2007 Pre Shootout

Ann McRae

Hi all

Edit: Updated Itinery:
Edit: Updated Participant List
Skippy, Christina (Phyxius), gluwater and I leave Edmonton Sept. 18, 2007 to Jasper.
19, 20 Jasper (3 nights Jasper)
My van is full for the preshootout. Doesn't mean there isn't the possibility of joining - just that you will need your own vehicle.

Accomodation in Jasper:
http://www.bearhilllodge.com/ourplace.html

Have booked two options - room for 3 or room for up to 8 - anyone else interested should contact me ASAP.

21 Icefields to Canmore where we meet Tom and Maureen (2 nights Canmore)EDIT: Tom & Maureen have had work get in the way of photography, so we are back to 4 for the Canmore-Glacier portion. As I've mentioned, there is space for others, but a vehicle would be necessary.

Accomodation in Canmore for the 21 and 22 Confirmed - my friends very large condo - sleeps 10.
22 Canmore/Kananaskis
23 drive to Waterton via Highway 22
24 Waterton

25 to St. Mary


So lets see what interest there is in having an extension to the trip, into the Canadian Rockies.

Possible destinations:
Of course Glacier meets Waterton at the border. Waterton is a summer location and I would need to investigate the possibility of being able to access in October.

From the border to Calgary will take approximately 3 or 4 hours driving. Banff is an hour west of Calgary.

Jasper is 3 hours north of Banff, depending on stops for shooting and/or possible snow preventing the highway from being open.

I have been in Jasper in October and had the most glorious weather and fall foilage in tact. I have been there in August and experienced snow. The thing about the rockies is that you just never know what the weather will be like.

I have had a look at environment Canada's weather web site, for seasonal information. September is actually a wetter month than October, but average daily highs are closer to 10C than 5C!!!
http://www.climate.weatheroffice.ec.gc.ca/climate_normals/index_e.html

I can follow up on accomodations (I may have connections!), close dates for campgrounds etc.

So, please reply if you might be interested, and if you have a preference for dates.

ann

UT Scott

I so wish I was able to go to the shootout! I'll just say that Banff and Jasper are both incredibly beautiful spots! Definitely worth an extra few hours driving!

Phyxius

Ann McRae wrote:

Hi all

So lets see what interest there is in having an extension to the trip, into the Canadian Rockies.

So, please reply if you might be interested, and if you have a preference for dates.

ann

I'd definatly be interested, but I know nothing of the area so I'm afraid I won't be much help planning anything. Let me know if there is anything I can do though!

Thanks,
Christina

DougNorCal

Could be really cool
Pun intended.

Chris, Scott and I might be up for this. A little too early to know much about work schedules/spouse requirements at this point.

Took the family from Banff to Jasper last summer and it was an awesome thing to behold, so would love to go again. Chris has been many times, but I don't know about Scott.

Ann McRae

Waterton will be open. I guess they are growing up into a year round destination. So much so that they still consider it high season!

There is a campground in the center of town at Waterton, in case RVing is being considered.

One other note regarding pre or post - the weekend after the official shootout (first weekend of October) is Canadian Thanksgiving, a long weekend holiday Monday here, not quite of the same hecticness re: travelling as American Thanksgiving. This may be another reason to consider the week before the shootout.

ann

davev

Hi Ann.

The Boss and I are thinking of going south to yellowstone after the shootout,
so sorry to say, we won't be joining you up north of the border.

We looked through some old pics last night (1993) of the Banff and Jasper area.
Now with older, more mature eyes I think I could enjoy it more than I did then. So you ask,
"Then why not do the pre/post shootout." Because it's been even longer since we've been to Yellowstone. (1987)

If you folks have the time, Have Ann show you around the Great White North.
You will love the scenery.

Nikolai

Ann,
Thanks for planning ahead!

I can't commit right now:-(
My US citizenship is in the gray area - they apparently lost my documents, so I'm kinda in limbo.
Crossing even Canadian border may cause some really undesirable troubles...

