This post is the third and final chapter of our Manitoba travel tale.

As we toured this beautiful province for five weeks alongside 18 other Airstream couples this fall, little did we know this adventure would become one of the most memorable of our lives. (There are a couple of videos at the end of this post that reveal why.)

In my first post Manitoba: Through an Artist's Eye, I shared with you my favourite photos of the Manitoba landscape.

My second post Artist's Travels: Hidden Gems of Northern Manitoba, detailed our fascinating visits with farmers at their potato, canola, honey, bison, and softwood farming operations.

As enthralling as these aspects of our tour were, the icing on our proverbial cake was a five-day excursion to Churchill, on the shores of Hudson Bay, to see polar bears and northern lights.

Having left our trucks and trailers at a campground in Thompson, we boarded a Via Rail train for the 15-hour overnight ride to Churchill.

Our hosts from Frontiers North picked us up at the train station the next morning and gave us a bus tour of Churchill. This included a visit to the town's Polar Bear Holding Facility, shown below. The 'jail' has 28 cells.

We learned that from mid October to the end of November each year, about 300 polar bears gather at the shore of Hudson Bay near Churchill. They wait for sea ice to form, so their winter seal hunt can begin.

Polar bears are marine mammals whose main diet is seal blubber. They catch seals by ambushing them at their blow holes in the ice.

The bears we were soon to meet had not eaten since spring when the ice melted. They spent their summer inland, without food, resting and living off of their body fat reserves.

Polar bears are powerful predators. A mature adult male can be ten feet long and weigh 1,500 lbs - a dangerous threat to humans.

Churchill is very protective of its polar bear population and does its best to keep bears away from townspeople. But now and then a hungry bear gets too close to town.

In that case, the bear is caught in a bear trap similar to the one shown here, using seal meat as bait. The bear is transported to jail and kept there until sea ice forms. Then the bear is anaesthetized, netted, and transported by helicopter far up the coast so it can reach the ice from there.

While in jail, the bear is not given anything to eat, so it will not associate the facility with food. In other words, the bear's fast continues whether it is incarcerated or not.

After the town tour, we were dropped off at the Tundra Buggy dock to board this 40-passenger cross between a Greyhound bus and a Hummer.

The tires were as tall as I and the electric powered vehicle was custom-built to navigate the rough terrain of the tundra while keeping passengers safe from bears. The open air viewing deck at the back made photographing wildlife easier.

Once we boarded the Tundra Buggy, our feet did not touch ground for three days. The reason was twofold: to keep us safe from bears, and to keep the tundra as untouched by humans as possible. The Tundra Buggies adhere to a strict trail network in the Churchill Wildlife Management Area to protect the delicate tundra ecosystem.

After spending the afternoon meandering over rough terrain full of rocks and shallow ponds, listening to stories from our guide and our driver, and seeing bears and ptarmigan, (more about that later), we docked at the Tundra Lodge, pictured here on the shore of Hudson Bay.

I would describe this portable, self-contained resort as a travel trailer on steroids. The Lodge unit on the right was our sleeping car, with each little square window representing a single bunk. There were hot showers and flush toilets, as the Lodge had storage tanks for fresh water and waste water.

The unit with the viewing deck on top was our lounge. Beyond that were the dining hall, kitchen, and staff lodging. Outdoor viewing platforms connected each unit to the next one. For two nights we stayed in this comfortable resort overlooking Hudson Bay. We slept well in cozy bunk beds and enjoyed chef-created meals in the dining hall.

For another two days we crawled over rough terrain in the Tundra Buggy, coming close to bears many times and spotting other arctic wildlife such as fox, hare, bald eagle, and many small birds. On our last day, one female polar bear came within 20 feet of our vehicle.

I have so much excellent photographic footage of our bear encounters that I made this video to share the most exciting highlights with you. Click on the image below and meet some bears! (The video is 12 minutes long so may take a few moments to load, depending on your internet speed. Trust me - it will be worth the wait.)

While we were at the Tundra Lodge, northern lights that had eluded us for the entire Manitoba trip finally made their appearance on a clear night.

