The covered bridge day

We had several tough days in a row. It started with a difficult hike to Three Vault Falls. Only 8K, Linda said. Much like the Baker Brook falls last year, the first part is relatively easy, except for the ankle breaking stones and tree roots lurking under the fallen leaves. At least I had the scene to myself, though there was a lovely little pool at the base of the falls. It's a perfects scene for that iconic model posing in a bikini scene, if one could be persuaded to do the hike. All the photos from there need to have the edit checked on the big screen, since I think several are contenders for image of the month.

To get there it's down a set of stairs, and down a steep slope where the trail is not clear, then down some more stairs. This is the last set of stairs, and yes, you scramble over or around that big rock. 

This isn't the part of the path that has you jump from rock to rock as you work your way down the stream, but it looks a lot like this. 

This is the easy part of the path. 

Then the next day we were back for a shorter, easier hike to Laverty Falls. Well, that was the plan. 

You know from the previous blog that we found a covered bridge totally by accident because Mrs Google led us astray. This bridge. I was in no mood to scramble down the hill to get other photos of it.

We ended up, finally, in Alma for lunch. Then up the correct way to get to Laverty Falls. Only 5.5 K return, and an easier hike. Well, there's a couple places you have to be careful of your footing. It's a long enough way down. These falls aren't as tall but they're wider, and were easier to photograph.

The fun part of the day came as we were nibbling a restorative cookie (I NEEDED one!) and watched a guy walking from vehicle to vehicle issuing warnings for not buying a parks pass on the way in. There were a couple dozen cars in the parking lot, and most of them got warning. We chatted with the guy as he worked from car to car, says it happens a lot. He thanked us for buying the annual pass.

Then the big 3 hour drive up to Miscou Island lighthouse. Have I mentioned there's lots of one lane closures for road work? Good thing we weren't in a rush. It's sort of your typical lighthouse, and two nearby beaches. It was really windy, but we did the lighthouse catwalk, and both beaches. We worked our way back towards home and stopped at Kelly's Beach again. Our thinking was that the sky was supposed to be clear and I could get in some astro photography. Alas, the skies were completely clouded over, but I found a couple good possibilities for setting up.

That's why today was an easy day exploring the nearby covered bridges. Turns out there are 5 of them in easy driving distance, starting at a really nice coffee shop. At least that's what Mrs Google told us. We already knew that one of the results isn't a covered bridge, and that a review for another of them said it had been removed.

Poirier covered bridge 159 Poirier Office rd Nice setting. The sign says no thru traffic, but it's clear that people drive their vehicles through. We didn't.

Budd Bridge 511 Victoria rd Still operational. Setting ok.

Magnetic Hill (parkindale) covered bridge Magic Mountain rd. A toy bridge for an amusement park. However it’s really near the winery, and we got another bottle.

Boudreau covered bridge, 36 Gayton Rd Memramcook. Hard to get a good photo of it, and setting was nothing special.

Joshua gallant covered bridge 1200 Shedia River Rd Once again, Mrs Google led us the way that took a long time. Might have looked shorter on the map, but it wasn’t shorter to drive.  The bridges all look pretty much identical on the inside. I can easily imagine there was a standard plan for the various river crossing widths, and they were churned out by local carpenters. 

Hard to believe we're at the half way point of our trip. Zoom!

It's been a big week

I almost don't know where to start. So much to see and do, but we don't want to exhaust ourselves right out of the gate. So let's see. Cape Enrage was closed for the season. Parlee and Aboiteau beaches. Drove past lots of beaches with signs like "No Trespassing, or variations on Private, or  Keep Out." We spent a day in PEI, mainly on Thunder Cove beach. Magnetic Hill winery is awesome. Linda got her phone fixed by ditching Speakout and their endless problems, and signed up with Telus. Same phone number, if you know it, and better service. Hopewell rocks is stunning and amazing. Totally a must see. Plan for low tide. The food in the cafe was the best so far on the trip.

Back to Bouctouche for Linda, (there's a reason for that, but it's Linda's story to tell,) then up to Cap Lumiere, then Kelly's beach in Kouchibouguac national park. And no, don't ask how that's pronounced. I listen to people saying it, and my lips don't move the right way at all.  We did the tourista big lobster in Shediac. 

Cornhill Nursery for Linda. Third vault falls are lovely and worth the death march hike in. Take a wrong step and at best you'll die. At worst you'll just break something and have to crawl out. Then the next day was Laverty Falls, though Mrs Google led us down a series of snowmobile roads to a back way in, which is totally not the thing to do according to Parks Canada. We weren't the first. Plus we found the covered bridge over 45 river number 1 covered bridge. Totally by accident, and unintended. I read a blog by a guy that only found it on the third attempt.

And that sort of brings us up to date. I think. I'm keeping a trip diary, but it's the end of a very long day here, and this glass of wine is really good. What photos to show you? That's actually a really good question, since I know I want to take a look at the edits at home on the big monitor. I'll probably put off doing Image of the Month till we're back, since there's a number of photos so far that I think will make the podium, and I want to look at all of them again on the big monitor first.

Linda, happy on the beach after her adventure.

A Hopewell Rocks teaser.

Lots more photos to come. Be patient.