Cheers!

Scott_Quier

I may be up for this. Be interested to know how long the post-shootout will be though.

Phyxius

Has anyone thought anymore about this? I have the extra vacation time from work already taken care of, but I'm trying to figure out travel information. It looks like prices are going up from where they were a few months ago.

Nikolai

Sitrep
My US citizenship application continues to be suspended. FBI Name Check. I called my senator, but all she could get me is some FBI-related email address (no reply thus far).
Security measures, blah-blah-blah. :bash
According the the fact sheet they gave me, I'm under 1% of lucky ones whose name check takes longer than 6 months (yet no idea when it clears, if ever).
I'm starting to worry if my GC hold up ling enough... I mean, I still do have a few years before it expires, but at this rate of waiting...

Anyway - at this point I can't commit to anything that includes border crossing, as much as I would love to :cry
I'll keep you guys updated if the situation changes...

Ann McRae

Anyone recall discussions about the photography of Darwin Wiggett? He now lives in Canmore, and runs photo workshops etc. Many years ago, he and I worked in the same college - I taught Genetics and he was the lab prep guy. I do not know if he would remember me if I contacted him, but he is holding this workshop at the same time as the dgrin shootout:

http://www.darwinwiggett.com/fallcolours.html

I am wondering about contacting him regarding a preshootout seminar for some of us. Would anyone be interested in this???
ann

aporia

Hi Ann,

I'm hoping that my partner (Maureen) and I will able to squeeze a little bit of time beforehand to explore some of the area around the Canadian Rockies. If so, we'll be coming from Toronto to Calgary and are planning to rent a car for the rest of the trip. We're still working out the Fall semester academic schedule and will know more later this Spring.

Ann McRae wrote:

Hi all

So lets see what interest there is in having an extension to the trip, into the Canadian Rockies.
. . .
So, please reply if you might be interested, and if you have a preference for dates.

ann

Ann McRae

I hope so too Tom!

ann

aporia wrote:

Hi Ann,

I'm hoping that my partner (Maureen) and I will able to squeeze a little bit of time beforehand to explore some of the area around the Canadian Rockies. If so, we'll be coming from Toronto to Calgary and are planning to rent a car for the rest of the trip. We're still working out the Fall semester academic schedule and will know more later this Spring.

Ann McRae

Well, skippy and I are hatching a plan:

Skippy is coming to Canada before the shootout, around Sept. 15 to have some time to deal with jet lag.

We would like to start planning the following:

Edmonton - Jasper: Sept. 18 - 20
I will try to work out accomodation - a friend owns a lodge in Jasper that is cabins - I will be working on booking one or more of those.

Jasper - Banff via Ice fields Highway

Stay in Canmore (just outside Banff) Sept. 20 - 23
I have a firend with a condo that sleeps lots - will see if I can rent that.

Travel Canmore - Waterton
Stay in Waterton Sept. 24

Cross into Galcier a.m. Sept. 25.

Everything is tentative and approximate, but skippy and I are planning on this and hope others will join in. My van holds 7. Flying into Edmonton for all of the trip, or into Calgary and meeting us around the 29th, are both possibilities.


Who is in?

ann

Skippy

Ann McRae wrote:

Who is in?

ann

Oohhh oohhhh ME pick ME
Yup I'm in .... Skippy
.

aporia

This plan is helpful, Ann. We're still waiting on Fall schedules and cross-country flight possibilities. Hopefully we'll be able to meet up somewhere along the way.

Phyxius

Ann McRae wrote:

Who is in?

I bought an extra week of vacation from work, so I'm in!

Skippy

Phyxius wrote:

I bought an extra week of vacation from work, so I'm in!

Thats great Phyxius ...... I think you guys should let me drive so you can see what it's like when we drive on the opposite side of the road
Trust me I've very very good at it hahahaha..... Skippy
.

Ann McRae

Tom - glad this helps. Hope you can arrange things to meet us. Canmore is less than an hour from the Calgary airport.

