Camping, the last part.

After we left Ellison campsite, we headed south of Vernon to Kekuli Bay campsite on the side of Kalamalka Lake.

A relatively young campsite, it's been there 10 years, with not a lot of shade.  Lovely this time of year, but probably too hot for me there in the middle of summer.  That evening as the sun was setting, we took a walk around the nature trail mowed through the grass.  Down the middle of the trail there was lots of coyote poop with pieces of apple in it , from the orchards on the other side of the highway.  We heard them howl after dark.

That's our truck and trailer in the middle of the picture

And after the sun went down.

It got really cold that night, and that was the only time we attempted to use the furnace, which was not throwing out any heat.  Bummer!  We piled all our blankets on the bed, and were really happy when the sun came up the next morning.

The showers there were still operating, and then after that we took the dogs down to the lake.  Not the best of beaches, but the dogs got a swim. 

There were some shrubs loaded with rose hips in the campsite.  I was discreetly trying to pick some, since you're not supposed to be picking anything or removing anything from a park.  I got a pound or so, and am going to attempt some rose hip jelly.  I did try it once before with some small rose hips I picked around here, but it was a flop.

After stopping in Kelowna to visit some relatives at their lovely place in Gallagher's Canyon, we headed south and spent our last night at Okanagan Lake campsite, the same place we spent our first night.  This was a Saturday night, and the campsite was at least half full.  Wow!  We were still able to get a lakeside spot.  We couldn't figure out why a lot of the campers were farther back in, snuggled in against the hill, and these lovely lakeside spots were still open.  We sure found out the next morning.  The wind blowing off the lake was really wicked, we had our winter jackets on to keep warm.  We weren't interested in going to the beach at all, so took the trail back up the hill, and along the top part that we hadn't finished on our first visit.

That's our trailer, the farthest out, just visible between the trees

We didn't hang around for too long that morning.  Off we went, south through Penticton.  I was on the lookout for a fruit stand.  I can never decide which one to stop at though.  Larry said 'look there's one that says they have plums' (I needed plums as our trees had none this year).   We were already past, so continued up the highway, turned into a gas station and then came back.  A feisty little Italian lady with a strong accent was running it.  They had plums, and concord grapes, and quince (that was a bonus, hadn't even thought of those).  I asked if they took debit or credit, as I didn't have much cash left.  I couldn't understand all she said, but the gist of it was that we would have to go back up the highway and get some cash from the gas station.  So off we went, got the cash, turned around at the gas station yet again, and bought lots of plums, grapes, quince and garlic.  Then back over that same stretch of road for the fifth time as we headed toward home.

We made a stop in Keremeos for some lunch and a walk for the dogs down to the Similkameen River there.  After Jake and Luna went in a few times, they started balking at getting their toys, and then we realized that the water was really icy.   Too late, I'd already thrown Luna's toy back in.  Luna and I ended up about 500 ft downstream, all the while I was encouraging her, and throwing rocks at the ball. She would walk out part way, and then wouldn't go any farther.  Kind of looked like how you and I feel when that cold water hits the crotch.....I could sympathise.  Finally she got brave enough and took those couple of extra steps to grab it.

After that we just played a bit of catch on the shore

Back along Hwy 3.  Wow some of those hills seemed mighty steep on the way home.  Got home just before dark.

It was a fun trip, and the weather was just lovely for the time of year.  I love the light in the Fall and the changing trees.  The Okanagan can be really hot in the summer, so this was nice.  The only thing is that the days are really short, and it made for some long evenings in a little trailer.

And a bit of a 'Random act of Kindness' that came to it's conclusion tonight.  When were were eating our food from the A & W in Princeton, I noticed something on the ground under the picnic table.  It was a Surrey dog licence, with a 2011 sticker on the back.  I decided to take it with me.  Yesterday I called Surrey city hall, gave them the number on the tag, and they gave me a name and phone number. Actually, that shocked me.  I had expected them to contact the owner, and give them my phone number.  Anyway, got hold of the person, who hadn't even realized that her pup had lost his tag, but it had only been purchased in the last month.  She was thrilled that I had it, and when I offered to mail it to her, well she wanted to know how she could pay for it.  I said I wasn't worried about the price of a stamp.....When she gave me the address, it was close to White Rock, and I said I'd just drop it off, as I was there all the time.  Did that tonight, and she was so happy, which made me feel really happy, and it was just a feel good situation all round:)

Camping - Part Two

We headed up the highway, and after making a detour half way up a mountainside when we made a wrong turn, we finally saw the sign for Fintry campsite .  We turned off the highway and headed up Westside Road.   It was 34 km of a winding, very narrow in spots, road.  Quite a bit of the time there was a steep drop off on my side, with next to no gravel shoulder.  I was keeping my eye on the trailer in the rear view mirror, and I commented that ya know, if that trailer wheel drops over the edge, the truck will be going with it.  Pretty nerve wracking in a few spots.  So we get to the turnoff, and there is a Closed sign slapped over the campsite sign.  I was choked.  We drove down the steep hill to the campsite anyway, and sure enough the gate was locked.  There were houses nearby, and a guy rode by on his bike.  He said it had closed the last weekend.  The website had said it was open to October 15th in one spot, and to Oct 31st in another.  A publication we had said it was open to Oct 25.  Granted, it was now Oct 14th, but it should have been open at least for that night.  What really made me mad though was that they hadn't bothered to post a 'Closed' out on the highway sign, 34 winding, scary kilometres back.  We parked on the road, and took the dogs for a walk.  It was an old farm site with quite an interesting history.  We didn't see a soul.  After some discussion we decided to continue on up that side of the lake, and try for Ellison campsite.  Thankfully the second half of the road was better than the first.

