Trip around the Lake and a hike at Fintry

Since Brian is off in Guelph and me and the puppies were left on our own, we decided to go for a drive and see where we ended up! I felt like just checking things out and getting the dogs a walk or swim in some where. We ended up driving through Kelowna, Winfield, Oyama, drove around Predator Ridge (swanky!) thru Vernon and then back down Westside. Yes, I drove by our old cabin... still makes me sad, I miss it so much. As we were driving south on Westside, I noticed there was a hiking sign for Fintry... weirdly enough, to my knowledge, I have never been there before but drove past it for years! So, we stopped! Tag, Kona and I all hiked up this steep mountain until I saw enough bear poop that I thought we should turn around. Here are a few pictures I took on our way up!

Once we got back to the bottom, there were signs saying there was a waterfall to see... so I figured, might as well go check that out and get some water for the dogs. Turns out, it was stairs all the way to the first view point and then it goes all the way up to the top of the falls. I guess that is where the hike I just took the dogs on ended up. Since we already did a huge hike, I figured we went far enough up the stairs where we were!!

That's a long way down....

Think we can do it?

Don't think we have a choice!!

Haha... they made it just fine... kind of scary for me holding their leashes though... it was steep and you can't even see the bottom from this point!! Anyhow, we had a lot of fun doing our drive around the Okanagan lake... both the dogs crashed in the car once were done and early to bed. Its only too bad Brian wasn't with us!!!

A drive through the Okanagan

I wanted to go pick apples because there are so many amazing apple orchards around... as it turns out, you can't pick them because there is a special way to pick them so you don't ruin the crop for the next year... so, Brian and I went for a drive to Okanagan Falls to a farm I thought might be cool to check out!!

Along our drive up this huge mountain in Okanagan falls provincial park, we found this little bright green lake called, wait for it... "Green Lake" (how many of those exist!?) and stopped to let the dogs go for a swim.

Kona's first swim!

Puppy's first trip to the Beach!

In case I haven't mentioned it.... we named our puppy Kona (much better than Angie don't you think??) I thought it was time to take her to the beach and check out the water for the first time... wow did she love it!

Who's been digging?!

Oh boy... need I say more?

Fire

We were on our way to Aunt Bettina and Uncle Donald's for dinner when we came across smoke, and a lot of it. As everyone now knows, north Peachland was on fire. We cancelled our dinner plans and headed back to the house. There was winds like I have never experienced before... I think I heard they were 100mph. Brian and I started packing, what else was there to do? We loaded up the truck with anything important, clothing, etc and waited. I have never been faced with anything like this before and it was scary. It was a sleepless night waking up to the smells of campfire coming through the window, although, familiar... it was not a happy smell. When I got up for work in the morning, I wasn't sure if I would be able to get there, but the highway was clear. It was so sad to drive through and see the bright orange burning embers along the side of the highway and up the mountain.

Ultimately, we were lucky and didn't get evacuated, but the fire was only a few kilometers from the house. Thank you to everyone who called, texted, emailed... Honestly, I didn't expect the out pour of concern from everyone... family, cousins, friends, old and new co-workers. Thank you to all.

Pictures below are what I took when we were out driving around trying to assess what to do.

Loon Lake Road Adventure & and another house guest!

Mom and Elliott were off on an Astronomy camping trip about 45 minutes away from us so I thought I would go up and visit for the afternoon with the puppy. Long story short... it took me 2 hours to get there and there were no signs visible to show where this place was coming from my direction. I did discover a nice little lake called Buck Lake, I think I was trespassing though... I was so lost!!! Anyhow, it was really neat to see Elliott's telescope and visit with Mom for a few hours.

After that I rushed back home again to cook a roast beef dinner for Brian and his dad, Doug. Doug was out to visit us and see the new place. Brian took him out shooting the next morning and was supposed to take pictures, but, as you can see... there are none!! Next time!!

Wine & Targets anyone?

As Mom was leaving, Nadia was arriving! We all had burgers together BBQed by Brian and some great strawberry rhubarb pie Nadia brought along for lunch. Mom headed out and then Nadia and I headed off to the wineries in Naramata.

Elephant Island Patio

The night before, Brian and I started season 3 of Top Shot with Mom... I think she liked it... then, we got Nadia to watch an episode with us too... and, we got her convinced to come do some target shooting with us in the morning!

Our teacher... very professional Brian!

Setting up targets

Nadia setting up her shot!

Do you see the hole in the bottle?!

Brian convinced us both to try the shot gun... we were both shaking after haha (only cause its sooo powerful!!)

Thanks Brian!! We had a great time!

A quick family pic!

I got Mom to take a quick family pic of the 4 of us... Dogs are almost as bad as kids to take pictures of!! (we still need a name for our puppy...)

A quick visit from Mom

Mom came out for a quick visit to bring us the left overs that were still at her place from our move (Thanks Mom!!). Mom and I took the dogs and drove into Summerland to check out the beach and see the research gardens that she remembered going to with Auntie Diane when she was 16. It was really nice!

More Puppy Pics

Ok... I am sorry already, this blog is going to have a lot of puppy pictures on it for the next while. Angie is such a great puppy. Super fun to get to know her personality more each day. Tag is still getting adjusted to having her here, but I think he is making great progress. By the end of the day, they were sleeping next to each other on the floor... so... that's a positive step I think!

I should have been knocked out with these two... I took them on a hour long mountain walk... all walks around here are mountainous, you can not walk on many flat areas around here.