New Years Eve

Living in the same location allows you to see the beauty that comes with every day. Today the temperature dropped because the sky was clear. Before the sun came over the eastern mountains the star were just fading.

I donned a new winter jacket, 1st new one in many years, hung my camera around my neck and headed out into the cold.  

As the sun brightened up the sky it first hit the mountain to the north but the valley was still in just a reflecting glow.

To the east the sun is now hitting a cloud formation that was rolling in from the west blocking the direct rays and the warmth they bring.

I took a path that would get me closer to where the sun was.

Along the way I found plants that are out all winter. Today there is frost on the grassy leaves and cactus spines.

Further up the path, still no direct sunshine. I walk on passed the now dormant vineyard covered in snow.  

The closer I got to my destination, more and more clouds moved in behind me.

Here you can see the cloud band that was not going to make the -12C temperature rise quickly.

The beauty of the vineyard with it rows of staked up plants is a good place to just stand and look at.

My quest for the sun was for not. So I turned and headed for the low land close to the lake.

Pine cones clinging to the frost covered tree make for a possible greeting card for next December.

The moving cloud was now on the lake and block the sun completely.

My morning walk has give me more appreciation of the places we call home in the wonderful world of changes. What will the next year bring to fascinate us?




So until next time remember 'Discover It and Live It'.

Midway

September 17, 2016

Town of Midway on highway #3 East of Osoyoos, BC.

Art on the fences and walls

Not a local watering hole but a dumping station for the local campground.

A few of the towns buildings.

At one point in midways history the were five hotels.

This video was published on Dec 19, 2014 to Youtube by http://BcGHOSTtowns.com 

Check out one of John Mitchell's other History Videos at https://youtu.be/Z0Mi4mNho-c

There are hiking trails to the south of town toward the US border.

Rock Creek

Sunday, September 11, 2016

This afternoon we took a drive east on highway #3 as far as Rock Creek in Kettle Valley to find a very small but interesting place!

We stopped at the Trading Post restaurant www.rockcreektradingpost.com

The buildings was once a Chinese Laundry and dates back to 1858 when the gold was discovered in the area.

Visitor were was heavy today as the kitchen had to close because they ran out of food!!

They specialize in roasting Organic Fair Trade Coffee, Rock Creek Blends.

The old – one – room school, across the street, is now a boutique store.

We drove by the old Hotel on Hyw #33 was busy with many bikers.

Crossing over Kettle River we toured the rest of the town pasted the new school and Fair Grounds.

Preparations for Rock Creek's, 71^st Annual Fall Fair this coming weekend. The Rock Creek Women's Institute will be celebrating their 100th anniversary using the theme-”Sew it- Grow it - Show it”.

It looked like it will be a large one for this small place. Entertainers 'Willy and the Poor Boys and Ben Klick will perform.

There will be Lawnmowers Races and competitions for best 4-H Sheep, Horses, Lamb, Sheep Beef, Guinea Pig and Rabbits. Other competitions for sewing, food, art, children's crafts & hobbies, photography, needle-crafts, wine, and farm produce.

We stopped at the newly opened Rock Creek Station Mercantile a trailer renovated into the only store in town.

So until next time remember to "Discover It and Live It".

Heading to Osoyoos

September 6, 2016      Trip to Osoyoos

It was drizzly this morning when we got up at 6:00am to pack up our trailer. The temperature dipped to 9ºC though the mountains but when we arrived in Osoyoos it was 21ºC.We pulled out of Revelstoke Campgound at 8:30 pm and drove for an hour before the check engine light came on. This had been on and off during our 4 day stay in Revelstoke the code indicated it was a transmission fault.

And like any traveling day it did not go without a few mishaps.

 

In Kelowna a kind lady in a car beside us said one of the trailer tires was flat.  So pulling over immediately, sure enough the left rear tire was limping behind the other tire. We moved off the main highway to be out of the mass of traffic. 

 

We were near a Paint Ball entertainment place that was closed after the long weekend and contacted AMA for road side assistance. Within and hour we were on our way again.

