Capturing the Art of Nature
Niagara Region (Day 2)
Quality time driving through the farms makes up for an uncooperative environment
Category
Ontario Adventures
2016
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Q
uesting after fall colors is why I come to Ontario in October. Over the years I have generally had a wide range of color displays. This year I am here a bit ahead of the peak fall colours so our drive through the back roads was not finding us much to shoot. The sky was still quite overcast so the colors that were out were muted. But this is getting a bit ahead of my story.
Being my first morning in Grimsby this year, we started out at 10am after a slower start due to jet lag. Breakfast was good but I always eat too much here, I need to try harder tomorrow. Mike arrived at 10 as planned and we got my gear together and carried it to the car. We had no definite plans so we decided to just head up the escarpment and drive south. The day was cool and a bit breezy with some gnarly clouds but it promised to clear as the day progressed.
Once up the escarpment we drove straight south looking for some color. Eventually we came by a field with colored trees at the far side. The sun was occasionally peeking out and lighting the trees so we didn't have long to wait for a brief view of some color. We gathered some photos and moved on. At this point I mentioned that I was collecting some bridge pictures, so Mike decided to head towards the Welland Canal area. We drove past a good number of fields and trees but little was inspiring us to stop.
Eventually we came to an older bridge crossing the canal for highway 20 but it was closed for maintenance. There was a parking area to the side so we pulled in there and parked and then we started scouting for photos. The parking area had one of the huge pulleys used in the bridge on display so we started with some photos of it. Then wandered along the canal to a spot where we could get a good view of the bridge.
Done with the bridge we walked back to the car and started off for the next adventure. We crossed over highway 20 and continued along the canal. Here we spotted a side road that led back to the canal on the north side of the bridge. It looked interesting so we decided to drive to the canal and take a few more bridge photos. Then the lift section of the bridge started rising but as we saw no ship we assumed it was for maintenance. A few more photos and we were back in the car and driving off but after a hundred feet Mike spotted a large ship heading up the canal! We quickly parked again and gathered a few more photos of the bridge with the ship. Now we had a good collection of interesting angles of the bridge and we packed up the third time and actually left
It was now lunch time and we looked for a spot to eat. A cafe in Thorold was found (On the Front Cafe and Eatery) and we went and ate. They had some really nice soup and sandwich choices which were very flavourful. A good find.
Once done with lunch we continued through the back roads and found a section of the escarpment with some color, the sun was now out full time. This section was formed by the stream that also flows through the Morningstar Mill where I have taken photos before - the Decew falls. It was a lovely spot in the sun. We then continued west slowly heading back to Grimsby and there we spotted a vineyard with several rows of grapes still on the vine. The purple grapes looked good and so we stopped to gather pictures.
As we completed, Mike reminded me that I had planned to do a radio contact with my friend Ralph in Vancouver. I got the radio going and the link up but we had missed him.
We then slowly made our way back west and closer to home but we didn't find anything more to shoot. So our day ended with many interesting photos but not a lot of color ones.