Those of us brave souls who donned coats over PJ's and ventured outside in the wee hours of the morning were treated to an epic display of red, purple, and green Aurora dancing among brilliant stars over Hudson Bay. The sight was profoundly beautiful and took our breath away.

On the overnight train back to Thompson, a few of us caught another strong show of northern lights, this time all in brilliant green.

Then, incredibly, we experienced the strongest celestial show as we journeyed south towards Winnipeg.

The rays of scarlet, pink, and green light danced throughout the entire dome of the sky for several hours. Words cannot express the wonder we felt as we witnessed this natural phenomenon. It was an overwhelmingly moving experience.

I was able to capture a multitude of stunning photos of the aurora with my iPhone and made this six-minute slideshow of our best northern lights sightings.

I hope you have enjoyed my travel tales of northern Manitoba, and that I have been able to convey the enthralling magic of our experiences. I also hope you can witness these natural wonders in person one day.

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This fall my husband and I had a grand adventure: a five-week guided camping tour of Manitoba from Winnipeg to Churchill and back.

In my last blog post Manitoba: Through an Artist's Eye, I shared with you my favourite photos of the Manitoba landscape, from my perspective as an artist.

For my second post, I am revealing some hidden gems we discovered during the first few weeks of our tour. We were privileged to have access to several family-owned farms where we learned about their way of life in this surprisingly fertile pocket of northern terrain.

We talked to the owner of Spud Plains Farms, the largest potato growing operation in Manitoba, and saw his potato harvesting equipment in action in the fields. We also watched one of his enormous, climate-controlled, potato storage barns being filled by conveyor belt.

Enjoy this two-minute video showing the fascinating process at Spud Plains Farms:

Near Neepawa, we were enthralled by several presentations at RNR Galbraith Farms, telling the story of their canola business.

Canola (an abbreviation of 'Canadian oil'), was developed by plant breeders in Saskatchewan and Manitoba during the 1960s and 1970s. Today, there are 7,500 canola farmers in Manitoba.

Canola plants grow 3 to 6 feet tall and produce beautiful yellow flowers in early summer. These develop into pods, resembling very slender pea pods.

Each pod contains dozens of tiny black seeds, which are made up of about 45% oil. Seeds are harvested in the fall and crushed to extract the oil.

Amazing Fact: Just one bushel (23 kg or 50 lbs.) of canola seed, represented by the black plastic cube in this photo, produces 11 litres (2.4 gallons) of canola oil!

Canola oil is used in a wide range of products all over the world, so it was interesting to get our hands on some canola honey at Pretty Valley Honey Farm in the Swan River Valley. Yes, bees gather nectar from nearby canola fields to make this delicious honey.

The beekeeper gave us a guided tour of his family operation, which included about 3,000 hives. He produces honey for BeeMaid, a cooperative of over 300 western Canadian beekeepers. Pretty Valley Honey Farm also creates a wide array of beautiful candles made from pure beeswax.

Interesting fact: In wintertime, if you see a bunch of dead bees on the snow surrounding a beehive, that is not cause for alarm. It means the worker bees have been keeping their hive clean by removing bee bodies as they naturally die. If there are no dead bees outside the hive, it means there are no bees still alive to do the housecleaning.

Near The Pas, we were thrilled to visit a small bison herd at Round the Bend Farm and help the farmer move his free range chickens to a new section of pasture. Now we know the answer to that age old question ’Why did the chicken cross the road?’ It was because a bunch of tourists were chasing it!

We ended our visit with a campfire dinner of bison tenderloin shish kebabs and green tomato pie. Delicious!

Enjoy this 5-minute video about our day on the farm and all the healthy, happy animals we met there:

At Spruce Products Ltd., a mill that has produced dimensional softwood lumber since 1942, we learned about another type of farming - growing trees that take up to 80 years to mature - and how the operation utilizes every bit of those trees for various products and it’s own energy use.

