The Rest of the Ride … Almost 😄

When we stopped our ride last week it was about 10:00 a.m. and we were at the A&W meeting friends for our weekly Tuesday coffee group. Once we had discussed and solved all the world’s problems we headed out to meet my sister and brother-in-law for lunch … and can you believe I didn’t take a single picture along the way … I sure can’t believe it! We pretty much took some of the same route back, but at the Parkinson Rec Center we cut across the sports fields, rode across the old Dr. Knox parking lot, made a quick jaunt down Burtch Road and into the back of a complex that houses Dakoda’s Bar & Grill. After a great lunch we headed across the parking lot and found an entrance to the Rec Center fields which allowed us to avoid riding on the road.

I only took the one pictured as we crossed the fields because, as you can see in the picture above, I was dodging sprinklers 😀 And I managed to get across the field without getting wet.

Once across the field we joined up with another bike path that took us out to the Rec Center parking lot.

We rode out of the Rec Center parking lot and up onto the bike path along Highway 97 and then up the ramp to the overpass that crosses the highway.

At the top of the ramp we turned left and crossed over the highway …

And then a right down the ramp on the other side and then a left through the Landmark Square parking lot …

And then a left onto Dicksen Avenue, I bet those of you who know us and Kelowna know where we are headed 😀

At the end of Dicksen Avenue we made a right onto Kirschner Avenue and then a quick left crossing into the parking lot of Copper Brewing … did you all guess right? We parked our bikes in the bike stand on the sidewalk and went in to see if they had any new beers.

They didn’t have anything new so we headed out back the way we came. Across the Landmark Square parking lot to the bike lane leading to the crossing across the highway.

And then we made the right up the ramp to the overpass and … oh oh do you see that sky!

That wasn’t looking good but once we made the left onto the overpass the sky looked better.

But then we made the right down toward the Rec Center and I started to wonder if we should be heading home.

As we rode through the Rec Center it didn’t look to bad out and no matter what we had to continue riding this way to get home.

It didn’t long before we came to the end of the Rec Center bike paths. At this point we made a left to head towards downtown Kelowna but earlier in the day it would have been a right toward the A&W and our coffee group.

As we followed the bike path toward downtown the weather was looking better so we discussed, over our headsets, whether we should go home or should we check out some of the craft breweries in the downtown area.

We came up to Railside Brewing but it wasn’t open yet.  Remember we past by here earlier this morning but of course if was to early for beer 🙂 Now it is time for beer and it’s still not open 😦

So just past Railside we made a right across the street and joined up with another bike path down to the brewery district.

We followed that path behind the SunRype plant and made a left off the path just before the homeless camp … yes Kelowna is a big city with big city problems.

We then rode a quiet street before we arrived at Unleashed Brewing, a brewery we had somehow never managed to visit before.

Flights are served in a dog dish 🙂

We really enjoyed our shared flight at Unleashed and will definitely be back again. Oh and just an FYI this is a dog friendly brewery who jumped through all the health department hoops so that they could actually have dogs inside the brewery and not run into trouble if they received a visit from the health department.

We decided to make one more stop at Rustic Reel Brewery because it had been a while since we had been there. As we enjoyed a few more tasters the sky started to turn again and we decided it was time to head home.

Honestly this is the bike ride blog that seems to never end but I have many more pictures that I want to share so I will end here and share the last of our ride with you next week … and I promise it will be the last blog about this bike ride.

Until next time …

Come Take A Bike Ride With Us

I thought you might like to come along on one of our Kelowna bike rides. This was a Tuesday when we head off to meet friends for coffee and do whatever other errands we have to do. This Tuesday didn’t involve grocery shopping, it was just a fun social day.

We left the park with our bikes in the back of the truck and drove the 7.2km to the gravel lot beside the Westbank First Nations office.

The road from the park to the highway is not, al least in our minds, safe to ride so we park at the Westbank First Nations overflow lot and then ride into Kelowna. We unloaded our bikes and set off. As we headed down the hill toward the bridge crossing Okanagan Lake we talked (over our headsets) about how lucky we were to be riding since traffic was backed up a long way before the bridge. Here we are at the bottom of the hill and starting our crossing across the bridge.

