My Summer Vacation
to Kelowna,
(in the Sunny Okanagan Valley)
Beautiful British Columbia, Canada
2002

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~ Saturday, August 3rd ~
Flew on a nightmare flight to Seattle. I was freaking out the whole way from the turbulence. Cam didn't care, he loves turbulence. My flight from Seattle to Kelowna wasn't bad, but it was on a tiny plane with propellers out the window and when we landed I could see the sparks shooting out of the landing gear as it hit the ground in the dark. Too bad I don't drink, the beer and wine was free. Going through customs was easy, it a man in a booth who looked at my birth certificate and sent me on my way. Brad, my host and best friend, was waiting right outside the doors and off we went.

~ Sunday, August 4th ~
Hardly slept, it was hard to adjust. We drove around most of the day, but I forgot my camera. It was cloudy and we walked on an empty beach and watched some street performers in the park. It was a 3-day weekend there and Kelowna was full of tourists. Went to see Men in Black 2.

~ Monday, August 5th ~
TRIKING! We drove the 3-wheelers about 3k up a mountain to Lake James. It was so much fun, the ruts and creeks were scary on the way up, but fun on the way down. I didn't tip over until we were putting the trikes back in the truck to go home. We stayed up and looked at all of Brad's sketch pads of artwork.

~ Tuesday, August 6th ~
Woke up with a sprained left wrist. I must have hurt it when I went into the barbed wire fence, or from pulling the rip cord to start it. PAIN!!! (It's been nearly 4 weeks and it is still hasn't healed.) The Canadian dollar was really weak, I went to the bank and traded in $335 US for $527 Canadian. It was like getting free money. Shopped for all our camping stuff, I needed a sleeping bag. Spent $135 on groceries alone. Then went to see Goldmember and laughed our asses off!!! We had a flat tire when we came out of the movie, but Brad is so cool, he doesn't swear or complain, he just changed it and we went on our merry way.

~ Wednesday, August 7th ~
We packed for camping ALL day! We finally got to our camp site at dusk. It was so beautiful and because it was the middle of the week no one had claimed it. We had our own beach and there was even a make-shift outhouse in the woods. There was no one for half a mile. Setting up the tents in the dark wasn't fun, but finally relaxing by the camp fire was. It was so cold in my tent in the morning I thought I was going to die, but once the sun came up I had to get up because it was so hot, it was like a greenhouse with the plastic over the top!

~ Thursday, August 8th ~
Stung by a bee in the stomach. No big deal. Sat around talking and listening to Brad play his flute. Played Frisbee with Kaylie, Brad's dog, in the lake. Brad went fishing but didn't catch anything. I caught 7 crayfish on the shore and we fried them up and they were so good that we went looking for more. At 2am Brad was in the lake with 2 kitchen strainers and a flashlight catching crawdads and we called them baby lobsters. I was carrying them around in pots and pop cans. It was wild as hell! We boiled them and fried their tail and claw meat in fresh garlic and butter and it tasted just like lobster. We stayed up all night talking by the fire and took pictures of the sunrise . It was the final ice breaker and a priceless night... and morning!

~ Friday, August 9th ~
I got a little sleep, but I don't think Brad got any. The day just whizzed by. Kaylie almost caught one of the chipmunks that would sit in the trees and tease her with their chirping. I spent the entire day listening to Brad's genius mussings. I love learning new things. I just soaked it all in, and enjoyed the beautiful lake and scenery.

~ Saturday, August 10th ~
Packed up and were home by 6:30pm. On the way home Brad took me driving out on an old grass runway used in the Mark Hamill movie "Time Runner". And in his way that he has been helping me with my fears he urged me to the point where I finally said I would get behind the wheel... and I DROVE!!! I drove down the runway (that was marked "No Trespassing" and did a U-turn in the grass and then drove down a rocky hill over a lot of ruts. It seemed like forever because I was going slow and freaking. Then I drove on the black top for a little while, that was less scary and I felt more comfortable behind the wheel. I could have never done it without Brad.