In the mill, a computer assesses each log and determines optimally what size and quantity of lumber will be cut from that log. Byproducts such as sawdust are pressed into pellets for wood stoves and shavings from the planer are bundled up to be sold as horse bedding. The bark and other log trimmings are burned to heat the drying kiln (pictured here), which removes moisture from the cut lumber to reduce warping.

Incredible fact: each board produced in this mill is stamped with a code and photographed. If there is ever a complaint about any piece of lumber afterwards, the mill can refer back to the photo taken during manufacture to investigate the complaint.

As fun and interesting as these agricultural tours were, the crowning glory on our guided caravan was an excursion to Churchill to see northern lights and polar bears.

I will share amazing photos and video footage of this extraordinary 5-day adventure in my next blog post, but for now here is a teaser shot of a curious polar bear checking us out.

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This month my husband and I concluded a five-week camping tour of Manitoba from Winnipeg to Churchill and back. We were on a guided adventure along with 18 other Airstream couples. Pictured above are some of our trailers, camped in the moonlight on the last night of our tour.

We had a wonderful time getting to know everyone on the trip, and enjoyed a wide variety of interesting and educational excursions together. But this post is not about our itinerary.

Instead, I am sharing with you my favourite photos of the Manitoba landscape, from my perspective as an artist. These references will provide authentic details for future paintings.

This is Clear Lake in Riding Mountain National Park near Dauphin. The leaning tree on the point caught my eye but I also love the rocks in the foreground and the moody sky.

We enjoyed a sunny autumn hike on the Rex Leach Museum Trail in Swan River. I like the contrast of yellow leaves and blue sky. The curving pathway invites the viewer to step into the scene to see what is around the bend.

I almost stepped on this cluster of tiny mushrooms on the trail to The Caves in Clearwater Lake Provincial Park. They make a perfectly balanced composition as they sit basking in the autumn sunshine.

Clearwater Lake is spring fed and lacks major in-flowing streams which may carry silt. This helps to keep the water very clear. I have seen this lovely turquoise colour in Lake Superior and would love to include it in a painting.

The rock lover in me is drawn to the rocky shoreline of Clearwater Lake. The autumn foliage adds a punch of contrasting colour.

As we enjoyed an interpretive forest walk on the Grace Lake Trail near Dauphin, I noticed the sunlight illuminating these red leaves. Glorious!

My husband and I took a side trip to Flin Flon to visit a friend who gave us a tour of the area. This rocky landscape punctuated with autumn poplars touches my soul.

Near Thompson we stopped to admire Pisew Falls. It was absolutely beautiful. The contrast of white water beside dark forest and rocks makes a stunning composition.

On the train from Thompson to Churchill, we saw lots of wilderness scenery from our window. The tamaracks were in their full autumn glory the week we were there. They are a deciduous conifer whose soft needles turn golden in the fall, drop from the tree and regrow each spring.

There was an endless parade of northern scenery from the train. This dawn scene over a wetland area has a beautiful sky.

The train crossed several rivers which afforded nice views of unspoiled shoreline. I liked the rocks and tamaracks in this one. These trees are also called larch.

As we explored the terrain between Churchill and Hudson Bay in an electric people mover called a Tundra Buggy, we saw many of these lopsided evergreens known as flag trees. They only have branches on the lee side because the branches on the windy side are killed or deformed by the constant wind, hence giving the tree a flag-like appearance.

These unique rocks form part of the tundra landscape. They have been scraped flat by glaciers, which also deposited the gravel.

I love the colours and forms of this rocky shoreline of Hudson Bay near Churchill's harbour. They definitely will make it into a future painting.

These striped rocks on the shore of Setting Lake at Wabowden would make a great foreground for a painting. The stripes lead the viewer's eye into the scene.

This photo shows the structure of roadside tamarack trees very well. I like the contrast of their yellow needles against the other conifers and the blue sky.

This shallow bay in Cross Lake near Grand Rapids has several interesting features. I am intrigued by the ribbons of refracted light that are dancing over the pebble bottom. The reflected light on the water surface on the left is interesting too. Foliage colours are warm and inviting.