Before long we left the bridge and crossed underneath, using the tunnel, and entered City Park.

Last year they redid the path along the waterfront in City Park and it makes for a nice ride.

As we left the park we went to the left, past the Visitor Information Centre and headed towards the Yacht Club.

I thought we were going to go straight but hubby decided to cut through the skating rink, which of course is just a cement pad this time of year.

Once we left the skating rink we followed a bike lane along Water Street for a very brief period while we past the Community Theatre and turned right onto the road behind the theatre toward the library … and through a bit of construction.

Before we hit the library we turned left and joined onto a dedicated bike lane that runs behind the Court House and in front of the Mary Irwin Theatre … and we waved to the condo, to the right, that we stayed in during COVID.

We were still on dedicated bike lanes but we did have to stop for some traffic lights.

And then we crossed over toward Railside Brewing, which sometimes we have the opportunity to stop at but it doesn’t open until 3:00 so we are often back home before it opens … of course today it was 9:30 a.m. so there wasn’t even the thought of beer on our mind 😀

We were once again on a dedicated bike path where we went past a school, the baseball field where we spent many hours watching our youngest son play, and my sister’s place to the left in the distance, before we once again veered to the left to cross a major road.

We crossed Gordon Drive and were back on a dedicated bike path for a short time.

This portion of the bike path goes a long way but unfortunately to get to the A&W, where our Tuesday coffee group meets, we had to join up with some city streets.  We made a right onto Hardy Street, a quiet street where we can ride down the middle to the left hand turn lane.

Haha this picture reminds me of the captcha that you get when you are trying to prove you are a human and you have to pick out all the pictures with busses in them. Don’t worry I won’t make you do that 🙂

We made a left off of Hardy Street onto Enterprise Way.

Enterprise Way is a very busy road but it does have a bike lane and we didn’t have to ride on it for to long.

We crossed Enterprise at Cooper and drove over the grass into the parking lot …

Made a right and then a left …

And then another right across the outside sitting area at A&W

And then a left where, after a 12km ride, we locked up our bikes and joined our friends for a very fun two hours of laughs and good conversation.

From coffee we headed off on more adventures but I will save those for another day.

Until next time …

Just Living The Life

I really thought I had nothing much to write about but I went through my pictures and came up with a few tid bits, boring as they probably are but oh well here you go 😀

I did some baking a little while ago and found out that my icing sugar had gone very lumpy so I searched for something to use as a sifter … you can see from the picture that it wasn’t the greatest tool!

That experience sent me promptly to Amazon where I ordered a small sifter so I don’t have to go through that again.

The end of April brought a few nice sunrises …

As did the beginning of May …

We have had some very warm weather which is causing the creek to really start flowing.

For about a week I watched as a tree got closer and closer to being washed into the creek.

And then in the early morning hours last Friday it finally came down.

We have been watching for the wildflowers to start blooming on our hike up the hill to check our mail but so far only the Okanagan Sunflower have come out.

One day we drove into West Kelowna and walked along the water for a change of scenery.

And May is still providing some pretty sunrises.

We have spent time with family and friends and are just enjoying life 🙂

Until next time …

We Have Bougainvillea In Kelowna!

My sister and I were out plant shopping a few weeks agao and I walked around the end of an aisle to see this …

I had to take a closer look because they sure looked like Bougainvillea to me and I thought they only grew in the south where the weather is warm year round. I have shown you the picture below of my Bougainvillea at our site in Yuma, it is planted in the ground and survives the hot summers without any water.

We have very warm summers here in Kelowna and I know a Bougainvillea plant will grow well during that time but I have never seen any planted or sold in nurseries here, so I was surprised to see a whole display of them. There were also lots of people buying them so maybe they will become a common plant. I just hope all those people realize that they will have to taken their Bougainvillea’s inside during our winter months.

