Thursday, June 25, 2015

Week of (One) BC River


Last Thursday we headed to Merritt for the second Annual Week of BC Rivers with friends Glen and Cathy and Jean.  (For the first annual see here.) We stayed at our favourite campsite, N'Kwala, right on the Nicola River.  




We were hoping to do the Tulameen and Similkameen Rivers as well, but water levels were much lower than last year, so we just stayed with on the Nicola.  As it was levels were pretty low for Glen and Cathy's raft, and we were all scraping rocks, although we all got better at not getting hung up with each successive run.  The water levels dropped every day.

Leo and I took Saturday off to attend the Kamloops Walk for ALS with niece Monica.

Connie and Monica wait for walk to begin at Riverside Park


Friends Kelly and Margaret Anne and their kids arrived Saturday night to join us for another run down the Nicola River.

Kids love the fire!

Alas, my camera,though waterproof, got all steamed up so no good pictures on the river!

Kelly on a flat stretch

We stopped in Red Rock Canyon and climbed up the bank to check out a tunnel on the Kettle Valley Railroad.  The trail is not maintained on this sidespur and wouldn't be good for biking.

In Red Rock Canyon


Diabetes Walk at Kamloops Game Farm

After the ALS walk in Saturday we drove down to Salmon Arm to visit our niece and family and participate in the Walk for Juvenile Diabetes in support of our nephew Tristan who was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes just over a year ago.  

Tristan with sister Jenna in the background

It's been a steep learning curve for the whole family.

I got to drive to Kamloops with Monica in her brand new (to her) BMW she got for an outrageously low price from a dealer in Vancouver that imports them from Japan.


Those convertibles sure do a number on your long hair!

The diabetes walk was a big deal with lots of activities for the kids.  We walked around the park and got to check out the animals.




The highlight was a Kermode bear rooting around in the dirt.  Suddenly their was a screech, and a marmot flew out of his den.  The bear pounced on his lunch.  A bit too authentic Wild Kingdom for some of the visitors!

Did you know that Canada leads the world in Type 1 Diabetes research? And so we should with our Banting and Best heritage.



Relaxing in the shade after the walk.


ALS Walk

ALS Walk (Leo in the background behind the organizers)

After months of fundraising, the Williams Lake ALS walk was held on June 13. Leo and I spent many hours (especially Leo) in front of Save-On and Safeway and at the Farmers' Market selling raffle tickets. So thanks to all our friends we hounded.

Leo's brother Ron (Arthur) passed away from ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease) in 2009 so this is an important charity for us. 

$23,000 was raised which is pretty darn good considering the Kamloops walk raised $30,000 with 
7 times the population.





Tuesday, June 9, 2015

Enjoying our Early Summer

We've been enjoying our endless sunny weather.  On Sunday. we paddled the lower Cariboo River.  I forgot my camera in the truck, so no photos. The water was high, so it was a quick trip with huge waves.  But the inflatable pretty much bobbed through everything, untill we got to the very last wave and Leo went in sideways to try and soak me.  He was so successful we flipped right over  and we had our first (short) swim in many years.  A highlight of the trip was seeing a cow moose and her very small calf.


 Leo on Williams Lake

Yesterday we went for a paddle around Scout Island on Willliams |Lake.  We saw several nesting red-necked grebes, turtles (but not 32!), and three deer.


Water Selfie