This is the Icefields Parkway, one of the most amazing, breathtaking, eye-popping drives I have ever been on in my adventures around the world. This is just one of many views your brain will be permanently etched with, along the 140 mile highway that parallels the Continental Divide. Few places in the world have scenery as replete as this. You have small and large glaciers at every turn, rugged, worn and tall rock faced mountains, emerald aqua blue lakes, roaring rivers and quiet little streams, waterfalls of the typical sort and green rocky mountain fir trees as far as the eye can see. And if that scenery isn’t enough, throw in the chance to encounter wildlife that spans the gamut with grizzly bears, black bears, elk, bighorn sheep, mountain goats, caribou, lynxes and bobcats. Where else in the world can you get that, all in one place? I wish we had more time for that part of the trip, for I could spend days and days photographing scenes like this at every turn. Icefields Parkway, Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada Google Maps Location: no GPS, somewhere along Highway 93
The Arashiyama Bamboo Forest in Kyoto, is one of the most peaceful places I have been. There's just something about wind rustling through these tall spires of bamboo, that completely enshroud you in a canopy, into another world away from the city. I woke up super early to be here pre-tourist crowds and get that beautiful morning soft glow light. I was the only one there, in addition to an older man, out for a morning walk. You can see him blurred in the center of the path, ambling along.
Mount Aspiring National Park Highway 6 Otago Region New Zealand Google Maps Location: http://goo.gl/m2gPIW