I grow them in pots in Yuma and they do well.

The other thing I noticed about the plant they sell here is it has no thorns.

The Bougainvillea you see in the south are very thorny and are often planted along fences as a barrier to unwanted intruders.

Although many consider the Bougainvillea plant to be a weed, I love it. Now if I only had a place to store them over the winter I would be planting them in pots here in Kelowna as well. 🙂

Until next time …

I’m Back Home Again

I really enjoyed the past two weeks with my grandsons but it is nice to be back home with hubby 😀 That was the most time we have spent apart in the last ten years! Although I did see him alot during my time at our daughter’s so it wasn’t really two weeks but all the same it is nice to be back home.

It was nice to have different views during my morning walk.

I’m going to miss sitting with our oldest grandson early in the morning while he got ready for work and then spending time with the other two while they got ready to head off to school. And of course my walks with the dog will also be missed, she was good company and always listen to what I had to say 🙂

It was also nice driving their brand new Tesla and I made good use out of it with lot’s of time with my sister and other friends.

These are memories I will cherish and maybe our daughter and son-in-law will go away again sometime and I will get to do it all over again.

Until next time …

2022 – 2023 Snowbird Year Wrap Up

It was a real challenge this year trying to find a good route home, given the not so great weather we had this winter. California was out of the question because of all the snow they had, which cause our usual route to be piled high with snow and not an option towing Maxx. Our second most used route through Eli, Wells, and Jackpot Nevada wasn’t showing promising weather with snow in the forecast for most of our travel days. With those routes out hubby went sleuthing and came up with a route through the high desert plains in Nevada and Idaho and it turned out to be a great route. We did have some snow on the sides of the highways and in the evening once we stopped in Winnemuka, NV but the roads all stayed dry and the temperatures were above freezing so all in all it was a good trip back. Not as nice as last year but way better than what we were expecting so we were happy.

These are the bougainvillea plants I planted in March 2020, they are doing really well considering they get no water during the summer.

Over the past five months:

We spent time in five states; Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Nevada, California, and Arizona.

We covered 6,076 mi (9,778 km), down slightly from 2021/2022. Our first winter away still showed the most distance, when we travelled 14,093 mi (22,663 km) from Kelowna, B.C. to Key West, Florida.

This is where I always talk about fuel costs and I expected it to be our most expensive year yet, given the way gas prices have gone up. Unlike last year when our prices on the way home were much higher than the way south, this year our prices heading home were much lower than our trip south. On the way south we averaged $5.167 USD per gallon ($1.91 CND per litre, which is more than we were paying at home) and on the way north we averaged $4.206 USD per gallon ($1.55 CND per litre, which is much less that we are paying at home). Just shy of a dollar less a gallon heading heading home than heading south. This winter we spent $2,563 on fuel which was only up $114 over last year but we also travelled 560 miles less than we did in 2021/2022 … still not as big a difference as I expected.

Our most expensive diesel was $5.675 USD per gallon ($2.09 CND per litre) in Oceanside, CA which puts California back in the top for the most expensive state after Washington won out last year. Our cheapest diesel was $3.659 USD per gallon ($1.35 CND per litre) in Fallon, NV.

I took this picture of my Osteospermum during the last rainfall in Yuma.

I am currently still enjoying my two weeks with three of our grandsons and hubby is holding down the fort at the park. The weather hasn’t been great, still a chill in the air but I did take off my coat yesterday when I took the dog out for a walk so maybe there is hope that we will soon have spring temperatures.

There are buds on the tree at City Hall so there are signs that spring is approaching.

Until next time …

A Fun Evening Before My Next Adventure

Last night hubby and I met up with my sister and brother-in-law for dinner and an evening at the Kelowna Community Theatre. My sister and I are very proud of our Irish heritage so we were thrilled to spend an evening listening to the Irish Rovers! No they are not dead, no this was not a fake Irish Rovers band, it was the real thing 😀

Canada has been home to the Irish Rovers since its inception in the early 60s but the members are mostly from Ireland originally. The founding member George Millar and his cousin Ian are both from Ballymena which is near Birr where my Grandmother is from. When they sang the song The Orange and The Green last night my sister commented that it is dad’s song and it is true the words to the song do truly fit him …

Oh, it is the biggest mix-up that you have ever seen.
Me father he was Orange and me mother she was Green.

