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 …

Not The Day We Planned … Oh Well!

When we finally settled on a plan of travel for the next few days we were happy it included really short days so there was no rush to get on the road early … and then of course I wake up just after 1:00 a.m. and cant get back to sleep 😦 When I was able to fall back asleep it was 6:30 a.m. but, because we had a short travel day, I took full advantage and went back to sleep for another two hours 😀

We were on the road by 9:30 a.m. and would be set up at our destination, the Carl Precht RV Park, in Omak, WA by 11:30 a.m. … I told you it was a short drive!

We were surprised at the amount of snow and so low on the hills in Washington.

Our main reason for spending a night there was to wash Maxx and get the road salt off of him. We also needed to pull out our passports, Canadian wallets, grab our duty free list with receipts attached, and figure out how much alcohol we had in our three partial bottles.

Before too long we had sunny blue skies.

Well those were our good intentions but the RV Park in Omak still had their water shut off 😦 So we made a quick stop and dealt with everything else and then we headed off to Canada. Our plan for tomorrow was to stop at a Provincial campground just on the Canadian side of the border and I was all over that plan but hubby just wanted to get home and I always figure it is the driver’s call so home we went.

The Osoyoos, BC border crossing, always a welcome sight 🙂

As soon as we crossed the border, which was so easy with no questions due to our Nexus cards, I put our Canadian SIM cards in our phones and sent texts to the kids and my sister that we were back in Canada. When I looked up from that project I saw we were already driving through Oliver, BC.

Before to long we had passed through Penticton and caught our first good glimpse of Okanagan Lake.

We made a stop for lunch before we drove through West Kelowna.

And our excitement started to build as we came up to the exit for Bear Creek Provincial Park.

There is the park, on the point, hmm the trees haven’t even started to get buds, normally we see lots of signs of spring on our way home.

We decided to set up in the double site behind our site because we need to do some yard work in our site, but we will start on that tomorrow.

That is our site on the left behind Maxx.

So in the end it was a longer day than planned, five hours total, but we are now home for the summer and are looking forward to catching up with family and friends.

Until next time …

Top Ten Pictures of 2022

Here are our choices for the top pictures of 2022.

We would love your votes, on the poll at the end of the blog, to help us choose the best picture of 2022.

And just in case you haven’t voted for previous years and would like to, here are the links.

Top Ten Pictures of 2021

Top Ten Pictures of 2020

Top Ten Pictures of 2019

Top Ten Pictures of 2018

Top Ten Pictures of 2017

Top Ten Pictures of 2016

Top Ten Pictures Of 2015

Top Ten Pictures Of 2014

Top Ten Pictures Of 2013

Now off to 2022 If you want more information on a picture click on the highlighted sentence below the picture and it will take you to the original blog.

1. Sabino Canyon in Tucson, Arizona. Picture taken 28 March 2022

2. Sunset at Gilbert Ray Campground, Tucson, Arizona. Picture taken 30 March 2022.

3. View from Evely Forestry Site, Westside Road, Kelowna, B.C. Picture taken 1 May 2022.

4. Okanagan Lake. Picture taken 1 May 2022.

5. I love this picture taken at Ancient Hill Winery, Kelowna, B.C. Picture taken 14 July 2022.

6. Once again the sunrises at Bear Creek Provincial Park didn’t disappoint. Picture taken 15 August 2022.

7. Multnohmah Falls, Columbia River Gorge, Oregon. Picture taken 22 October 2022..

8. It was hard to pick just two pictures from Multnohmah Falls. Picture taken 22 October 2022.

9. We had a year of waterfalls and really enjoyed our time at Shoshone Falls, Idaho.  Picture taken 24 October 2022.

10. We were enthralled with this Lenticular Cloud hanging above our route near Area 51 … kinda spooky! Picture taken 25 October 2022.

We appreciate all your votes as it help us narrow down which pictures we will eventually mount and hang in our new home … one day in the future when we decide to settle down 🙂

Until next time

 

Just Chillin

I really have nothing interesting to write about, the weather has warmed up a little … just a little 😦 The wind gave us a break for a few periods during the last week, but not many 😦 I don’t think it rained at all last week … which is a strange statement coming from Yuma where it almost never rains during the winter … but this winter we have had more than usual.

And that pretty much sums up the past week. Other than dinner at a friends place, with a fun group of people we were meeting for the first time, we have spent most of the last week inside watching TV, reading, playing games and just hiding out from the wind. We did sit outside for a brief happy hour with friends one day and of course attended the egg game last night, oh and we also met up with hubby’s cousin’s from Saskatchewan for lunch last Wednesday. Okay I will stop complaining I guess we did do lot’s of fun things during the last week 😀

I should stop complaining, I could be at home in the snow 🙂 Although this is a picture from 2020, I don’t think they have any snow at home right now.

Things are looking up weather wise, as I write this blog it looks like it will be a nice warm, windless, day and we are having happy hour at our place today. I’m really hoping this is the turn in the weather I have been longing for because I’m done hiding inside out of the wind!

Until next time …

Back To Warmer Weather

We have been home for a week now and even though I enjoyed the snow at home for Christmas …

I was happy to arrive back to warmer sunnier weather 😀

Our last week has been busy. We watched the final games of the World Junior’s Hockey Games and were very happy to cheer Canada onto another Gold Medal!

