Family Time in the West

October 9th, 2020

I headed down to Lethbridge, Thursday evening, to spend time with my siblings. It was lovely weather and a lovely drive. Thursday night Bonnie and I played games and drank some cold refreshments.

Friday morning, Charlie and I went to Pavan Park. I couldn't go too far as my dining room set was going to be arriving at Charlies after 4pm.

The wind was quite calm this morning and there was a great deal of activity in the park.

After spotting 4 deer across the river and a bald eagle scouting the area we made our way through the trees. Charlie noticed this tree with the face.

After continuing through the park, Charlie and I took separate paths and would meet up at an intersection later. The trees were alive with a variety of birds playing and flying around singing.

I broke out into this field, such a lovely view.

The contrast between the field, the trees, the bluffs and the sky was remarkable.

Back into the trees, with the sun peeking through ... a lovely walk.

After the dining room set arrived, Charlie and I took out the canoe and went to a nearby lake in a small park.

We got out onto the lake and in a few minutes we started to look for frisbees in the water.

In about an hour we had recovered 5 disc's and saw 4 more that we would come back to retrieve. What a fun time ... frisbee hunting. Lol

October 10th, 2020

This morning, Bonnie and I squeezed in some games. Shortly after lunch,

I headed over to Charlie and Karen's to start cooking the turkey.

It was a great team effort to prepare Thanksgiving dinner. Did not feel like much effort at all. Nothing like a good meal with family.

October 11th, 2020

This morning, Charlie and I took a 5km walk around Coal Banks Trails near Indian Battle Park.

Some beaver had done quite a number on these trees.

An active beaver dam.

After having a lovely video conference with my Rowe family, Garrett and I made our way to Calgary.

Garrett helped in unloading the dining room set, then he suggested checking the weather for our trip to BC tomorrow morning. Looking at the weather they were forecasting snow after midnight in Banff region. In a joint decision, we packed up and headed to BC right away (getting on the road at 6:30pm). We made it to Kelowna about 1am ... it was a great drive except the last hour we ran into some rain. Garrett was met at the door with his friend and I was greeted at the door with Peter and Lina. Such a warm welcoming.

October 12th, 2020

This afternoon, I visited an acquaintance for a glass of wine in Kelowna. I had to take a photo of this fountain, the lighting was excellent.

October 14th, 2020

I had such a grand visit with Peter and Lina. After all these years, these two lovebirds continue to tease each other ... so happy.

We visited one of their favorite local restaurants and had a lovely meal.

October 15th, 2020

Lina and I sat in the living room teasing Peter. He was a good sport.

Not a good idea to tease someone preparing dinner for you, especially your older brother. You never know what you will get. LOL

The meals were lovely.

October 16th, 2020

My nephew made a surprise visit ... it was so good to see him again. So many laughs. Truly appreciate that he brought supper ... lasagna. It was sooooooo gooood.

Peter was a great sport and shared some funny stories about the family.

A great photo capture of these three.

I missed taking a pic of Carlo's pet pug who happily posed.

Of course I had to share a couple of stories about Peter. What a great time ... sorry to see Carlo go.

In the afternoon we drove to Vernon to meet with our cousin, Sherry and her partner Gord.

I will be starting the silent auction for this special prize. Going for the highest bid ........

I am talking about the sign! Hee Hee Hee

October 18, 2020

This afternoon I had a video conference with Kelsey and Matt to catch up on what they have been up to. Always great to chat with them ... I truly miss them.

Had to finish off Carlo's great lasagna.

October 19, 2020

I had to go pick up some freshly picked apples today. I saw a recipe about slow cooker apple crisp that caught my attention. I have to try that ... yummy.

October 20th. 2020

This morning, I picked Garret up at 8am and we stopped back in at Peter and Lina's for breakfast. We said our good byes and were on our way. Truly a great visit with Peter and Lina ... some new great memories.

Garrett and I stopped in Vernon for gas ... to our surprise we got gas at 95.9 and in Kelowna it was 105.9 ... what a difference. We then got on the road and just a short ways out of Vernon I stopped at this site ... The Last Spike. In 2018, I had stopped at two other Last Spike locations, but this was the one I was looking for ... the last spike connecting the rail from coast to coast.

An old caboose they have on display ... not too bad a shape either.

What is the chance that when I was taking a photo of this board commemorating the last spike placed November 7th, 1885, that a CP train would go by! That was so awesome!

I believe that Pierre Berton wrote a book based on this location ... it was called 'The Last Spike'.

"On 7 November 1885, the last spike was driven at Craigellachie, British Columbia, making good on the original promise. Craigellachie is the site of a tourist stop on the Trans-Canada Highway between Salmon Arm and Revelstoke." [Copied from Wikipedia]

Next, Garrett and I stopped at the Giant Cedars Boardwalk. The path was closed for the season, so we just took a few pics near the exit.

To our surprise, after spending about 10 days in the Kelowna area, we were surprised to see so much snow!

Certainly made for interesting pics.

On one summit, we encountered a light snowfall ... too early! LOL

We made attempts at stopping at a few other places, but were met with road blocks as these sections were closed for the winter. We made our way to one last stop before heading back to Calgary ... Lake Louise.

I don't think one could ever take a bad photo of this majestic place ... and the snow certainly added to the ambiance.

I have to state ... it was freakin' cold. HaHaHa.

A calm day creating a lovely mirror off the lake.

Had to take a photo of Lake Louise at The Fairmont Chateau.

A lovely time spent with family on this blog ... not sure what I will be doing next. LOL