I love the brilliant scarlet and gold of this fiery sunset on Cross Bay Lake and the hint of distant rain. I may use these elements in a future northern lake painting.

I am happy to share this brief glimpse of our Manitoba adventure. I hope seeing my photos and reading my thoughts about them gives you an idea of how an artist views the world. 

Stay tuned for more stories from our Manitoba trip. I can't wait to show you the amazing farms, majestic polar bears, and epic northern lights we encountered.

If you have comments you wish to share, please do so using the 'Leave a Comment' button at the top of this post. 

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This past summer and fall, my husband and I enjoyed a 5-month camping adventure in our Airstream trailer. We began our trip by travelling to the west coast through the USA and back through Canada. I shared highlights of the western portion of our explorations in these posts:

My Summer Travels in the High Desert

Pacific Northwest: Forests and Freshwater

We spent the final two months of our journey discovering the wonders of the American states surrounding Lake Michigan. This exploration began with with a tour of the Upper Peninsula, which lies between Lake Superior and Lake Michigan.

Although there was much to see and do in the 'UP' as the locals call it, the most exciting highlight of our time here was taking a scenic afternoon cruise out of Munising, Michigan to see Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.

This 42-mile stretch of protected lakeshore includes 15 miles of towering multi-coloured sandstone cliffs, as well as beaches, sand dunes, waterfalls, inland lakes, and forests. Pictured Rocks was established in 1966 and is managed by the National Park Service.

The cliffs reach a height of 200 feet and are made entirely of sandstone. The sedimentary rock layers erode at varying rates due to different densities. This produces the sea caves, arches, pillars, and other fantastic sandstone formations we see today.

Colourful vertical streaks are caused by groundwater seeping through the sandstone and depositing dissolved minerals on the cliff face. The orange-red streaks are iron, blue-green are copper, brown-black are manganese, and white are limonite. When afternoon or evening sunshine lights up these cliffs, the glow of rock contrasted with clear turquoise water is breathtaking.

I put together a short video from our scenic cruise, to give you a glimpse of the unique majesty of these natural formations. Click on the image below to enjoy two minutes of relaxing sights and sounds.

Our boating excursion was hosted by Pictured Rocks Cruises and I highly recommend their services.

I expect a few of these remarkable rock formations will find their way into a painting or two of mine down the road. I hope I can do justice to these natural wonders. Stay tuned!

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My husband and I thoroughly enjoyed exploring western USA and Canada in our Airstream trailer this year. It has all the comforts of a small apartment, and I often refer to it as our mobile condo.

During the 20 weeks we were away, we drove just over 20,000 km which made for a comfortable, relaxed pace. Some locales we visited only a day or two, and others had us settling in for a week or more, depending on what there was to see and do in the area.

In previous blog posts I shared my favourite photo highlights from the first half of our trip. If you missed them, here are the links:

My Summer Travels in the High Desert

Pacific Northwest: Forests and Freshwater.

I will be sharing more travel stories and including videos and photo highlights of our trip in coming months, as time permits. I have a lot of painting to do, since the fall and winter seasons are when I produce the majority of my artwork.

However, as we travelled, I made sure to take time for a few hours of painting every week or so.

I have learned that this regular creative time is essential to my well-being. I get cranky if I have a long stretch of time without having fun making art.

My husband would go off to see a car show or for a walk, and I would set up my portable studio at the dinette in our trailer, as pictured here.

My painting setup is very simple: a fistful of brushes, two small travel palettes, a dozen small tubes of paint, pre-cut sheets of watercolour paper, a few foam board supports, and some reference photos. I also employ a folding LED desk lamp, old rags to protect the dinette surfaces, and some repurposed pantry equipment.

I generally had three paintings in progress at any one time, so if I had to stop working on a painting while it dried, I could work on another one in the meantime.

Getting all my equipment set up at the dinette takes about five minutes, so it is no trouble to paint for just two or three hours, and then put everything away.

Cleanup takes about ten minutes, including washing my brushes. Watercolour is especially suitable for a mobile studio like this, as there are no solvents needing disposal.

