wanted to) visit an elderly relative in Quebec and decided to extend my trip much further afield. NYC was one of those stops.


In my only other visit to NYC, I wanted to visit the Empire State Building but couldn't due to very inclement weather. They had closed the Empire State Building as a result of high winds.

View of the NYC skyline and Empire State Building from my hotel window in Secaucus, New Jersey.

Would you believe that on this, my 2nd visit to NYC, the effects of Tropical Storm Andrea were being felt through pouring rain and high flood alert?  We had lunch, did a bit of shopping and waited for our room to be ready. Later, when I checked into my room and looked out from the top floor toward Manhattan, it was so cloudy and  foggy that I could make out only faintly some of the tallest buildings across the Hudson River.  I prayed for a peaceful time and for the rains to lift as well as the sun to shine this morning.  I wanted to get a photo of the Empire State Building from my room because I wasn't sure I could get a good photo from ground level in Manhattan.  I also wanted to visit the Empire State Building in order to see the spectacular views from the top and make up for the disappointment of my first visit many years ago.   However, I also readied myself with a story if my visit to the Observation Deck didn't happen due to the weather once again. I was going to tell friends that I had gone down to see the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy but instead I ended up being caught up in Tropical Storm Andrea.

This morning, I was so full of joy when I woke up to sunshine.  The sun didn't stay constant but kept coming in and out of clouds.  I found that cloudy was better for taking a photo through the glass in my top floor hotel room.

This is the beautiful panel you will see in the lobby of the Empire State Building. It is made of 23 Karat gold and silver.   I didn't dawdle in taking photos as I wanted to get upstairs as quickly as possible.

View of Manhattan from the Empire State Building.

Another view of Manhattan.

View of the Statue of Liberty.

I hope you enjoyed these views. I will have a lot more of my trip to share with you when I get home.

Skywatch Over Lanorae, Quebec

I am nearing the end of my travels to Quebec, Canada and the Eastern Seaboard states. This is a photo of some lovely coloured ice fishing huts situated in a field in Lanorae, Quebec where I visited with distant relatives.

For more Skywatch Friday photos click here.

More Photos from My Journey

There are so many photos from my recent journey from Vancouver to northern Alberta and BC. I thought I would share more of the photos taken on the northward journey through the Rocky Mountain ranges since it is so beautiful.

 

The water looks so green.  The trees are nice and green too.

Everywhere you look there are mountains and lakes.

 

I was thrilled to see the Big Horn Sheep by the side of the highway. We stopped to capture these majestic animals.

Here we are entering the town of Hinton. Hinton is like most small towns on the prairies. They are not usually very picturesque and have one or two main streets with lot of signage.  Hinton is where we stayed last September on our northern journey.

I can wholeheartedly recommend this restaurant. Honestly everything that comes out of this kitchen looks scrumptious and the portions are very generous. Just the right thing for a break during a long journey.

As some of you know, we were on our way to visit my aunt and uncle (siblings of my mother) both of whom are facing cancer challenges.

On the journey I found out that cysts my aunt has on both sides of her chest do not appear to be cancerous. On one side, they are filled with blood. I don't know the reason for that but they have been leaking. On the other side the cysts hurt. The doctor has run some tests said that he will keep an eye on things but for now he doesn't suspect cancer.

My uncle has finished with his tests since I returned home. His lungs are weak but his heart is strong so the doctors may go ahead and operate to take out the cancer from the colon. However my uncle who has been a life long smoker has been told he must stop smoking for 2-3 weeks to give his lungs a better chance.  He is balking at the suggestion. He needs prayer.

I hope you visit again soon. I will share more photos of Alberta.

Please visit Scenic Sunday to see more beautiful scenes from around the world.

We've Covered a Lot of Miles

Hi friends,

I am back from my recent travels to visit elderly relatives.

We started our journey at 5 a.m. on Thursday, May 10, 2012.  About 75 minutes later we came upon the scene in the photo below.  I felt it was a symbol that we would have a nice trip.

Entering Kamloops, BC where I visit my mother.

About one hour north of Kamloops and we are well on our way up the Yellowhead Highway.

You can see the outline of our journey on the map below.  Our northward journey took us north east from Vancouver to Kamloops on Highways 1 and 5. We continued along the route shown by the upper purple coloured line which is primarily along the Yellowhead Highway. The route went through Kamloops, Barriere, Blue River, Valemont and on to Mount Robson at Jasper.  We continued through to Hinton where we stopped for dinner.  After a delicious dinner of calamari and caesar salad at L & W's, we drove on Highway 16 east to Edmonton and spent the night in St. Albert, north west of Edmonton at the St. Albert Inn which was very comfortable.  The room rate was about $117.00 Canadian.  (You can click the link in the previous line, to see the hotel rooms and amenities.)

On Friday, we drove on to a small community near Calais, Alberta, along Highways 43 and 34, where we stayed with my aunt (more about that later). If you click on the map, it will enlarge. Locate Edmonton (about the middle of the map) and move your finger/eye along the line that goes northwest until you get to Valleyview. Calais is the first stop to the west of Valleyview.

On Saturday we journeyed north along Highways 16, 43, 34 and 2, to Hines Creek, Alberta, and visited with my uncle who has recently been diagnosed with colon cancer (more about that later). From there we drove along a secondary road west to the town of Ft. St. John, BC.  There we decided to have a late lunch and skip contacting more relatives to visit.  Instead we drove south on Highways 97 and 2, through a town called Taylor and stopped in the City of Dawson Creek, BC, to visit another uncle.  We then drove back to my aunt's place along Highways 2 and 34, in northern Alberta for one more overnight stay.

Early the next morning we drove back to Edmonton, Alberta, along Highway 43.  There we visited with a third uncle who I haven't seen for about 17 years. I've been wanting to visit him because both he and his wife have suffered a lot of health challenges in recent years and they are in their late 70s so you never know what happens. After visiting for a few hours we made our way south on Highway 2, turning west at Red Deer on a secondary highway.  We made our way to Highway 93 so that we could pass through the town of Rocky Mountain House and travel back to British Columbia through the Rocky Mountains.  We connected in BC with Highway 1 and drove back to Kamloops, passing through the towns of Field, Golden, Revelstoke, Salmon Arm, Sicamous, Chase and then finally Kamloops. We visited mom for several hours and then headed home on Highways 5 and 1 back to Vancouver. I was glad to get home as the long trip over a short period of time always tires me out.

This map shows our route beginning at Kamloops but we drove to Kamloops from Vancouver. It takes about 4 hours (includes stopping for coffee/gas).

We were surprised to run into snow just before we got to the Rocky Mountains.

You can see it is snowing at the mountain top.

Snow capped mountains are always so beautiful.

We are entering the Town of Valemount. We are still in British Columbia.

The town is in a picturesque area.

Another shot of the mountains at Valemount.

Here were are nearing Mount Robson which is on the border of British Columbia and Alberta. This day it was shrouded in mist and snow.  Apparently the top of the mountain is often obscured by clouds and/or fog.

A sign tells us we are now entering Mount Robson.

Here we are passing Moose Lake in Alberta. It looks so cold.

If you are a cross-country skier there is a wonderful ski trail through the Upper Moose Lake Loop and the trail is supposed to take you through some interesting terrain with inspiring views

In fact Moose Lake is still very much frozen.

These big horn sheep were grazing on the side of the highway.

I was lucky to be able to capture an eagle flying overhead.

The photos above end in Jasper National Park. The park is one of Canada's oldest and largest national parks.  Established in 1907, Jasper was once seen as an island of civilization in a vast wilderness. More recently, it has become a popular getaway from urban life, and a special place to reconnect with nature.  There are nearly 1000 km of trails in the park, thousands of campsites, tons of wildlife and the largest Dark Sky Preserve on the planet.

Our total travel distance was  2585 miles or 3514 kilometers in 5 days (excluding time spent driving around finding the places we were to visit or doing some shopping).  I will be sharing more scenic photos from other parts of my journey in future posts. Some of them are even more spectacular than those I've shared in this first post.

Click here for Our World Tuesday and more scenic photos from around the world.

Photo Journey to Kamloops

I recently went to visit my mother who lives about 4 and half hours north through the mountains. I thought it would be good to show you the scenery along the way.

The first 2 photos were taken about 1.5 hours into the journey. Truth be told I never seem to think about taking photos until I see this mountain range. The mountains are always spectacular but on this day they seemed to be outlined somehow in that the shape of them seemed more clearly defined than usual. Perhaps it was just my imagination. No matter how many times I travel this highway, things always look different to me.

This photo is taken on the highway going through Chilliwack, an agricultural area.

 

This photo is past the City of Hope. We are climbing up to the summit of the mountain range.  There used to be a toll bridge here for many years but it is now gone. Instead they are building a toll bridge closer to where I live.

I am always awed by this sheer rock face on the mountain no matter what the season.

There was very little traffic on the highway going up or coming home. It causes me to think that the price of gas has so many people deciding not to travel far these days. 
These photos show you how much snow has fallen this year. There is still plenty of it. In fact, a light snow fell on the drive north and more flurries fell on the return journey.

 

 

When we get to this flat stretch it means we are nearing the City of Merritt which is about 1 hour south of Kamloops.  For years Merritt has been known as the home of the Merritt Mountain Music Fest, a large country music festival held every summer.  This year it will be held July 19-22, 2012.

It is hard to see but if you look at the lower part of the photo you will see some of the buildings (homes and businesses) that make up part of Merritt.

We are now nearing the City of Kamlops; my destination.

We are missing the main town by driving down the side of a mountain into the North Shore.  This scene is always very pretty at night when the city lights are shining.

Normally  the weather would be very warm by now but it is still chilly by Kamloops standards. This is a view of the north shore of the city, Bachelor heights to the top left and the Kamloops Industrial Park and Raleigh in the far distance on the right. You keep driving on the Trans Canada Highway north beyond those mountains. You can read a bit more about that journey here.

Once I got to my destination I quickly set about doing the work mom requested to re-arrange her closet and her drawers, put a stacking shelf on her dresser to hold her products and locate several photos in her storage tubs. I was able to tape all her photos inside the picture frame and hang it up. I also managed to have dinner with my niece and visit mom for a bit. The journey home was quiet and easy. I arrived home in the wee hours of the morning.

I hope you enjoyed the journey with me.