When we arrived in Kelowna on Wednesday afternoon it was warm enough to sit out back in Ian and Linda's yard for happy hour. Eric and I were still feeling the cold after moving north but Ian and Linda have been home for a month.
Thursday and Ian, Eric, Ian's son Jason and I all ended up at the Michaelbrook Golf club for lunch. Linda was playing nine holes with her friends and joined us when she was done.
Friday night Jason, wife Deb and son Cooper came over for dinner. Their daughter Ella was at a sleep over birthday party with nine other girls....poor mother!
Cooper turned six in March when Grampa Ian and Linda were away so this was a chance to celebrate being six. I think Cooper enjoyed being the star attraction.
After he'd eaten a hamburger and two different salads he said he was too full for dessert but he changed his mind for a Dairy Queen ice cream cake. I read Cooper the following poem which I've always thought every six year old should hear.
Now We Are Six
When I was One
I had just begun,
When I was Two
I was nearly new,
When I was Three,
I was hardly me,
When I was Four,
I was not much more,
When I was Five,
I was just alive,
But now that I'm Six,
I'm as clever as clever,
So I think I'll be six now for ever and ever!
A.A. Milne
We had thought we'd stay until Monday morning but on Saturday when we looked at the weather going north snow and rain were in the forecast for Wednesday. As we take three days to get home to Terrace we decided to leave on Sunday instead. Now it was a bit of a rush for me as I'd planned to visit my sister Anne on Saturday and then visit my niece Adrian and do laundry on Sunday. The laundry and my visit to Anne were accomplished but I didn't get to see Adrian. She was just getting off night shift at the hospital on Saturday morning and needed to sleep. Next time. Saturday was bitterly cold in Kelowna and Eric and I had to break out our down vests.
Late Saturday fellow blogger Contessa who winters with her husband on Stone Island in Mazatlan dropped by. I'd picked up some pizza dough mixes for her in the USA and she needed to pick them up before we left. We had a nice chat.
Not far to go today as we are only going to Cache Creek and the Brookside RV park. A distance of about 150 miles. Heading out Gordon Drive towards Harvey where we'll turn right.
On the road just after nine and the roads were not very busy on this Sunday morning even on the usually packed Harvey which is the main route through Kelowna if you want to cross Okanagan Lake.
The highway heading north from Kelowna to Vernon used to follow along the water but now there is a bypass that goes up and over. Much more efficient.
First you pass by Wood Lake and then Kalamalka Lake.
Coming down into Vernon and this part is not efficient at all. All the traffic has to go right through town and there is a lot of it! They need a bypass here.
We'll turn left up ahead and stay on highway 97 through the Falkland Valley and end up in Kamloops.
Up ahead is the historic O'keefe Ranch. This whole area dates back to the mid to late 1800's.
We love this drive and this time it's not raining. When we came south in September it was just pouring and when we were going north last April it was flooding everywhere.
The old cars were on the road in Falkland and I managed to get a few pictures.
Not sure where they were going.
This one's a beauty.
Last year at this time this area was under water.
This is a brand new farm fence and we've never seen one like it before. This would be hugely expensive and we wondered what the purpose of it is.
Next up Westwold. Just another pretty little town. It would be lovely to live here in the summer but they get a lot of snow so we are better off in Mexico!
Really pretty through here.
Share the road!
Coming down the long hill to the east of Kamloops to end up on Hwy 1 where we'll head west. Last spring when we were going home there was so much flooding in the Cache Creek area that we ended up taking the northerly route home through Valemont and McBride.
We've crawled all the way down into Kamloops and now we are crawling back up and out the other side. This is not a hill we would do in the summer.
In the distance Kamloops which we bypass.
We stay on Hwy 1/97 to head to Cache Creek.
Lots of farming between Kamloops and Cache Creek.
Kamloops Lake.
We stopped at the top of the hill to have lunch and the view was of Kamloops Lake. Cold wind and about 12C.
A history sign at the rest stop.
A whole group of "geezers" out on a ride. Some were from Washington and a lot of them had long scraggly beards and most had long grey hair. Just not a good look!
Heading down from the lookout / rest stop.
On our left the Thompson River.
Here we are coming into Cache Creek.
Brookside RV park where we have left in years past as the RV sites are on the other side of the creek and when it's flooding you could get stuck on the other side and be unable to get out. They have now built a huge new bridge over the creek and it's not flooding so we are okay!
A pretty place to spend a night and we'll have a shower here as we can't get one tomorrow night in Prince George.
Tonight our usual, beer supper a little TV and bed.
As you passed the airport you drove along Duck Lake ( before Wood Lake ). That is where our one is and had I bee looking I would have seen you drive past. Looks like you had a lovely day for the drive.
ReplyDelete