To avoid the risk of mould or mildew, I have to let my paintings, brushes, and rags dry fully before I pack them away. I also need to let my palettes dry so the paint won't spill during storage. Watercolour paint can be reused another day, by adding water to dissolve the dried paint. This is another factor that makes this medium ideal for travel.

I came up with the idea of using the shower stall in our Airstream bathroom as an overnight drying area. This keeps all the materials out of our way so we can use the living area of the trailer. This photo shows three paintings drying after a painting session.

The shower seat holds the paintings on their supports as well as my palettes. On the floor is a zippered clear plastic bag (the kind that blankets come packaged in) that I use as a storage case. Resting on top of that is a rag and my wet brushes. The shower stall has a small retractable clothesline (not shown in the photo) that I use to hang more rags to dry.

After drying, all my painting supplies fit into the blanket bag, which I then stow into one of our overhead cupboards in the Airstream.

I was very happy to complete these ten new paintings during our travels. That equates to an average of one painting every two weeks.

Back home in my art studio, I mounted the watercolour paintings onto archival wood panels, shown here.

I use various heavy objects at hand (including my awesome pebble collection) to help affix the watercolour paper to the cradled panels.

Once the adhesive was dry, these paintings were trimmed, varnished, and framed. A few of these new paintings have found their forever homes and the rest are being delivered to my retail galleries in Huntsville, Fenelon Falls, and Port Perry, ON. To view details and locations of the remaining pieces, visit the New Paintings page on my web site.

For a complete description of how I mount and varnish my watercolours, see my article Framing Watercolours Without Glass.

We had a wonderful holiday and it feels great to be back home again. I am keen to start on several large scale northern landscape paintings in my roomy studio. Now that cold weather is here, my little gas fireplace will be put to good use.

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When examining the map of the Pacific Northwest region of North America, one might assume that mountains would be the most remarkable feature travelers would encounter.

But when my husband and I explored the Pacific Northwest for five weeks in July and August, I found this not to be the case.

As we camped and hiked throughout northern Idaho, Washington, and southern BC, I was much more intrigued by the pine trees, lakes, and rivers we encountered.

In my view, the mountains became more of an attractive backdrop that gave context to the landscape.

The first group of photographs pictured here were taken as we explored northern Idaho, following our travels in the high desert of Wyoming and southern Idaho in June and July.

Journeying north from Boise, we followed along the Salmon River and were thrilled to see many parties of river rafters floating in the current.

We didn't have a chance to investigate this time, but if we return to this part of the world, we will look into taking a guided rafting trip down the Salmon River.

It looked like a lot of fun, not too challenging, and the scenery was gorgeous.

When we used to travel all over the US and Canada by motorcycle, we attended a Honda Gold Wing rally in Coeur d'Alene and were impressed by the beauty of the area.

As we planned this year's trip, we were sure to include a visit to this scenic lake, pictured here from the Mineral Ridge hiking trail.

We were thrilled to take a site seeing cruise on Lake Coeur d'Alene one warm evening. We got to know some of our fellow passengers and enjoyed excellent live music by a local band, while watching the sun go down over the surrounding hills.

It was a magical experience and the scenery reminded me of Lake Muskoka, with many luxury homes and resorts nestled along the shore.

We journeyed on from northern Idaho across Washington and up to Vancouver to visit family and friends for a week. Then we made our way south to Olympia, Washington.

For two weeks we camped at the Washington Land Yacht Harbor, an Airstream-only RV park and mobile home community.

From there, we explored the area around Tacoma. We asked a local resident about scenic hiking areas and she directed us to a hidden gem near the town of Yelm.

It was Deschutes Falls Park, a 155 acre sanctuary featuring a lovely old growth forest and a small river gorge, and we spent a pleasant afternoon hiking in this shady park.

In this photo I am standing beside one of the venerable trees beside the forest walking path.

The river water dropped 27 feet over rapids and a series of small waterfalls, interspersed with calm clear pools. All we could hear were the soothing sounds of trickling water, a breeze in the treetops, and birdsong.