When the tire was replaces at OK Tire in Osoyoos and we found the cause of the flat to be a blade from an electric razor.The owner said he had never seen that before, neither had I. When I asked to have the blade he said not to lose it.

We pulled into our home site that we have had now for the last two winters. The temp was in the 20s, a great improvement to the cool rain we started the day with. 

So until next time remember to "Discover It and Live It"

The Dark Night In July

Saturday, July 30, 2016 – August Long Weekend.

It was sunny and calm Saturday morning when Lorraine went for her daily walk. Later in the day it clouded up and a thunder storm rolled in from Black Diamond. So we settled in to a movie and turned the sound up so we could hear it over the rain pounding on the living room slide.

At 7:35 I heard a loud pop from outside and every thing went quiet, the TV stopped, my computer screen went black and all we could hear was the rain. A transformer was knocked out and the power in Country Lane Estates was gone for a good three hours. With a power outage the pumps stopped and nobody gets water. During a lull in the rain we could hear our neighbours being told by another neighbour to turn off the power breaker at the post. The one neighbour who lives in a park model stopped be to ask if we had thrown our breaker and asked if we were ok for water as they had only small bottles. We had plenty on board and could use the 12v pump. It really rained hard and continued all night.

Since it was dark and our entertainment was cut short Randal and I retired at 9:00 pm. The power did come back on at 9:45 pm and we could hear the neighbours yelling to everyone that could hear “The Power's Back On!” We didn't need it so we left our power off until morning.

In the morning it was still raining but this did not stop Lorraine from going out for her morning ritual walk.

She was a little wet after the 55 minutes when she got back.

The clouds let the sun through about 11 am.

Is this a holiday weekend? Lets go camping.




So remember to “Discover It and Live It”.

Trip with a Theme

Theme of the trip is: “Be happy ...  for this moment is your life.”

Thursday July 14

We started to get ready for our trip to Invermere in Columbia Valley of BC. It was a cool rainy morning at 12ºC. We packed some food, clothes and maps and left Country Lane Estates at 7:30 am. But first we stopped at Shell to gas up the car. (Cost $.904/L).

We headed west on #7 to Black Diamond where we witnessed a streak of blue ski over the mountains. It has been a few days since blues skies were seen in Okotoks. We turned on #22 South and at Longview we decided explore #541 West toward Kanaskis Country. This was where the hiking club planed to be area next Thursday. We did not find the trail head.

We turned around at Highwood River Day Picnic area. From there we could see Mt Armstrong. The elevation was 1538m. We drove through an un-serviced camp site near the river.

By 9:45 am we were back on #22 at Longview. Some interesting things we saw were a few kilometres of caps placed on fence posts.

And Alberta Cowboys doing a round up. We wondered why there was so much traffic and saw 'cow pies' on the road at a point where a coral of cattle were placed. A truck was ready to load them up.

 At a rest area across from a Volker Stevin work area for a quick lunch. By 10:45 the sun came out We turned on #3 Crow's Nest Highway at 11:00am making our first stop at Frank Slide Interpretive Center. Many tourists were touring. We were there for 20 minutes.

Back on the road at turning on #93/95 to Elko, Jaffery, over the Kooteney River and just after noon we stopped at Fort Steele for a picnic lunch and to fill up the car with gas. By this time it was an enjoyable sunny warm day. Along the Kooteney Valley are fields of irrigation hay crops. We travelled back over the Kooteney River at Skookunchuck.

By mid afternoon we entered the Columbia Valley at the south end of Columbia Lake. The next stop was Radium Hot Springs, that was packed with people. The cost to stay the resort hotel was $200./ night. We drove on into Windemere and looked for motels. It is a smaller place and the motels were older and poorly maintained. We continued on the Invermere where we found the Canterbury Inn for $100 or so a night. We booked in for 2 nights – the rate goes up on weekends. At least we had good internet.

After checking in we went for a walk to the down town. Most of the shops were closing for the day at 5:00 pm and there were only an few eating places available within our walking area. We went to Holiday Inn sports bar for supper enjoyed a beer and watched sports on multiple screens.

Friday July 15 

Our night's sleep was uncomfortable because of the heat the noisy AC. We woke up with a thunder storm and very heavy rain. It did get sunny but continued with the thunderstorms and even hail.