His dad, our grandfather, was from Northern Ireland (orange) and his mother, our grandmother, was from Southern Ireland (green) and traditionally northern and southern Irish families do not get along. I think it was easier for my grandparents because they married after they immigrated to Canada but the song still fits!

The Irish Rovers also sang many other of their best known songs such as The Unicorn, Drunken Sailor, Wasn’t That A Party, The Black Velvet Band and their newest song Hey Boys Sing Us A Song which has been nominated for the Canadian Folk Music Awards’ 2023 SINGLE OF THE YEAR.

It was a very fun evening and I’m sure glad we went.

Today I have moved out of the park for the next two weeks. I have given up these views on my morning walk …

I took this picture on April 1 at 6:12 a.m. and because of the weather it was so dark out.

and I took this picture two days later, and totally unintentionally it was also taken at 6:12 a.m., but it was a much brighter morning

And so far this is the best sunrise I have seen

And replaced them with the smiles and hugs of three of our grandsons, ranging in age from 14 to 18, for the next two weeks … yes I’m a happy grandma 🙂 Our daughter and son-in-law left this morning for two weeks in Hawaii to celebrate their upcoming twentieth wedding anniversary.

Sadly for him, or who knows maybe happy for him, hubby had to stay at the park so that there was someone there overnight to open the gate in an emergency.

Until next time …

Day Three of Getting Settled

Day Three of Getting Settled

Today is supposed to be the last day of nice weather for awhile so we made the push to finish our yard work, get everything setup outside, and wash the outside of the windows. Here are the before and after pictures of the yard work …

I still have some more leaves to bag up in this area but I got rid of a lot!

Now I just need to wash the inside of the windows and do a deep clean on the inside but I can do that tomorrow when the weather turns. We even found some time to enjoy a sit around the fire and admire our work 😀

Until next time …

Day Two of Getting Settled

I started my day off with a walk around the park with a friend, it is nice to be home and have friends to walk with 😀

After breakfast hubby and I headed outside where I cleaned out our shed and hubby washed Maxx … he looks so fresh and clean, now I have to wash the windows but I ran out of time, or more correctly motivation, today.

I spent more time raking leaves while hubby raked more gravel. Once that was done we layed down the mats, set up the gazebo, moved plant pots, and did other random stuff before we decided we had had enough for one day.

We then headed over to our daughter’s place to pick up our mail and were fortunate to run into our son-in-law. Our daughter and the three boys left today to visit our youngest son and his family in Adrie, Alberta but our son-in-law had to work so he stayed home.

There are a lot of leaves!

We conviced him to join us for dinner and we had a nice visit, it was fun to catch up and we look forward to catching up with our daughter and the kids next week.

Until next time …

Getting Settled

Even before we had our site cleaned out and got settled in we once again commented that this is by far the prettiest place we spend time at, it is the nicest campground and with the nicest views out the window.

Even through dirty windows and with a lot of yard work left I think it is a nice view!

We were woken up on our first morning by the birds knocking on our window. I think they must see their shadows but I prefer to believe they are asking for their feeders to be put up … and I had to explain to them that there was some work to be done before that could happen 😀

Our first day was spent cleaning up our site and moving the new gravel the park provided so that it would be in the right places. Once we had done the main part of our site we moved Maxx in, and that took almost two hours … it is a very tight spot for a long RV as we have to deal with low hanging trees, road signs, a narrow road and cement curbs, plus we want to get it in perfect placement so we are willing to spend the time.

(We have some work to do, especially spreading all that gravel.

Once Maxx was settled in we did some more work on the site which included raking a lot of leaves! Seven hours later we called it quits and chilled for the rest of the evening.

Until next time …