The moss-covered rocks were a type of conglomerate that looked very different from the Ontario granite and limestone I am used to.

Another day, we took a bus trip to Crystal Mountain (the largest ski resort in the state of Washington) with some fellow Airstreamers. We enjoyed a gondola ride up the mountain and lunch at Summit House restaurant.

As our cable car slowly ascended, more and more of the surrounding mountain ranges came into view.

I loved seeing the progression of blue shades in the mountains, from pale cerulean in the far distance, gradually darkening to a smokey navy blue in the foreground. 

You can see two gondolas in the centre of this photo.

At the summit of Crystal Mountain we enjoyed beautiful views of the Cascade Range and Mount Ranier, which we learned is pronounced ‘rah-NEER’ in Washington. (We had been calling it ‘RAY-nee-er’.)

With its snow cap glowing white in the sunshine, contrasting with the clear blue sky, Mount Ranier was an impressive sight. We also could see Mount St. Helens and Mount Baker (which we had glimpsed often when visiting Vancouver.).

Our travels then took us east through Washington, crossing back into Canada at Yahk, BC, where we found a delightful little place to stay for a few days.

River's Edge Ranch RV Park was nestled on the bank of the Moyie River, which was a shallow glacial stream with a gravel bottom.

In this photo of the campground, you can see our Airstream on the right.

The campground was just off the Crowsnest Highway and was part of a horse farm, surrounded by the Kootenay Rockies.

The owner said we could hike beside the pasture area, so we were able to stretch our legs and see the horses up close.

We drove to nearby Creston for groceries (having crossed from the USA with a nearly empty fridge) and were delighted to find many roadside stands selling local produce from vegetable farms and fruit orchards. We loaded up on organic sweet peppers, summer squash, cherries, nectarines, and apples. Delicious!

The next day we walked into the quirky village of Yahk, home of Two Pump Paul's gas station, and enjoyed lunch at a tiny ice cream shop and cafe called Two Scoops Steve's. Next door was an artisan soap shop that had a pen of pet white goats.

Between the two stores was an entrance to a public garden that lead to a charming forest walk, which eventually brought us to this beautiful spot on the Moyie River.

Our stay in this interesting community, surrounded by breathtaking natural beauty, was as delightful as it was unexpected, and allowed us to conclude our visit to the Pacific Northwest on a high note. It was time to head east towards Ontario and more adventures...

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I grew up in northern Ontario near Algonquin Park, and my formative years were spent on the Canadian Shield, a land of rocks and pristine blue lakes and rivers. As an adult, my art now centers on the wild scenery I learned to love in my youth.

When my husband and I spent several weeks exploring high desert regions of the USA earlier this summer, I was surprised to discover the most beautiful places we visited also featured rock and blue water.

Over the course of three weeks, we sampled the scenic delights of Wyoming, northern Utah, Idaho, and eastern Washington. In this post I am sharing my favourite photos of the dramatically beautiful landscape we discovered there.

Our mode of travel is a pickup truck towing our 2021 Airstream Classic 30-foot travel trailer.

I think of our recreational vehicle as a moveable condo, with all the comforts of home including full kitchen, 3-piece bathroom, bedroom, dining area, lounge, art studio, and internet access to support all our entertainment and communication needs.

We began our trip in early June, crossing from Ontario into the USA at Niagara Falls, and headed straight west to Wyoming.

Our main reason for going there was to spend an exciting, informative week at the 2023 Airstream Club International Rally, held at a huge outdoor events complex in Rock Springs.

Ours was one of 1,200 Airstream trailers and motor homes hosted at the site, each provided with full utility connections. In this photo, taken by a drone flown by one of the 2,300 attendees, you can see about a quarter of the Airstreams camped there.

At the rally, we met tons of friendly, interesting people, got to see inside vintage trailers, and attended a variety of camping-related seminars.

For example, I went to two Instant Pot cooking demonstration sessions and my husband learned about optimizing solar power on trailers, and tire maintenance.