~ Sunday, August 11th ~
Up early and Brad's mum took up to brunch at the Gray Monk Winery. It was beautiful there, on a hill over-looking Lake Okanagan. We took the tour and then did some wine tasting, even though I don't like wine. Then Brad and I went to the Kelowna Parks Alive Blues Fest. We didn't stay long, Brad's back was hurting so we walked along Lake Okanagan downtown, saw the mythological Ogopogo statue, took a drive over the floating bridge and got some KFC and went home. I watched some Red Dwarf (which I became hooked on while there) and stayed up until 2am writing Brad an e-mail. Heh, it was still easier to write letters even though he was in the next room.

~ Monday, August 12th ~
We went shopping again. Went to a really neat junk shop that had lots of Star Wars toys. Mailed my postcards, took film in, got more cash from ATM, etc. The rest of the day is a blur. Stayed up and watched "The Fellowship of the Ring".

~ Tuesday, August 13th ~
Took a drive to Moore Lake where the water was very low and we walked in the mud and I caught some tiny black frogs. Then we drive to Postill Lake and Brad taught me to fly fish. He's a great and patient teacher! But I practiced so much I got bored with it and ended up playing fetch with Kaylie the dog in the lake and taking pictures of cows and driftwood. Kaylie was wet and got to ride home in the back. Stayed up and watched "Titan AE".

~ Wednesday, August 14th ~
Took a drive to Vernon, the long way around Lake Okanagan. It was an awesome drive. Brad gave me a tour of the campsites he partied at when he was younger where they would trash cars and drive them over cliffs, and where I took the picture that is the background for this page. We took pictures of Lake Kalamalka which has a very cool turquoise color, but these pictures don't do it justice. Then we rested up and went out to a blues club called the Blue Gator for jam night. It was great!

~ Thursday, August 15th ~
We went downtown and walked along the boardwalk where all the rich tourists are. We watched some boys who had tipped over two sailboats, they were too little to flip them back over, finally some people jumped in and helped. Took a picture of this neat gargoyle made of metal. Then we went shopping at Orchard Park Mall. I finally found a t-shirt as a souvenir for myself. Then Brad decided to spring something on me... he wanted to take me to the anxiety group he used to go to. He hadn't been in a year and a half, but I finally said ok. No one he knew was there, but OMG was it an experience. It was a very profound experience for me. Stayed up and watched "Fallen", but a huge wind storm hit and the power went out. If we were in Minnesota I would have thought it was a tornado.

~ Friday, August 16th ~
Went to town and shopped for stuff for dinner. Drove up to Knox Mountain and took pictures from the lower outlook tower. Piddled around in the beautiful backyard and posed for pictures. Got dinner started late. We made home made lasagna. Brad made the pasta himself. I made 4 batches of Rice Crispy Squares. YUM! We had wine with dinner, it was wonderful! Sat on the deck where Brad smokes his pipe, took pictures of Obi-Wan and Kaylie and watched another beautiful sunset. Stayed up and watched "Seven".

~ Saturday, August 17th ~
I packed all morning and finally squeezed everything in four bags. Brad gave me a soap stone carving he made years ago and I will treasure it. His mum gave me an Episode I t-shirt that said "ILM VFX CREW" (Did I mention that Brad's brother-in-law works for ILM on the Skywalker Ranch?) I hugged Bradford good-bye! I hated leaving, I had the best time and he was a wonderful host. Usually when I return home from a trip many things go horribly wrong, but all that happened was a key getting stuck in a suitcase lock, dropping my ID in the Seattle airport but finding it again, and waiting an hour in four lines to go through customs in Seattle. I up with Cam just fine and the flights were pretty much turbulence free and I loved flying over the mountains. My trip was a total of $950 US, much less than I planned on. It helped with the Canadian exchange rate! Finally home and all I can think about is going back next year!!!!!