I saw this at a restaurant when we were home for Christmas and thought it was pretty cool … it’s made out of hockey pucks.

Along with happy hours and dinners with friends we have restocked our fridge and run other necessary errands. I saw these two signs at some businesses we visited and thought they were good.

Posted in the washroom at WinCo in the Palm Desert area.

An old train station sign … I like it and wish we still had this law.

Monday night we went to the Cocopah Downs, our local horse races, and had a great time.

And that’s about it, just another week in a warm sunny winter … we lead a good life 🙂

Until next time …

Goodbye 2022, Hello 2023

We wish you all a very Happy Safe New Year and all the best for 2023. We are sending out 2022 the way we usually send out a year, watching the World Junior’s hockey game … tonight is Canada versus Sweden and halfway through the third period things are looking good for Canada 4-1, but I never count a win until the game is over because you just never know what will happen.

Tomorrow we will do laundry, clean the condo, and head over to our daughter’s for dinner. We will spend the night at her house because we have to be at the airport early … and then if all goes well we will be back in Palm Springs tomorrow afternoon. Although hubby and I are hoping we will be delayed in Vancouver and then we will be able to see our oldest son and daughter-in-law and hubby’s mother … fingers crossed 🙂

Until next time …

Back To The Airport

We are so grateful that our son and daughter-in-law took us in for Christmas. I think it was around 9:00 a.m. last Thursday when I told our son we couldn’t get home for Christmas and would it be okay with them if we flew to Calgary and spent three days with them before we could fly into Kelowna. It took him less than a second to respond and say of course they would love to have us and, with no notice or time to prep for two more people, they made us feel like we were expected all along 🙂

Our daughter-in-law made festive Sangria on Christmas Eve and it was yummy.

Now we are off on our next adventure, our trip from Calgary to Kelowna, and it didn’t start off well. For some reason we were unable to do online check in. We could see that we had been assigned seats but could not get our boarding passes. Fortunately our flight didn’t leave until 3:00 pm so we didn’t have to leave the house in the early hours. We headed to the airport around 11:00 and we’re are able to get our boarding passes at the WestJet counter with no problems.

With our Nexus cards we were able to quickly pass through security and found a place to have lunch and kill some time.

A window seat at lunch helped kill some time, it is actually very warm in Calgary I didn’t even zip up my coat between the house and the airport.

We had to take a flight to Edmonton and then board another plane for Kelowna and we did have delays in both Calgary and Edmonton but we finally arrived in Kelowna … we were only five days late … but unlike many unfortunate travelers we were able to spend Christmas with family even if it was not the ones we had planned to spend Christmas with😄

I did have a good laugh when I talked to our oldest son on Christmas Day. At one point we thought we may be spending Christmas with them if we had got into Vancouver but couldn’t connect to Kelowna. On our phone call he asked if we made it home and I said no we were at his bother’s but would be heading home on Boxing Day. I told him we had to go through Edmonton and I hoped we didn’t get stuck there because none of our kids live there anymore, but he told me not to worry their renters had moved out a few weeks ago so we could stay at their condo if we needed to … boy it’s nice to have children to look after you! And who knows we may still get to see them if our return flight gets stuck in Vancouver.

I know it sounds like a lot of frustration to come home for Christmas but we look at it as an adventure and the added bonus of spending time with children we didn’t think we would see this Christmas. Life is all about how you look at it 🙂

Until next time …

We Are Still At … Will We Stay or Can We Go?

Well we are one step closer to flying home for Christmas, we are in Palm Desert with hubby’s cousins. That’s the good news, the bad news is flights are still a mess in Vancouver, BC where we have to fly into to catch our connecting flight to Kelowna. And things in Kelowna are a mess as well so we have no idea if we will make it home tomorrow or at the very least make it to Vancouver.

So for now we will enjoy family time in Palm Desert and worry about our flights tomorrow.

Oh and by the way Santa took a day off from the North Pole and played a round of golf at our RV park in Yuma 😀

Until next time …

Will We Stay or Can We Go?

Yes I know the real words to the song are Should I Stay, Or Should I Go, but my lyrics are more fitting so what is going on in our life right now.

We will be heading to Palm Springs tomorrow to spend the night with hubby’s cousins but what we are unsure of is flying home on Thursday :frown: We fly from Palm Springs to Vancouver and then Vancouver to Kelowna. Today the Vancouver International Airport is shut down because of a snow storm. Flights in and out of Kelowna are also cancelled or delayed.

I checked the weather in Vancouver and as of today it appears the snow will end and tomorrow and Thursday look clear and sunny, so we are praying, crossing our fingers and toes, and hoping that our flight will take off.

Our hope is to make it to Kelowna on Thursday but if we can at least make it to Vancouver we will be happy because our son and daughter-in-law are there and hubby’s family are there, so at least we would still be spending Christmas with family.

But for today we are continuing with our holiday tradition, on the day before we begin our trip home for Christmas, a margarita out in the sun amongst the palm trees 😀 I always like my children to know what I’m giving up to go back to the cold snowy weather!

But honestly it’s me that wants to spend Christmas with my family and I love cold snowy weather at Christmas … especially because I can leave it behind at the start of the new year and go back to sun, warm weather, and palm trees. Please don’t hate me friends at home 🙂

Until next time …