Christina - clap

Skippy - :nono:nono

ann

Ann McRae

Van clarification:

I have a Nissan Quest with 7 seats, so during the shootout I can ferry 7 of us. However, for the preshootout we will all have luggage so I will likely be limited to 4 passengers. I do have a thule box that may be helpful, but I recall the Vegas-Bryce travel last year where Nancy and I shared the back seat of the van with a big honkin suitcase!!!!

So, for the preshoot I'm gonna suggest a second vehicle.

ann

Phyxius

Skippy wrote:

Trust me I've very very good at it hahahaha..... Skippy
.

The Hahahaha makes me wonder about the bingle.

lynnesite

So far, I've scheduled two horse farm shoots in western Montana on the way back to SoCal to help pay for the trip! :photo Highly recommend Banff, the whole park area is glorious. I've also been to Lake Louise which was another great shooting site.

Skippy

I have only seen those parts of Canada on TV and in magazines, they look amazing on those travel shows, I can only imagine how much more breathe taking they are to see with your own eyes ... Skippy
.

Skippy

DONE!

I'm all booked :ivar

Skippy

Phyxius

Skippy wrote:

DONE!

I'm all booked :ivar

Skippy

Yay!!

I'm working on getting my passport now. Apparently high volume is making this take up to 10 weeks!

Skippy

Phyxius wrote:

Yay!!

I'm working on getting my passport now. Apparently high volume is making this take up to 10 weeks!

Yeah I have to do the same thing mine will run out and not have enough validity beyond the dates they require, well in fact it will run out three months after the trip, but they require it be valid for 6 months.... Skip
.

Ann McRae

Skippy, Christina great news. I've heard from Tom and it looks good for Tom and Maureen too.

So, anyone else in for this??????

And, anyone want to do prairie instead of mountains for a day? I am quite partial to the foothills - the area leading up to the mountains - and south of Banff they can be spectacular. I love the area around Pincher Creek. But there is real prairie further east.

I'd also like to suggest we stop at Head Smashed In World Heritage Site (google it), and think about detouring to Drumheller and or Writing on Stone Provincial Park.

I've already mentioned Darwin Wiggitt's work. Another photographer from Alberta is Daryl Benson - although I find his web site www.darylbenson.com - difficult. He has published Alberta photography books, and some is especially nice.

This is going to be great fun!!!1

ann

Skippy

Ann McRae wrote:

Skippy, Christina great news. I've heard from Tom and it looks good for Tom and Maureen too.

So, anyone else in for this??????

And, anyone want to do prairie instead of mountains for a day? I am quite partial to the foothills - the area leading up to the mountains - and south of Banff they can be spectacular. I love the area around Pincher Creek. But there is real prairie further east.

I'd also like to suggest we stop at Head Smashed In World Heritage Site (google it), and think about detouring to Drumheller and or Writing on Stone Provincial Park.

I've already mentioned Darwin Wiggitt's work. Another photographer from Alberta is Daryl Benson - although I find his web site www.darylbenson.com - difficult. He has published Alberta photography books, and some is especially nice.

This is going to be great fun!!!1

ann

Excellent Ann

Hey I got me a new daggy hat, and it aint pink either
I looked up Head Smashed on the google ya duffa you can imagine what I found searching that can't you

....... Skippy
.

Ann McRae

Oy!I am going to need an Ozzie dictionary!!!!

bingle?
daggy?
duffa?

And here ya go, skip:
http://www.head-smashed-in.com/

ann

Skippy wrote:

Excellent Ann

Hey I got me a new daggy hat, and it aint pink either
I looked up Head Smashed on the google ya duffa you can imagine what I found searching that can't you

....... Skippy
.

Ann McRae

Southern Alberta
http://www1.travelalberta.com/en-south/?CFID=7024309&CFTOKEN=62626303

Ann McRae

And we will go back to Edmonton this way:

http://www.canadianbadlands.com/Tours/mrgt_info.htm