One day, we went on a sight-seeing bus trip to tour around the 91-mile long Flaming Gorge reservoir, pictured here and at the top of this article.

We both enjoyed the rally trade show offering travel accessories and equipment for sale, and I volunteered at a fund-raising art show to benefit a local charity.

In the evenings, there were themed dances and concerts, and star gazing with telescopes.

One of the aspects I loved about the high desert was the dramatic and huge skies we saw there.

With no large trees to block the view, one could appreciate the vastness of the weather patterns in all directions.

I took this photo of an approaching rain storm from our trailer at the rally one evening.

Elsewhere in Wyoming, we hiked on Indian Bathtubs Trail to see some interesting granite rock formations, shown here. The rocks have unusual depressions caused by natural erosion.

According to legend, when the Great Spirit decided to give rain, Native Americans played in these 'tubs'.

As we journeyed on through southern Idaho, we were very keen to visit Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve to see the lava fields there.

The most interesting feature was the lava tubes. These are natural conduits formed by lava flowing from volcanic vents.

The surface lava cools and hardens, forming tubes that later become empty underground caves after the hot lava drains away.

Over millions of years, the roof of the caves collapses here and there, creating access openings to the underground tunnels.

In this photo, my husband is pictured inside one of the huge caves. The rock debris in front of him is from a collapsed roof.

Elsewhere in Idaho, we learned the Snake River aquifer is an important resource, providing sustainable irrigation for farming a wide variety of crops in the desert, including the famed Idaho potato.

When we approached the city of Twin Falls, suddenly this huge Snake River gorge appeared below us. As we stopped to take photos, we were thrilled to see base jumpers leaping off the bridge to parachute into the river.

On the other side of town, we stopped by another section of the Snake River to view Shoshone Falls, which is often called 'Niagara of the West'.

It is 212 feet (65 meters) in height, 45 feet (14 meters) higher than Niagara Falls. Shoshone Falls flows over a rim nearly 1,000 feet (300 meters) wide. It was a wondrous sight to behold.

The Snake River originates in Wyoming, crosses southern Idaho, and flows west into Washington where it empties into the Columbia River, which is pictured here.

Having spent several weeks in the high desert, I understand how important these large river systems are to the region.

It is uniquely awe-inspiring to drive through an arid desert landscape, full of dusty brown and grey rock, and suddenly come upon a vast ribbon of deep blue life-giving water.

Stay tuned for an upcoming post, where I will share photos from the next leg of our summer journey, as we explored the Pacific Northwest.

If you have comments you wish to share, please do so using the 'Leave a Comment' button at the top of this post. 

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Throughout this past spring, summer, and fall, my husband and I enjoyed seven camping excursions in Ontario in our Airstream. We were out for a total of eighty days. 

I wrote about the major trips in previous posts, One Magic Island is Enough (June in Muskoka), My Fabulous Frog Encounter (June in Point Pelee), and Visiting Northern Vistas (August in Manitoulin, Lake Superior, and Lake of the Woods).

I was able to paint and gather extensive inspiration for new artwork, while enjoying hiking and boating in these beautiful regions.

We concluded the camping season with a ten-day stay just west of Algonquin Park. Our timing was perfect, and we witnessed some of the loveliest fall foliage we have seen in years.

The weather was sunny and mild for most of our stay, and we hiked almost every day as the fall colours came to full glory around us. It was a truly magical time and now I have enough fall foliage photos for decades of paintings!

It was impossible to whittle down my best shots to just a handful for this post, so I made a video slideshow instead.

Click on the image below to view a glorious autumn in Muskoka, seen through an artist's eye (3-minute video). Enjoy!

Thank you to my friend Roger who took the photo of me beside the Oxtongue River, shown on the title page of the slideshow.

Where is your favourite place to see fall colours? If you have comments you wish to share, please do so using the 'Leave a Comment' button at the top of this post. 

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Our longest camping trip this summer was a four-week exploration of northwestern Ontario: Manitoulin Island, the North Channel, Lake Superior, and Lake of the Woods. During this trip I amassed many wonderful reference photos to inspire future paintings.

