McG Does Canada! | McGowan Images Blog

WELCOME TO THE BLOG

McG Does Canada!

Our trip to Canada was kind of a whirlwind, but y’all know us… we don’t need much time to turn a working trip into an adventure. 🙂 We flew into Seattle late Friday afternoon drove up to Vancouver that night. My major regret is that Mack didn’t get to see much of Seattle at all. Oh well, we’ll just have to make another trip up there sometime!

The majority of our Adventure Time took place on Saturday, since the wedding was on Sunday and we flew out early Monday morning. You’ve obviously already seen the gorgeous wedding we shot in Stanley Park in Vancouver (right?? I mean, of course you have). So all that’s left is to share a few of our personal memories from the time up north!

We made one stop on our drive up to Vancouver, and it was unplanned. I was just sick to death of being confined… airplanes and airports and buses and now a rental car, they were all robbing me of fresh air and stretched legs. So Mack pulled off the interstate in Everett, Washington, and we drove until we found water. It wasn’t a long stop, but a huge refreshment to our weary spirits!

That bright yellow beauty up there? That’s Diana, my new toy. Hopefully before this month is out, I’ll dig up my favorites from all the film I’ve shot this year and share it here on the blog.

Bright & early Saturday morning, Mack and I went to the Capilano Suspension Bridge park. There are so many amazing sights in this area! I was a tad dubious of the per-person price, I’ll be honest, but it ended up being totally worth it. It was raining HARD, so I did the best I could photography wise, working around a plastic poncho and trying to protect my lens!

Oh hey, I forgot to mention! Mack and I weren’t alone! We were joined on this morning adventure by our friend Eric, who was celebrating his 30th birthday that day and I just refused to leave him alone while his wife (the ever-fabulous Meg of megBdesign) was working on wedding details for the next day. Eric’s other half eventually joined us, and we were a foursome for the rest of adventure day, but I gotta say… Eric is about my favorite third wheel ever, and I love this happy birthday picture of him on the bridge. 🙂

I just adore big trees. Next on my list is taking Mack to a redwood or sequoia forest in Northern California!

I took this picture specifically for our Star Wars-obsessed Jack, because at least to me, it looks JUST like the forest moon of Endor!

After we’d thoroughly explored the Capilano area, McG+B drove up the coast to Whistler, B.C., via the Sea-to-Sky Highway. It is without a doubt one of the most gorgeous drives I’ve ever taken. I’d recommend it to ANYONE in the area, and I hope to be able to do it again someday.

We took a wrong turn on the hunt to find lunch for Meg, and ended up finding one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen! The sign before the one below actually said in big letters “AT YOUR OWN RISK”, which, hello, is obviously a sign that a place is worth hiking to.

UGH. There it is. So gorgeous I could cry… not another human in sight, but dolphins jumping in the distance!

I love this girl.

This is a badly out of focus group picture taken by self-timer after I set my camera on a rock. Because it started raining and my camera was slipping off the rock, we didn’t try again… but it’s ok, I kind of love this one.

This open field we found kind of reminded Meg & I of a scene in the first Twilight movie, so what did we do??

We played baseball like the Cullens, of course! 🙂

This is Meagan risking life & limb to drink from a mountain waterfall. She claims it was pretty yumtacular.

We saw lots of waterfalls on our trip, but two really large ones. This is Brandywine Falls, up pretty close to Whistler. It was so foggy I was afraid the pictures wouldn’t turn out, but with a little digital elbow grease, I brought the color back to life. 🙂

The prettiest though, in my opinion, was Shannon Falls. A gas station owner told us to keep an eye out for this place, that it was very mystical in the fall. Man, was he right. SO breath-takingly beautiful!

This next tree-graffiti isn’t ours, it just reminded me of friends that Mack and I miss dreadfully. Love you, J&C!

Stunning view, right??

Finally, I have to share a small collection that was a serious labor of love for Mack. He took several panorama shots during the trip, which, since we didn’t bring a tripod, was hard work! Picture Mack painstakingly turning VERY slowly from one side to another with a huge lens on his camera, from the balcony of our hotel… in four different lighting situations. Well, I think it was totally worth it. The native size of these panorama files is 135 inches wide… EACH. I wish you could really see all the incredible color and detail that’s in them, but you’ll have to settle for the small web version. Hopefully, these will be hanging in someone’s house soon, and we can show them off properly! 🙂

Here it is… gorgeous downtown Vancouver!

Such an amazing trip, and a wonderful opportunity. We’ll never stop being grateful that we have wonderful clients who want to bring a little McG Magic with them when they travel the world! 🙂

  1. Kelsey says:

    I just fell in love with a place I’ve never been. I think this was just added to my bucket list. Gorgeous shots!

  2. megB says:

    I love you best. Thank you for taking us with you on this grand adventure! It’s one of my favorites yet 🙂

  3. KaylaS says:

    So ive decided Kyle and I are going here on our next adventure, hey you two should come! I love these, so beautiful!

  4. Loren B. says:

    Oh my lands!!!! I want to go to there.

  5. Kylie says:

    Love these! Now I wanna take Matt there…

  6. Mike says:

    STUNNNNNNING. McG+B…so incredibly amazing. Happy birthday, Eric! I love this post so very much. My dad grew up in the Pacific NW and I was born in Alaska. I will always have a special love for such a beautiful section of this blue planet. I really really REALLY want to go on a McG trip someday. Pretty please take me with you. I’m so proud of y’all for taking the time during your work trips to go on an adventure. Do this more. C’mon brides – go destination. And take McG with you. And MegB & Eric. And me…I’ll carry your luggage. 😉 Mack: You’re an epic beast. I just fell in love with Vancouver, thanks to you. Your panos are freakin’ AWESOME! P.S. I totally see Endor in those photos. Tell Jack that the Star Wars saga is one of my very favorites. Right on, bro.

  7. Misty says:

    Wow, wow, WOW…this whole post is like something out of a dream for me, INCREDIBLE images!!! And Adventure Time references FTW! heheh But seriously, through your lens I felt like I was actually THERE in all those beautiful places you found (and some day I will be), so thank you for sharing! Amazing, as always!
    I would VERY much love to see a Diana-devoted blog, by the way…just sayin’! 😉

  8. Carina says:

    Super pretty! Makes me miss trees, which would make my husband proud since for the longest time all I wanted was the open skies of the plains 🙂

  9. Mandaroo says:

    In awe of the beauty there… It is so amazing and I can’t imagine how y’all must have felt being there. The black and white of Shannon Falls made me gasp! Most definitely took my breath away. I love the trees and rivers that run through it! Just beautiful!

  10. abby says:

    This post is seriously one of the most gorgeous ones I have ever seen… You guys look like you had the best time ever 🙂 I’m jealous!! I wanna go! AMAZING!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *