Kelowna - Smoke and Waterfalls

On our second full day in Kelowna, we awoke in anticipation of a hot sunny day-- wine tours! Lake time! Hours spent lazily sunning ourselves! WHAT COULD BE BETTER?

Alas, it was not meant to be. We awoke to a thick coating of smoke covering the Okanagan Valley. The smoke hung over Kelowna for the rest of our trip. 

Beautiful view of Lake Okanagan.

Regardless, we did make the best of the time we had. On Sunday morning we walked down to the lake from the rental cabin, which turned out to be quite a steep hike. We hoped that the smoke would clear up a bit, but it never really did. So we headed out for a self-guided tour of several wineries, including Mission Hill, the Hatch, Quails' Gate and Volcanic Hills. We finished our day off with dinner at Summerhill Pyramid, before dropping Ashley off at the airport.

On our third and final day in Kelowna, Steve, Jeff, Tom and I headed into Fintry Provincial Park for a short hike up a three-tiered waterfall. We packed lunch with us-- Jeff actually hauled a cooler ladened with sandwich fixings, snacks and beverages up the huge set of steep stairs, with the intention of us having a picnic at the top

Jeff and Steve in a smokey Fintry Park.

Of course, when we got to the top, there wasn't really anywhere to eat. Everything was out in the scorching sun (a sign that the smoke had cleared a bit-- we could actually see patches of blue sky every once in a while), so Jeff hauled everything back down again.

Fintry Provincial Park waterfall.

Staircase up to Waterfall is visible at the top.

Steve and I taking in the waterfall below.

At the base of the waterfall we followed a pathway into some tree cover, and found ourselves a nice spot by the creek to eat our lunch. We were only minorly harassed by wasps, and while investigating some nearby trees infected with tent caterpillars, we found this hairy caterpillar. I don't think this guy is a tent caterpillar-- he just happened to be near a nest.

Hairy caterpillar.

We spent a couple hours relaxing by the lake, and then Jeff made us some delicious pork souvlaki for dinner. After dinner we hit the pool, and then got a head start on packing up.

Tom and I headed out early the next morning to finish the last leg of our journey out to Tofino on Vancouver Island. Stay tuned!

Kelowna - Myra Canyon

It's been a while since I've done a group trip with my friends. And when I say "a while", that's bit relative, since it's really only been about a year and a half since we did our last group trip to Hawaii. But still, a year and a half is a long time!

This time we decided to do something a bit more local, and headed to Kelowna for an extended weekend. Ashley was already out in the area visiting her brother, niece and nephew, but Steve, Jeff, Tom and I headed out on a Friday.

We rented a cabin/cottage through VRBO. This is my first experience with VRBO, and I have to say, it was quite positive. The cabin owner was easy to get a hold of, and more than happy to help us with any issues we had, big or small. And the cabin itself was quite cozy. It slept eight (although, it would be a tight eight!), and had three bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a fully appointed kitchen.

By the time we all arrived on the Friday, it was quite late, so we headed to bed, deciding to get an early start the next day. We woke up to blue skies and promises of a 25 degree day, so we headed to Myra Canyon to bike along a portion of the Kettle Valley trestle bridges.

Ashley, Jeff and Steve geared up.

I used to cycle a lot as a kid, but I haven't done much since High School (i.e. 15+ years ago). Once you learn, you never really forget though.

Trestle bridge.

The trestle bridges are actually pretty cool, and well maintained by volunteers in the area. There was an information board along the trail that showed that some of the bridges burned down during a forest fire in 2003, and volunteers helped to rebuild them.

Steve and Jeff heading into a tunnel.

Overall the trail along the bridges is 12km, one-way. I think it took us about two hours (including stopping and snacking) to ride the round-trip course. There were tons of people on the trail hiking and biking like us,

Crossing one of 18 trestle bridges.

The weather was perfect. It was warm in the sun, and cool in the shade. There was a nice breeze as we were riding so we didn't overheat (if anything it was too cool for me, I ended up having to put on my rain jacket-- but no one else had this problem!)

Taking in the view at kilometer nine.

If you're ever in the Kelowna area, and looking for something to do, I'd recommend checking out Myra Valley. We had a great afternoon out on rental bikes, and afterwards we headed back into the city for lunch, a grocery run, and some time at the pool.

The group calling it a day.

It turns out this was the only beautiful day we experienced in Kelowna during our four-night stay. We woke up the next morning to a plume of thick smoke that had blown in from the Washington Stickpin fire to the south. More on that in a post to come!

95

My grandmother-in-law, Ethel, is turning 95 today-- an age that only about 1% of the population will ever get to. Ethel is an avid and loyal reader of my blog, so I figured I would take this opportunity to wish her a happy birthday! I'm not sure if she will be horrified or pleased to be featured.

Andrew, Ethel and Tom at the Fairmont Palliser.

