Carleton Place Sunrise

I passed a few farm vehicles, some transport trucks, and countless pickups. All of them were going in the opposite direction: north, toward Almonte.

A green barn roof reminded me that Jesus had died for my sins, or so the large white letters told me. I pressed my foot a little further on the pedal; with luck, the sunrise would meet me in Carleton Place.

I had only driven this route a couple of times before. The last time was a few years ago, when I had met with my photography meetup group for a night shoot of the starry sky, from the Mill of Kintail Conservation Area, northwest of Almonte. A social-media buddy of mine, and fellow photographer, Séb, and I ran into each other at the meetup and decided to go for drinks afterward, at St. James Gate Pub. I led the way but got a bit disoriented, and we ended up taking a roundabout way to get to the pub.

I couldn't afford any mistakes on my way, this time. The sun wasn't going to wait for me. I programmed Carleton Place City Hall into Waze, and the screen on my dashboard led the way.

Coming in from the north side of the Mississippi, I turned off Bridge Street just before I hit the river, onto Bell Street. Parking was prohibited so I turned onto James Street, made a three-point turn, and parked in a safe spot.

There aren't many good spots to photograph the town hall, on the opposite side of the river, that aren't either blocked by the dam or are on private property, but St. James Park ends just on the high part of the dam, and there's a part of the park where you can get a good view. Only, at this hour, automatic sprinklers were in full force, and it was impossible for me to stand there without becoming soaked in short order.

I did spy one spot, where a fence prohibits trespassers from climbing onto the dam, where a sprinkler was moving slower than all the others. While it did cover that area, I saw that I had enough time to move into that position, once the sprinkler moved on, take a few quick shots, and move away before the water returned.

I took two shots: one, I shared on Monday.

From there, I walked back to the road and made my way to the bridge that spans the river. And yes, my feet were soaked.

While the sun had already risen, it hadn't yet cleared the trees to the east, so I could still take advantage of sunrise shots.

Some of my best shots were taken along the northern shore, by the old house that was now a law firm. Two Parks Canada Muskoka chairs provided a fabulous view.

I returned to the Niro and decided to drive across the bridge, into the heart of Carleton Place's old town core. I parked along Bridge Street and took more random photos.

With the sun now well above the horizon and trees, my mission was accomplished. And yet, I was still not ready to head home.

While I had recorded some video in Almonte, I recorded nothing in Carleton Place, and I made the decision that I wasn't going to make a video for my vlog. Sitting back in my car, I deleted all but a couple of videos.

Where to go next? The decision was easy. I started the car and headed back along Bridge Street, back over the Mississippi and turned left, onto Townline Road West, which took me to Highway 7, the Trans-Canada, and continued west.

Though I was done with sunrise photos, it was still early in the morning. I only hoped that I could reach my next destination before the town became awake.

To be continued...