Edmonton Roadtrip: Yellowstone Glacier Banff Icefields Jasper Tetons 2008

WYoming MonTana AlBerta, aka WYMTAB

The AAPT’s summer meeting was in Edmonton this year. I decided that it would be great to drive the Nismo to Edmonton and make detours along the way, because gas was at an all-time high (for that era). I made it to Yellowstone, Glacier, the Canadian Rockies (from Banff to Jasper), and back through Glacier and the Grand Tetons. 

The meeting was great, too. And several Edmonton skeptics (folks I know from TAM and Randi’s online forum) rolled out the red carpet for me and had an impromptu meetup/dinner in my honor! Such great people.

2008 07 WYMTAB Gold Photo Album

2008 07 WYMTAB Silver Photo Album

2008 07 WYMTAB Bronze Photo Album

2008 07 AAPT Distinguished Service Citation

Crater Lake and the Canadian Rockies 2007

Crater Lake

We stopped at the Sundial Bridge in Redding on the road from Sacramento to Crater Lake. Stunning structure! Mom made reservations early enough so that we stayed at the lodge this time. 

We rolled in fairly late; I stayed up and snapped some time exposures of the clear, clear, clean sky over the lake. Caught some excellent star trails before the moon crept over the rim. The blue of the lake still defies description. Mom had been working out pretty extensively and agreed to hike down the rim to the lake for the 2-hour boat tour. The tough part is hiking back up the rim afterward. We took our time and made it without incident. On our way back from Canada, we stopped at Crater lake for the night. This time, she hiked with me to the top of Watch Tower peak. We were treated to some excellent late afternoon views. I had a close encounter with a deer on the hike back down! 

The Canadian Rockies

Jean and I drove up to Lake Louise from Sacramento. Heather and Tyler flew into Calgary and drove to Lake Louise from there. We took in Lake Louise and Moraine Lake before heading up the Icefields Parkway to Jasper. 

In Jasper, Heather got to experience the Canadian health care system firsthand. Not exactly the utopia Michael Moore made it out to be. Emboldened by my aerial Arizona adventures, I booked a scenic flight above the rugged Canadian Rockies on a wee Cessna. The seat was a bit cramped, but the views were spectacular. I did what I could to capture a few keepers; the photography was, um, challenging! We stayed at a cozy hotel in the heart of the townsite. The cold water was colder and the hot water was hotter than back home. 

Jean and I had a few photo outings and got up close and personal with a pair of elk. We all took a boat tour to Spirit Island on Maligne Lake. Tyler and I trekked down the Maligne Canyon a ways. And we hiked to the top of Whistler Mountain while Jean and Heather waited at the upper terminal of the Jasper Tramway. Jean and I then stayed at the Moraine Lake Lodge. Wow. Moraine lake is the photo op of the Canadian Rockies. I hiked up to the highlands above the lake to see what I could see. Great exercise and some nice scenes. I did what I could to soak up the alpine images. We got rained on and never did get prime photo conditions for the lake shot, but you work with what you’ve got. 

2007 07 Oregon Canadian Rockies Finalists Photo Album

2007 07 Oregon Canadian Rockies Previews Photo Album

Yellowstone Tetons Glacier Banff Icefields Jasper Moon Craters Yosemite 2005

Yellowstone 
Forty hours after getting back from France, I was driving with Jean from Sacramento to Salt Lake City. It’s a long haul, but one I’m increasingly familiar with. A nearly disastrous misadventure in Winnemucca was survived and we joined up with Heather, Tyler, Heather’s SO, Ben, and his son Jason. The PhyzVan was put to the test: parked for two weeks, then run out on a 650 mile one-day trip, then loaded to the gills for some mountain driving. We made it to Yellowstone and took in the sights, sounds, and—of course—smells. The geyser basins, Fire Lake Drive, Paint Pots, Terraces at Mammoth Springs, elk, bison, bears, and that one thing Ben saw. 2005 07 Yellowstone Photo Album

The Grand Tetons [hey, a chance to use my French]
Our time here was short, but I snuck out early the second morning and snapped a few keepers. Especially fruitful were stops at String Lake, a picnic area with a view (replete with split-rail fence), and the very simple Chapel of the Transfiguration. 2005 07 Grand Tetons Photo Album

Glacier 
Next it was up to the northern border of Montana for a stay at The Many Glacier Lodge in Glacier National Park. You really are up close and personal with nature there; bear-bells might actually do some good. The dramatic, glacier-cut mountains, valleys, and resulting waterfalls, and not-always-shy wildlife make Glacier a place worthy of return trips. Banff We kept the PhyzVan pointed north and continued up to the Canadian Rockies. First stop: Banff. In Canada, there are major towns inside national parks. Banff, for example. I wasn’t completely thrilled with the photo-ops here, but it had its charm. 2005 07 Glacier Photo Album

Lake Louise and Lake Moraine 
Now these places delivered on landscape scenery! Lake Louise, nestled at the bottom of a wide valley and catching the runoff of a glacier at the far end, posed politely for tourists’ cameras. I hiked up to a tea house tucked away at the edge of a high mountain lake and drank my tea while a storm moved in. Lake Moriane gets my prize for most picturesque destination in the Canadian Rockies. I snapped some nice keepers and sent one in for Paul Hewitt’s Conceptual Physics 10th edition (for a section on color and scattering). Yum!

Jasper 
The sun sets at about 10pm or so at this latitude. We boated out to Spirit Island on Maligne Lake on a stormy day (late July is still Spring up there). We also journey out to Angel Glacier and Cavell Glacier, though the weather wasn’t with us there. Then it was back south along the Icefields Parkway to enjoy the sights and part company with the Canadian Rockies. 2005 07 Canadian Rockies Photo Album

Craters of the Moon 
After a night in a scary down-market no-tell motel in Arco, Idaho, we enjoyed a day at Craters of the Moon National Monument. Old lava fields--what regions of Hawaii will look like in 1000 years--and air so unpolluted they measure it for baseline levels of atmospheric contaminants. We were there at midday, but better shots would be had early or late. 2005 07 Craters of the Moon Photo Album

Yosemite
We kept the PhyzVan pointed south and drove to Yosemite for a late-July visit. The falls were surprisingly robust given the season. And it’s hard to get tired of Yosemite. 2005 07 Yosemite Photo Album.