Randal and I went out early looking for a place that was open for coffee and found Circle Cafe which opened to 8:00 am. We took the coffee back to the Motel and signed onto the computer. I went for a walk to the beach before we met Carol Gordon and Jim McElroy at the Circle Cafe.

At 10:00 am we met Carol and Jim and their friend Paul who is visiting them until Saturday for coffe back at Circle Cafe. We were there for an hour. Carol asked if we could stay one more night and come for supper on Saturday night.

The rest of the day we drove to the beach area and Randal took some pictures. The weather was not good for families. We talked to a fellow who was riding his bike. We asked his about the grave site o a Elizabeth Bruce, wife of Robert Bruce who came from England. She died before he finished it. The fellow we talked to gave us the story.

Randal and I walked around the path to Dorothy Lake and then when the thunder sounded we walked quickly to the car and drove to the Pynelogs Cafe and Art Gallery, which is in the house that Bruce built. While there it rained and hailed but we were warm and dry inside with a bowl of soup.

From there we drove to Radium Hot Spring through more rain. There we not one in the pool during the rain.

Saturday July 16 

It was over cast with a drizzle this morning when we got up. The weather continued this way all day.

We took our time to go out to the Farmer's Market of a good many booths and articles and food to buy.

Westside Legacy Trails - OurTrail.org and Columbia ValleyCentre.ca 

Anne B.- Corpuz-Bacalso Accessories - scarf holder

Manitoba Wild Rice

Oven Baked Bread fresh pretzel and cinnamon buns

Shooting Star pocket watch

Organic Vegetables.

Beeland Market - Honey Spillimacheen BC.

Randal  purchased a pretzel right out of a wood heated oven.There was not much left in the bag when he returned to the room. It disappeared in little bits.

In the afternoon we took a drive to Panorama Ski and Golf Resort. There was much activity with a large group of mountain bikers filling up the parking lots with cars trucks and campers. There several golfers out golfing in the cool wet weather. The course itself ran up through the valley and had many log-style homes built around it. A walking path extended throughout the resort with many people waling in both directions.

When we returned to the motel I went for a walk along the north end of the main street.

At 5:00 pm we drove to Carol and Jim's which was situated on the side of the hill with many evergreen trees around it. Jim gave us a tour of their home and show us pictures of the cabin before renovations started. We enjoyed a wonderful meal with a great view of the valley.

 Jim is enjoying the photography and Carol her art.

Sunday July 17 

It rained during the night, although I did not hear it. Another cloudy rainy day. Randal and I were up at 7:00 am packed up and checked out of Canterbury Inn. We left at 8:00 am and headed onto #95/93 toward Radium, turning on #93 and travelled through Kooteney National Park. Some mountain tops and the valley was covered with fog.

We stopped at some view points to take pictures. At one a couple of motor bikes stopped. I noticed the licence plates were not Canadian. I had to talk to them and asked if I could take pictures of them. The husband and wife team were from Australia and told us of their travels through Australia, South America, US and now Canada and are on their way up to Alaska. They then will return to Vancouver and motor bike across Canada.

This was my first time in this valley and I live over the mountains to the east. Their first time here from a much longer distance.!!!! What does that say about us and exploring our own back yards?

We stopped at Hector Gorge and Numa Falls for more pictures. There was a large burnt-out area and many hiking trail heads were busy with day hikers.

At 10:00 am we entered Banff National Park and turned on Hyw #1 at Castle Junction. In Canmore we stopped for a breakfast at Communitea Cafe downtown. The town was busy with people as the the sun was peeking through the heavy clouds.

We continued on #1 to #40 and turned south into Kanaskis Country through Elbow and Highwood Passes. The elevation was 2005 m. The rain came down heavy for most of the trip. On to Longview, Black Diamond and arriving in Okotoks at 2:00pm a 340 km trip from Invermere BC.

The four day trip was educational, heartwarming and thoroughly enjoyable. Lots to blog about.

Theme of the trip is: “Be happy for this moment is your life.”

Until next time remember "Discover It and Live It".