Gr@y & Blue Fall Road Trip 43-45

Monday morning Theodora was back at work and Alexandros was back at school so Nektarios and Nikolas helped us pack the trailer and bid us goodbye. We drove to Keremeos via a few lake-side birding stops.

We set up the trailer at Eagle Campground in Keremeos and the we headed west to explore the Red Bridge and the Forest Service sites on the outskirts of Cathedral Provincial Park - unfortunately the private road into the park is closed for the season. Once back in Keromeos, we headed out for an evening drive of the South Okanagan Circle Route (including Osoyoos, Oliver, Okanagsn Falls, and Penticton).

The next morning, we did laundry and at 11:00am arrived at the organic farmstead of pals Yvonne & Morris. We enjoyed great conversation and a wonderful brunch and then headed out again on a second visit to the South Okanagan Circle Route,  a bit earlier than yesterday, in order to capture photos in a new light.

Wednesday was a drive from Keremeos to Harrison Lake, but first we visited a farm stand to get squash, apples and preserves to take home.

We stopped in Manning Park to make lunch where we became a special interest of a small group of Grey Jays, but could not stay, as we had some business calls to attend to and our proposed camp stay did not have cell reception so we pushed on to Deer Lake, above Harrison Lake, but again did not have reception so we went back to near Harrison Lake to set up in a camp with WiFi for blogging.

Gr@y & Blue Fall Road Trip 40-42

The Prairie landscape sucks energy when cycling we learned in June this year. Now we know it also sucks energy when driving. With just our car, we can get over 650K on a tank; in hilly Ontario and Quebec with our canoe on the car and towing our trailer we got about 350K per tank of gas. On the Prairies, flat and windy, we consistently got about 240K per tank; back in the BC Rockies, we are getting over 420K per tank!

Friday evening, after a sunset stop at Munson Pond Park in Kelowna, we happily arrived at the beautiful home of niece Theodora and her family: husband Nektarios, 6yo Alexandros, and 3 & 3/4yo Nikolas. Saturday morning after Theodora's wonderful waffles we went up to Myra Canyon to see and walk on the rail tressels. En route, we saw a few hunting parties, including one set gutting a deer.

It was an exciting walk across many tressel sections and in one tunnel. As we exited the tunnel, it was quite windy and it began to snow, so we headed back.

After a yummy picnic lunch at home, we went out to a local turtle pond and had a laugh getting un-stuck from the muddy shore. Puzzles and stories ended a fun day. After Theodora's scone breakfast on Sunday, we were outside for a "mitten-run" to the pond and then played with Uncle Tim's Go-Cart and had fun collecting leaves. Lunch out was followed by a visit to the Kelowna Art Gallery for Yolanda, Theodora and the boys: Alexandros & Nikolas.

Bob and Nektarios went afield to seek bird photos. At the Gallery, Yolanda, Theodora and the boys painted paper plates in preparation for an over-weaving.

As the paint dried, they visited three exhibits, including an outdoor woven branch sculpture, an exhibit of tapestry works by Jane Kidd and drawings & paintings by school students. In the evening we did more drawing & puzzle making. We had such a great, busy visit with the Koulis' and look forward to returning!