Day of Rest /Oklahoma Bound Day 1

When you have to do as much pre work as we have had to, you will most likely need a break somewhere in between the road and the drama that can unfold before a long trip.  We decided to take a quick trip out of town for dinner and some down time before starting our long road trip.

This is the view from one of my favorite places to eat......:-) I shot this through a window that was not the cleanest.  So, sorry for the lines and smudges that you may see.

There were only two other couples there who were dinning outside.  I found it a bit chilly to sit on the deck, so we had the whole inside to ourselves....:-)

They were also preparing for a wedding the next day and it looked quite striking....:-)

We have often spoken of having a view like this from our bedroom window.  But then I thought with a waterfall right outside like that, I might be up running to the bathroom all night!  Bad idea! ha

We ate a light supper and decided to head back home since there was still much to do and we would be leaving very early in the morning.

Day 1- 6:00am

I woke up at 5:00am and decided "hey"!  Let's go! haha.  So, we got out of bed, finished the last of our errands around the house and hit the road by 6:00am....

Before we knew it we were crossing the new Port Mann bridge headed toward the Canadian Okanogan..
I like the way the bridge has all of these supports....makes you feel safe when your the one crossing it..ha

I have skipped a lit in between since I am running a bit behind in even getting this to you.  So, I have just added what I felt were the highlights of a long trip.
Manning Park......:-).

Here is a long shot of some of the property.  The last time we came through here, the snow was over my head on both side and we had a snowball fight...:-)

Manning Park is the home of the friendliest critters in the world.  When you call them, they come running as they have become quite spoiled by the hundreds of people that come through and feed them.  This is a ground squirrel...:-).  They scurry around and behave very much like the Prairie Dogs we have in Oklahoma. But the prairie dogs are quite ferrell and usually run if you approach them.

These little guys will let you pet them and will often stay there and eat while you stroke their backs....:-).  I passed on that one.  I kept thinking that they might mistake my dark complexion for pretzel or a grape or something...hahaha

And once their friends are sure that you are not going to eat them, they come over and take the food from your hand as well..

and then the birds show up.  and then a huge raven showed up.  The little birds left and so did we...ha.  He was a big one.

Our next stop was in a town called Princeton where we decided to get some lunch and something to drink.

You know who was already thinking about devouring a burger and enjoying the pleasant, but cool weather...:-)

We got our much needed drinks and settled in for lunch after lunch we walked back to the car and saw a few lady bikers out for a ride.

Outside of the A& W place were a group of lady riders out taking in the wind....:-).

Well, there were two guys in the group but the rest were ladies.  Go girls, go!

I took the shot for my friend Trobairitz......:-).  I wondered if it would make her smile or make her homesick....:-).

the Okanagan is littered with tiny little towns some no larger than 500 people I believe.  That's a bit small for me, but I don't mind riding through.

This is a shot of Yellow Lake which lies between Keremeos and the hwy 97 junction.

As we got closer to our destination, we rode past the long Skaha Lake......just beautiful....:-).

 So, we made it to our destination by 3:00 which was good timing since we have committed to being off of the road by 4:00 every day that we travel.  I fell asleep after preparing a fantastic curry dinner and arose early ready for the next day's journey....:-)

stay tuned!

Just Drifting.....:-)

Our time is winding down to start our journey back to the United States for a few months.  Of course all of this preparation is stressful and is a good reason for me to just get out and wander around from time to time. Today the forecast was for rain.  We were fortunate that it only sprinkled on us during the time we were wandering around. Especially if you are going to be near the water.  I love the beach with the exception of those sand shrimp thingees that scared the stew out of me on a previous travel.  So, that was our first destination today.....:-)

I have been living in this town for a few years now and have never walked down to the beach area.  I usually stayed on the asphalt were my car is usually parked.  Today, I decided to climb down the rocks and see what was what.

This had to be the biggest driftwood graveyard I had ever seen.  Even on television! Chris was having a time looking at all of it as well.  He is a BIG fan of driftwood......:-)
 

I mean you could build a house with all of this stuff!

