Montreal - Just For Laughs

We usually try to get to the Just For Laughs Festival in Montreal every year. Unfortunately, the month of July is usually rainy and other than the first year it's pretty much been a rainy mess every year.

Next year, I'm taking a poncho and umbrella even if the forecast calls for sun all weekend.

We got a much later arrival than I planned. After starting out a bit later we made good time and even played catch at a rest area.

On the trip up both the Northway and I-15 was filled with popo's. An annoyance because not only were they frequent but they were using POP radar designed to defeat radar detectors.

Unlike last months smooth crossing we ended up with a long line at the border, followed by my Dad having to go into customs because he didn't have originals of the twins passports. Entering Canada without the mother is usually a production. After my dad convinced them that his passport and license matched the childrens birth certificates, he than had to show them emails from their mom talking about the trip.

After looking for parking and checking in it was 3pm. In the end it didn't matter. JFL's street performers started at around 2pm but by 3:30pm it was raining.

After spending a few hours at the festival we hopped on the Metro to go uptown (i think) to Ouzeri where we had dinner reservations, an excellent greek restaurant recommended by a Montreal local.

Following dinner we decided to walk back to Sherbrooke and perhaps the festival. There was a brew pub I wanted to check out on St. Denis.

We stopped off for some ice cream with hopes of the rain ending so we could enjoy some more of the festival. Not a chance, this is just for laughs and it rains. And that's no joke.

I had a 4am wakeup call for some photography in the Old City but of course the weather was less than spectacular. No blue hour, no golden hour, not even a real sunrise.

Below are some photos from this weekend:

Family Stuff:

technorati tags:Montreal, Vieux, Vieux Montreal, panorama, photography, Pentax, K10D

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Noonmark

Went up to Keene last night to camp and get an early(er) start Monday. After getting the tent setup around 10pm I had to figure out where I was going in the morning. It came down to Ampersand, Noonmark, Whiteface, or Catamount.

Although Catamount is another great smaller peak, it got the boot because it simply was too short for a full days hiking. It was also the furthest from camp. So I went to bed with one less choice for the morning.

When I got up at 8am, I ran into Agustina and Stephane and promptly found out that it was St. Jean Baptiste Day. This would explain the packed lot at the Alpine Club. So Whiteface was out.

Ampersand added 1 hour roundtrip to my drive and Noonmark was essentially on the way home...it then occured to me that I hadn't hiked Noonmark since 2001 following back surgery, and now it was 2007 and following knee surgery. Noonmark it was.

After a quick swim for Caney, and enough time for my "breakfast" to digest -a roast beef sandwhich and chocolate milk- we were off to the summit of Noonmark.

I actually forgot how great the views were on the summit of this pointy sundial over the valley. The mountain earned it's name because it does cast a shadow over the valley at noonish. And for the hiker 360* views, almost totally unobstructed. Dix, the Great Range, Giant, and Keene Valley are all within clear view. And way back out in the middle of no where is Whiteface with potentially crowds of tourist on it's summit.

On Noonmark today, for the price of a some sweat and fresh air, there were just 6 other people on the summit in the 2 hours I spent up top. I forgot this little 3500ft mountain had some of the best views in all of the Adirondacks.

Well, other than the black flies -who were swarming but didn't draw blood till the summit- and the fact that it was 15* hotter then forecast, we really couldn't have asked for a better day to be in the mountains.

Some photos from our short overnighter.

Big(ger) Verison.... (full size is over 16,000 pixels wide, this is 1/4 downsized).

technorati tags:ADK, Noonmark, High Peaks, wilderness, Daks, Adirondacks, hiking, climbing, dog, trail dog, panorama, Dix, Great Range

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The Albany Tulip Festival -A Celebration Of Albany's Dutch Heritage

What great weather for this often rained out festival. Perhaps Albany's biggest out door festival and it seems to rain every year.

For most of the weekend the sky was cloudless with warm temps. Aim and I are ridiculously sunburned for so early in May. A little wind always makes flower photography hard, so the weather wasn't perfect. At times it was downright windy. Believe me though, Mayor Jennings and the festival organizers weren't concerned with a little breeze blowing the tulips around. Some said it was the best weather in the festivals 50+ years.

Some photos below are from my two days of shooting at Washington Park, where the annual Tulip Festival is held, as well as around downtown Albany.

I won't bore you with details, other then to say, for a city that reached it's peak in the mid 1900's, Albany has tons of history. There are also tons great historical and modern architecture to keep a photographer busy.

Photos (click images to be taken to the larger files and captions):

technorati tags:Albany, tulip, festival, Jennings, Mayor, Amisha Gomes, City Hall, D&H, downtown, Washington, Park, lake house, riverfront, hudson, Broadway, bagpipes, moses, King Memorial, fountain, queen, bird, 518

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