Linda did not try to kill me this time

The place was Bouctouche beach. This is a 12Km long spit of land with a lighthouse at the end. It's about a half hour drive from here, and looked promising. It was a beautiful sunny day. The breeze was a bit chilly so I was wearing a jacket and long pants. Some people were wearing shorts. This is a barefoot beach if you're careful, since there's lots of shells. I didn't think I'd get to the end, and I didn't. I made it just over half way, then turned back. Going back was into the wind, and it seemed a lot stronger. My feet were really tired at the end, and the hot tub at the Airbnb felt really good.

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A nice little reflecting pool along the way.

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This was a very comfy resting place at about the 5 K mark.

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This is about where I turned around. I could just see some people flying kites or kite surfing, and the lighthouse, though I'm not sure how well they'll show up on your screen.

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From the very beginning of the beach near the interpretive centre.

This is the map showing the long spit. Like I said, 12 K from end to end.

A basic flowery Friday 20

There's a bit of complicated behind the scenes stuff happing to bring you this particular set from July 23, but then it will be the last till I get home. The 'of the day' feature is also suspended till I get home. Stay tuned!

For those looking for a day by day description of the trip, complete with photos, that's a distinct maybe. Turns out it wasn't just the restaurant at Cape Enrage that was closed, it was the whole cape. Sigh. 

As a followup note per Janet's comment, the cape was closed for the season so they could do maintenance. I suppose if I was on the ball I'd have taken a photo of the gate chained shut, and the several notices in two official languages that asked nicely to keep out so they could do their work. It was easily possible to stroll past the gate at the top and walk down into the site proper, but yes, there was actual work going on. 

Another half dozen cars arrived while we were there, so it's not like we were the only ones uninformed about the work. We strolled around the top, but the views are not especially photogenic from there. The actual lighthouse is a bit further out on the cape and lower down.

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The bots love me, hope you do too

A little while ago my readership stats, such as they are, went crazy. I've always taken them with a huge grain of salt partly because I didn't know what they were measuring, and partly because I'm not trying to reach the world, or monetize it, or otherwise get rich.

Not that photographers get rich anymore, and not that many ever did. There's a joke I think I've told. Q: How do you become a rich and famous photographer? A: Become rich and famous somehow, and then pick up a camera and call yourself a photographer.

I actually chatted with someone at an event not that long ago, and they asked me if one could make a living as a photographer. The answer is complicated, but the short version is probably not purely as a photographer. It's probably best if photography is part of the package.

It used to be that being a photographer required a lot of skill, and that pretty well determined how well your photography business went. The act of taking the photos and then dealing with the film and prints was much more complicated. Now, everybody thinks they're a photographer with their fancy iPhone and that photography is free or should be. The important skill now is marketing oneself. If you're popular and well known, an "influencer" (and geez I hate that term) it's probably easy to find paid work as a photographer, regardless of your skill or lack of it with a camera. 

It's sort of like writers. There used to be a thing called a mid-list author. They rarely or never topped the best seller lists, but they reliably produced a book every year or so that sold a reliable number of copies. The writers wrote, editors edited, and publicity agents publicized. That's all gone. Now they expect the writer to do it all, when all they really want to do is get up at a civilized hour, drink coffee and procrastinate for a while, then write. They typically don't want to deal with icky public except to show up at book signings (if any) and fan conventions (if invited.)

Back to the topic. I flat out don't believe what Blogger is telling me, than hundreds of people are reading my blog. If I dig a bit deeper into the Google stats, which I hadn't even known were there, I get a much much smaller and more realistic number. How much smaller? Orders of magnitude smaller. I'm quite sure I could host all my regular readers and their spouses at the same time during a house party. Maybe if some of the periodic readers showed up as well it might spill into the back yard, or get a bit crowded in the kitchen. Except some of them don't live near here and it would be difficult for them to show up. None the less, I appreciate all my readers.

I'm busy packing camera equipment for the New Brunswick trip and thinking about how much film to bring. I was reading an article that the fall colours might not be as vibrant this year because of the dry conditions. It will be whatever it will be, and I'm sure I'll still have fun. I'm anticipating blogging fairly often, complete with photos while there, since the new laptop runs Lightroom just fine. Unlike the Newfoundland trip last year, where I essentially didn't blog at all.

So since I'm thinking about travel, here's the last photos from the last road trip out to Big Hill Springs park.

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And if you aren't a bot, feel free to comment saying so. There is no "I'm not a robot" test. Promise.

Of the Day

Driftwood (NZ)

Film

Linda

Yes, the little speck off in the distance is Linda.

Newfoundland

Why ever didn't I publish this, and maybe I did

90 days, or so ago

On a road trip, where this was the most photogenic sight at this particular stop.

Flower

Landscape

Dino related

A reflection, just because

Flowery Friday 19

Where was I? That week disappeared quickly. I guess that's what happens when you're having fun.

A bit of a flowery hodgepodge, starting on July 3 and going to July 20.

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Of the Day

Driftwood (NZ)

Film

Linda

Newfoundland

Why ever didn't I publish this, and maybe I did

90 days, or so ago

Or rather, the oldest not a flower photo in the 90 day folder

Flower

Landscape

Dino related