When we pulled into Ellison, it was a relief to see that it was open.  The shower building was still operating, and there were a couple of other trailers in the park.  A crowd! 

One of the disadvantages of camping at this time of the year is that the days are so short. By 7pm it was fully dark. We made sure we got our money's worth by heading for a shower, and it helped to pass the time. During the night the wind picked up. We were in a bit of a bowl below the cliff edge, so most of the time we seemed to be out of the wind, but every once in a while a big gust would come through, and rattle the awning that was out. Jake doesn't like the wind, and he was 'worried'. One of the dogs was growling at the weird noises the awning was making occasionally. I was wide awake, and to tell you the truth, it was a bit creepy. I was hoping no trees were going to fall on us. Another big gust came through, the awning made a big bang, and when I peered out I could see it hanging loosely. Either that, or me suddenly talking to him woke Larry up, and there we were at 1:30 in the morning, out in the kind of creepy darkness rolling the awning back up. No damage was done, and the weird noises stopped, and Jake settled down a bit. It had clouded over the afternoon before, and a few drops of rain came down during the night, but the next morning it cleared off and turned sunny again. 

In the morning we took the dogs down to the grassy area by the play ground, got out the soccer ball and toys for Calli and Luna, and had a game of soccer and of  'fetch'.

That's one thing about this time of year, there's no one around, and we took the opportunity to be a little more lax with the 'dogs must be on leash' rules.  It's not like they are running around out of control anyway.

After that we took a walk up the nature trail.  We got up pretty high, and could see across the lake.  Our trailer is somewhere in the trees just out of the picture on the right.  That mountain in the center has a fresh dusting of snow.

See that bald spot in the middle?  Well to the right of that is Fintry Park, where we had wanted to be.

All those brighter green cottonwoods along the water are in the park.  What you can't see from this angle are the large hay fields behind the trees.

 After lunch we hiked down to the pet beach.  There are a lot of rocky cliffs all around the edge of the lake.  The beach was great, lots of sand and water was still relatively warm.

And look, there were groynes there too!  Across the bay was the people beach, and it had the same kind of red sand.  The dogs had a great time.

After we had figured they had swum enough, we just let the dogs play around on the beach.  Jake doesn't play alone, he has to have someone throwing something for him.  Luna can amuse herself, and it was quite hilarious watching her.  Calli likes finding a rock, the bigger the better, and she will then put it down, dig a hole which the rock falls into.  She eventually rescues the rock, and starts the process all over again.  She only does this with rocks though, never toys.  You will notice here how her back legs don't participate.  They don't bear much of her weight, and can't move backwards, so when she is past her balance point, her back end just goes down.  You can read about her accident in Calli's Story .  We have found that when we go away on holiday, her back end becomes weaker.  Not sure why, maybe because her routine changes, she gets more exercise on consecutive days, who knows.  Her right hip is the weakest, so she starts collapsing to that side, and by the fourth day out she was pretty bad.  Not so much when she was loose doing her own thing, but walks became an issue.  Running the leash between her front legs, past her right hip and under her tail helps, as it puts a bit of pressure on that side and helps to support it, but by the end we were using her tail as a handle to keep her back end up.  I did make a harness when she was first hurt, and have since loaned it out to a friend.  I'll have to see about getting it back for times like this.

She does enjoy playing in the sand though!

And here's Luna

And Google has just informed me I've used up my 1 GB of free photo storage space, so now I'm going to have to pay! Who'd a thunk it:)  Well I think I can afford the $5 a year they want to charge me for 20 GB.

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Camping - Part One

I always have visions that we are going to leave home at some nice early hour, but no, despite most of the packing being done the day before, it was heading towards 11am before we pulled out.  I guess it doesn't help when I say things like 'have you checked the tire pressure', which then involved topping up 7 tires with air.  It all takes time....

Anyway, we finally hit the road.  Calli rides in the trailer, where there is more room for her to stretch out, and she is the dog the least likely to be bothered by things rattling and banging.  Jake would be freaking out back there.  Jake and Luna ride in the small area behind the truck seats, where the little sideways jump seats are located.  Every once in a while Luna would pop up, rest her front feet on the center console, check to see Larry was going the right way, wasn't speeding, and maybe if she was lucky, she could get a pat or two.

After about three hours on the road, we made a stop at Princeton.  The dogs got a walk, a swim in the Similkameen River. The trees on the other side were glowing in the sun.