As I was reviewing the best of the best photographs to share with you, it struck me that my final selections, the ones that truly captured the sense of place, were stretched panoramas. The lakes and skies up north are so vast and wide, it's hard to take in all the beauty on display.

We spent the first week camping on Manitoulin Island, which is a very laid back place with a rural vibe and lots of historic barns. These Sandhill Cranes crossed a country road just as we approached in our truck. We see cranes like these every summer we travel in the north.

My husband and I (back) were accompanied by our long-time friends Carolyn and Roger (front), pictured here at a lookout on the famous Cup and Saucer Trail. We had no trouble finding daily excursions like this to keep active and search out beautiful scenery.

Shown above is a view of the North Channel near our Manitoulin Island campground, with the Ontario mainland in the distance. I love the patterns the wind and currents make on the intensely blue water.

Hoping for more photographic opportunities, we took a day cruise from Little Current harbour to the village of Killarney and back. Shown above is one of many 'paint-able' rocky points we cruised by. This type of rock reminds me of Georgian Bay, which is not surprising since the North Channel leads into Georgian Bay.

At Killarney, we saw many lovely summer homes on the rocky shore, but this humble cottage embodies that old-time Georgian Bay nostalgia.

As we cruised back to Little Current that afternoon, the sun came out and sprinkled diamonds on the waters of the North Channel, while a thunder cloud poured rain on Manitoulin.

After a very relaxing week on the Island, we journeyed north-westward to Lake Superior, camping at Wawa and then stopping at Terrace Bay to show our friends Aguasabon Falls and Gorge. There is a generous parking area, large enough to turn around and park our travel trailers, and a very short boardwalk hike that took us to this stunning view.

In the words of the town, "With a beautiful ferocity in the spring and a serene grace in the summer and fall, this spectacular 100 foot waterfall cascades into the Aguasabon Gorge—flowing along a 2.6 billion year old rock face." If your travels take you through Terrace Bay, watch for the signs to the Gorge and take a look at this natural wonder.

We camped for several days at Nipigon to attend the Live from the Rock Folk Festival, an annual music and arts festival held on the shore of Lake Superior in Red Rock. While there, we hiked up to the lookout over Nipigon Bay to view the islands of the Lake Superior Archipelago. The hilly shapes remind me of paintings by the Group of Seven. I love the grace and power of this place.

While our friends departed to spend time with family, my husband and I headed for Lake of the Woods, pictured above. We spent a glorious week there, visiting family and enjoying lakeside living. The weather was favourable and we spent an entire afternoon boating through a tiny section of the lake, which is an enormous body of water - 137 km long and 91 km wide at its widest point.

Lake of the Woods has a shoreline of just over 100,000 km if you count the shoreline of its many islands as well as the mainland. That's more than Lake Superior! There are 14,522 islands in Lake of the Woods.

And gosh, do I love painting those islands and points with their iconic twisted pines! Our visits to this lake have inspired dozens of paintings.

As we journeyed homeward, we made a point to camp a few nights at Marathon so I could visit my favourite Pebble Beach.

As is often the case, the weather was cool and foggy while we were there. I have only seen this beach once on a calm sunny day, and the rest of the time conditions have been misty or raining. But the mist adds a sense of hushed solitude that makes for very compelling paintings, and also makes the beach stones look more colourful than they do when dry. I like this shot above of my husband bending for a closer look. I had to lay flat on the stones to get the shooting angle I wanted.

While in town, we heard about a flat rock beach and searched it out. We were amazed at the great slabs of rock we found there along the Lake Superior shore. It felt very other-worldly.

Now that we know where this place is, I'll have TWO beaches to stop at every time we travel by Marathon. Thank goodness for a patient husband! I would love to see this landscape in sunshine, when the lake looks sapphire blue.

By the time we reached our home base in Lindsay, my husband and I had travelled 5,000 km on this month-long adventure. We came back with happy memories of fun times, a renewed appreciation of this remarkable province, and so much painting inspiration, I hardly knew where to begin!

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