Happy Sunday! Another cool theme this week! Get it? Because last week’s theme was “cool colors?” Anyway, Anne from Slow Shutter Speed is hosting this week’s Lens-Artists Photo Challenge with the theme of Shorelines.

When I saw the word – Shoreline – my mind immediately began cycling through all the places I’ve been to with keyword Shoreline, since there’s no shoreline near me. There’s a trail called Bonneville Shoreline Trail, which is the ramnants of Lake Bonneville, a gigantic lake that occupied most of northern Utah millions of years ago. Alas, it’s no longer a lake, just a dusty trail marking what it was.

Anyway, I thought back to my first big trip after I took up photography as a hobby, which was my 2017 trip to the Canadian Rockies. Throughout the Canadian leg of the trip, my aunt and I saw so many rivers and lakes that I’ve lost track of the names. To this day, I can only ever remember the Athabasca Falls, Emerald Lake, Lake Minnewanka, Kootenay River, and Kicking Horse River, all thanks to my writing them down on the caption of the photos.

Kicking Horse River is located in British Columbia, Canada and it’s part of Yoho National Park. It’s a relatively small park compared to Banff and Jasper. Of the 6 days we spent on the Canadian leg, only half day was spent in this park, so it should give you an idea of how small it is compared to the others.

I think we can all agree that 2020 was a horrible year – some of us were under lockdown, most of us were being told to stay at home and not to go out unless it’s absolutely necessary – although I never experienced lockdown during the pandemic and the only safety guideline to wear a mask in public places, I still got to the edge of having cabin fever being stuck at home with my mom.

Thankfully, her friend had to come and install her daughter in college and my mom happens to be her only friend in town. My mom decided to show her friend around town, which gave me a chance to finally get out of the house. I went to the only place where I knew I would not be reminded of the times I was in – 10,000 feet elevation.

The trail is called Three Lakes Divide. I’m not sure what it means because I saw probably a dozen lakes on the trail, most had water so calm that I didn’t need long exposure to capture the reflection in the water. The trail felt like a continuous gallery of lakes. I got so many pictures of lakes that eventually, I just wanted to finish the 6-mile trail and go home.

Next, I want to bring you to my 2017 big trip. I thought that was a pretty unique photo of the shoreline of Yellowstone Lake. If I remember correctly, this was the eastern side of park in May. It was a long drive, I tell ya, I started the day in Keystone, South Dakota, after finishing the Mount Rushmore/Crazy Horse leg of our trip, I knew it would be a long drive journeying across the state of Wyoming to the east gate of Yellowstone in Cody.

I’ve never been to the eastern side of Yellowstone and didn’t know what I expected but it certainly was different from the rest of the park. The forest must had recently devastated by wildlife because most of it was charred. The weather could only be described as cold because that was all I remember feeling.

What’s more interesting was Yellowstone Lake was frozen in this section but when I got to the Fishing village, it was not frozen.

Finally, I thought I would end with a more recent photo of a shoreline. This is Strawberry Bay from 2022 during the final family outing. After more than 2 years of not having any more family picnics, dinners, and barbecues, my mom seems to have no regrets of ruining her relationship with her siblings by treating them as she has treated me.