A short walk back along the Trans Canada Trail and we hit A & W for a late lunch.  Nice friendly folk there.  The young guy came running out with Larry's sunglasses that he had left on the counter, and then when he saw the dogs, he asked if they'd like a treat.  So he came back out with a milkbone for each of them.   We walked back towards the truck, and I stopped in this gazebo that had panels with some of the history of the area.  A lot of reading, but after I got so far I gave up.  Had already come across two spelling mistakes (dawned instead of donned, and site instead of sight).  Okay, I'm a bit anal about things like that, but come on.....didn't anyone edit it before the expense of getting it all printed onto big wood panels and put up for the tourists to read?

Next stop was a fruit stand in Keremeos.  Loads and loads of different squash and pumpkins to pick from.  Inside I bought some prune plums for jam, and we bought a few apples to taste test.  Granny Smith, Elstar, Gala, and Golden Gala.  The Golden Gala won hands down.

We headed for Okanagan Lake Park.  There are two campgrounds there.  One is on the hillside above the lake, but it was closed for the season.  The other is about a kilometre south.  It started life as a gravel overflow lot for the other campsite, and I remember being in it as a kid.  Now they've planted trees and divided it up like a proper campsite, and it is on lake level.  We'll probably never be able to afford waterfront property, and this might be as close as we'll get.

The view out of the back window of the trailer.

The next morning I was up at the crack of dawn, which really isn't very early this time of year.  Okay, it really wasn't as early as it looks, but I wanted the meteor  jet trail to show up, and I liked how this turned out.

This was more like it.  The sun wasn't up yet.

Do you see what's coming around the corner, that Luna's looking at?

A mallard hen, obviously used to mooching off the tourists.  Luna played 'herd the duck' from the water's edge.

We dragged our chairs out into the sunshine, and taste tested the first two apples

The duck was there for any handouts, but she didn't get any.  We're not mean, just figure wildlife shouldn't be fed by humans.

The campsite was being put into winter mode.  That meant the washrooms and showers were locked, and the water was shut off.  There were a few pit toilets, some with paper, some without.  That morning the parks guys came and were blowing the water lines out.  There were only about 6 or so campers in the campground.  At that point it was free, as they hadn't got the paper work for the winter rates set up.  Lucky us! 

There was a great walking trail between the two campsites, and a pet beach along the way.

Are we there yet?

When we stopped for a swim, look who reappeared.  This is about 1/4 mile on from where she originally showed up. 

And here's a little education for you.  A different kind of 'groin'.

That was a new one on us.

We walked along to the other campsite, wandered up the hill, and then found an upper trail heading back to our campsite.   Down/stays are handy in places like this.

And just like some people, Calli likes to collect rocks from the different places she visits.  If we let her take them all home, we would have a rock garden by now. 

I think the most used command on this walk was 'wait'.  Luna had to be protected from her lack of fear and sense.  She seemed to think she was part mountain goat, so sometimes she was back on the leash.

Halfway back down the hill.

We packed up and moved out just after lunch, heading for Fintry campsite on the west side of Okanagan Lake, north of Kelowna.

It's Good to be Home

It's always great to go away, but I love coming back home. We got back tonight after 5 days of camping in the Okanagan. I'll bore you tomorrow with all the details. I ended up bringing work home with me. About 60-70 lbs of grapes, plums and quince to be made into jams and jellies, and garlic for planting.

Looks like I'll be busy tomorrow.

Turkey Time

Tonight was our night for turkey dinner.

I saw Larry wandering around outside picking flowers, and then he arranged them like this.  I didn't know he was so talented.  I think next year he's going to have to help me make the bouquets for the market.

Our turkey looked a little weird though, and it wouldn't stay up straight. 

That's because it's limbs had all been cut off.

We wanted to share

Hope all you Canadians had a great Thanksgiving dinner!

Thankful

 Yesterday we were thankful that the rainfall warning which was still in effect Saturday night, (it poured from mid afternoon on), blew itself dry by early morning. It started out grey and a bit damp here, but as we drove to White Rock, there was a line of blue sky out to the west. About half way through the market, the sun came out, and it was a beautiful day. And oh my, did we ever need it. What a lovely way to end the market season.

Here's Larry getting the jam set out

 And our first customer patiently waiting, her chosen bouquet in hands.  We don't usually serve customers until we are fully set up.  In fact, when I remember, I put a couple of bungee cords across the front of the tent.  We found that if you start serving people before you are ready, it could be an hour into the market before you have time to get it all done. 

Some of the produce.  There isn't a lot of variety left at this time of the year, well at least with us

See the two yellow straight neck squash in front of the flowers?  If you look closely you can see they are connected together.  And I see I put in a sunflower that was a bit ratty looking.  Oops. That's what happens when you are working in the garage around midnight, putting the bouquets together.  I was really happy though that we sold all 22 bouquets!

We had lots of these Eight Ball zucchini this year.  They are just like a regular zucchini, but round.

I was giving some to another vendor one Sunday, in return for what she gives us that is leftover from her stall.

This vendor, who prefers to remain nameless, thought of another use for them.  We have renamed them Dolly zucchinis!