#TravelTuesday: The Canadian Rockies | Atlanta Travel Photographer

March 4, 2016

Wanderlust (n.) a strong, innate desire to rove or travel about.

We are adventurers, Thomas and I.  It’s one of the forces that pull our souls together like magnets.  I recently learned that the term wanderlust is a derivative of the German words wandern (to hike) and lust (desire), altogether meaning “enjoyment of hiking.”  While I may be stricken with the curse (is it a curse?) of gypsy blood, this enjoyment of hiking is our sweet spot.

Every year, we go on several mini-adventures and at least one grand journey.  In 2015, our travel escapades took us to the Canadian Rockies.  Why Canada?  Simple.  As we sat on our apartment floor watching Legends of the Fall, we turned to one another and declared we needed to go where that was filmed…and “that ain’t ‘Merica!”  We googled it and started planning our 10-day backpacking trip across Alberta, Canada.

Our excursion began in Edmonton, where we sauntered around the city and neighborhoods awakening our senses to the adventures ahead of us, away from screens and work.  The next morning, we headed west for Jasper and escaped the grid.  We mountain biked, backpacked, camped, hiked, paddled, gazed, wandered, wondered and re-centered across Jasper, Banff, Canmore and Golden.

It was an extraordinary adventure, full of all things awe-inspiring and breathtakingly beautiful.  And, of course, loaded with belly-laughter grade fun.  When I peruse the images from my camera, from our phones and even our tiny instax polaroids of this trip, I float away on the same sorts of feels I get when I run my eyes over our wedding photos—dripping with glory and wondrous nostalgia.

As a photographer, I sometimes get lost in the feed-my-belly business of picture-making and forget how truly powerful visual storytelling can be.  Though these photographs may not capture every moment or every detail, they have the unique power of igniting all of my senses to recall magnificent memories, even years later.  Long after my mind is gone, these images will remain…and hopefully, the stories that they tell.

In 2016, where are you going?

 

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