In late September/Early October 2009, Hubs and I took my parents on an Alaskan cruise.

We added enough time on both ends of the cruise to drive both to and from the Vancouver, Canada cruise terminal. To this point, we had taken my parents on several driving vacations. It was our favourite mode of travel because it allowed us to show them so many different places they would have never otherwise experienced. I’ll dedicate a future post to the joys and benefits we experienced during those vacations.

Vancouver, British Columbia is 1926 Km (almost 1200 miles) from where we live. On the way there, we toured through southern Alberta (our neighbouring province) and then headed down through Idaho, Oregon and Washington and back up to Vancouver. We came home from the cruise entirely through Canada.

One memorable stop on the way home was in British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley. This region is known for its wineries, orchards, mild climate, pine forests, and numerous provincial parks.

The large displays of fruits and autumn vegetables at various vendors alongside the highway made for a colourful drive. Although I was shooting with a DSLR camera at the time of that trip, my feature photo isn’t as crisp as I’d like. I fiddled around a bit with curves in post processing and got it to where I felt I could use it. As I was editing, I smiled to myself, knowing that today, I’d be able to get a much crisper and better exposed shot of this scene, using my iPhone.

If you’re interested in reading more about our Alaskan Cruise, here are the links to a couple of posts I made a few years ago about it :

The Cleanest Air Anywhere

The Spectacular White Pass/Yukon Route

“Aside from wine tasting, festivals, and farmers-market hopping, popular pursuits include cycling the Kettle Valley Rail Trail and boating on Okanagan Lake. Sunny and hot with fragrant sage, lavender fields, and vineyards spanning the hillsides, the long valley is filled with an expansive lake.”

hellobc.com