And the pIeces were HUGE!  I was sure that some of it had to have brought in by crane, but Chris assured me that the ocean carries it in every winter and there it settles into its new home on the shore.

Our town used to be a very large logging town.  It still is a logging community, but not nearly as large as I'm told it used to be.  There were at least two sets of stairs that led to......well...NOWWHERE! ha
Which I thought was very cool......:-)
 

We spent quite some time there, but realized that we still had some errands to run for our trip.  On the way out, I snapped a picture of this cottonwood tree.  Or at least "I think" that's what it is.......
  

A little further down the road there was this Scotch Broom bush.  Invasive to Canada and originally brought over from Scotland close to 100 years ago, I'm told.

We made our way down to the local farmers market.  I noticed the beautiful trees that dotted the park. This is a Rhododendron tree (or bush) thingee....:-).

This is a picture of a small one that we planted a couple of years ago in the front garden area of our condo.  I shot this picture through the kitchen window.  Sorry about the "foggy" spots on the pic.  The little container at the base of the picture is a concoction I made to help control an ant problem.

 And just a few steps away was the market that is held each weekend in the summer into the fall.

Our town is NOT by any stretch a large place.  I mean 17,000 people is not that big of a deal when you come from a city of 1 1/2 million people.  I mean really.  In a place this size you could see your neighbors every ten minutes! ha

But I gotta give it to them, they are very much into nature here.  There were gluten free products....

Organic veggies and fruits......

and a neighbor!!  hahaha.  See ya in a few minutes!

I have no idea.......

Now, I gotta tell ya....I was eyeballing that cedar glider in the back since I am looking to beautify by backyard space in the states....but hauling it and making sure it didn't "wander off in the night" while we were sleeping in a hotel did not appeal to me.....so, alas!  We left it there.....:-(

And so, sorrowful of leaving the furniture....we ventured on to see what else we could get into.  Chris was ready for mischief.....ha

Fortunately, we didn't get into too much trouble...:-).  We did manage to snag these smokin bird baths to load into the car and take with us.  I know just where I will be putting them.  That is until I change my mind about it....:-)

 
And so, we headed back to the house to finish our preparation and to enjoy the rest of a quiet evening.

One week and one day before we head out.  We will see YOU somewhere on the road!

The View From My Window..

Spring has sprung (sorta) here in BC.  The first flowers that usually appear are crocus which are now long gone. When you live in a strata environment, there are a lot of "can't do" in the rules.  One is gardening that requires you to dig into the ground to plant anything.  However, a couple of years ago, we obtained permission (after the fact since I didn't know) to continue to make the property beautiful.  Below is the view from my front window.

We usually have more flowers than what you will see in these pictures.  But since we are leaving soon and will be gone for some time, we didn't plant any annuals this year.  The perennials should have died back before we leave.  I like waking up in the morning and and seeing this when I raise the blinds:

The Tulips that we planted seem to close at night and reopen in the mid afternoon.  This was taken in the morning.

I had never seen "Grape Hyacinth" before seeing them in another part of Canada.  We brought some back with us and planted them not know what would happen since it was from a different region.  It has done well....:-)

I call this one the Rose Tulip...:-)  It almost looks like a Peony.

This is also a Hyacinth. and as you can see, we have also put in lights that make the garden look beautiful at night...:-).

I call this one Snow White.  I made up these names because I have totally forgotten the real ones! ha

Purple Rain.....:-)

We also are helping our feathered friends by providing some nourishment for them. I think this one is in the Finch family....:-) We looked at a few pictures of birds in this area and concluded that it is a female House Finch.

 And then there is "Sadie" the humming bird who comes every year...:-).  This time she brought a friend with her, but they scurried away before I could snag a picture........

And so my fellow bloggers, it's another beautiful evening...almost the close of a not so perfect day.  But the sight of the flowers, birds and trees reminds me that there is beauty in the midst of a very chaotic world.

  
Take time to smell the flowers.  There are plenty of things that will stink on this journey through life! ha

Sweet dreams...:-)