When Ethel turned 93, she wrote a short memoir, and had it printed and bound for distribution to her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. I thought I'd share a few of my favourite excerpts from her life.

Ethel was born on August 19, 1920 in Pakan, Alberta. she was the third child in a family of nine; four boys and five girls. Ethel would walk to school, about 5 or 6 miles. Her first teacher was a real old "school marm", who would punish students with a switch she would make them collect from outside.

"Our house has no electricity, running water or sewage. We used oil lamps, hauled water from a well and dumped our garbage in a hole dug for that purpose. Our heating was wood and coal stoves. Our daily chores were keeping the kitchen water tanks full, filling the wood box and coal bins. Our toilet was a little house at the back of the yard with two holes - and a pail of lime."

Bathing was an all-day affair, having to heat up water on a wood burning stove, and each sibling waited their turn. Laundry was an equally challenging task-- especially in the winter when the laundry would freeze, and they'd have to hang it in the kitchen near the fire to thaw it out.

In the summer, Ethel and her siblings picked fruit for canning and jam, played baseball, croquet, hide and seek and swam in the river. In the winter they tobogganed, skated, played hockey and skied on with homemade skis.

"I wouldn't have traded my life on the farm for anything. We were a large family-- nine children in a five room house with no facilities like we have today. It was a great upbringing. We learned to share, economize, get along together, etc. Of course there were fights, many of them, but our parents were strict and we didn't get away with much. When I look back on those days, I marvel at the way Mom and Dad worked to keep us fed and clothed. It makes me tired just thinking about it. I guess we were as poor as church mice, but we kids didn't realize it. It was our way of life."

Ethel on her 90th Birthday in 2010.

When Ethel turned 15, she went to live with her aunt and uncle, and eventually moved to Edmonton to find work. She was accepted into a government program that helped train young people for jobs. Her first placement was in a florist's shop-- she stayed there for two years.

Eventually Ethel went with her cousin to Forth Smith in the Northwest Territories to work in a hotel. It was her first trip on an airplane, and she was thrilled with the change of scenery. Ethel worked as a waitress in the hotel dining room. It was here in the Hotel MacKenzie that she met her future husband, Stan. Stan was a Hudson's Bay Company clerk working out of the Fort Fitzgerald store, and he would come over to Fort Smith to help out at the Bay.

"My cousin introduced him to me and I said, "Not bad, eh?". Of course my cousin had to blab it around and everyone teased me about it."

Tom and Ethel on Andrew`s scooter.

After nine months in the Northwest Territories, Ethel found the work too hard, and the hours too long, and decided to leave. Leaving Stan was difficult, but at the time HBC's policy was that single men couldn't get married until they'd been with the company for three years, and Stan had only been with the company for one year when she'd met him. She left with the understanding that she'd see him again on his next holiday.

From here Ethel headed to McMurray, and then on to Edmonton.

" There was an old trapper who took a shine to me and when we got to McMurray, he took me out to dinner at the Hotel and then to his house where he lived. It was full of Indian women which I'm sure were his live-in ladies. He wanted to buy me a fur coat and took me to a mink farm where he was insistent that he buy me enough to have a coat made. I had a terrible time convincing him I wasn't interested. He even proposed marriage. He was all of 65 or 70 years and I was 20 years old."

"When I got to Edmonton, I got a job at the aircraft repair plant where they repaired planes for the war as this was in the middle of wartime. I started in the paint shopping putting "dope" on planes. It was like a glue that you covered the surface of the plane with which hardened and became a stiff coat... It was awful working in the dope shop! The dope was strong and we were made to drink lots of milk to counteract the effect. From there I was sent to the shop that worked on magnetos and fuel pumps. They had to be cleaned and repaired and put back together and then installed on the planes and tested. Testing was my job. I used to go out to the airfield where the planes were and check the things as they installed them. Can you imagine anyone flying the plane after I'd okay'd them? I didn't have  clue as to what I was doing but they seemed to think I was doing a good job."

While Ethel was working in the aircraft repair plant, she received a letter from Stan telling her she should pack a trunk with all her things and head to Snowdrift. Stan was coming out in July, and they could get married. That was the proposal she received-- he presumed she would say yes. And she did.

Ethel and I getting ready to enjoy some eggs benedict.

Ethel and Stan stayed in Snowdrift for several years, through the birth of her first daughter, Corinne, and their second daughter, Diana. Stan taught Ethel how to cook, and she became a pro at baking bread. In the winter they lived off frozen items such as caribou meat, fish and bread. By the spring they had to rely on canned goods. One spring, they ran out of most of their canned goods, and had to eat macaroni and beans until the supply boat finally came in.

"I remember one time when a trapper came for a visit. He has just come off the trap lines and stopped by to see Stan. These trappers didn't stay with us but stayed in a shack the Bay had for them. After he left, I went to brush of the chesterfield of the dog hair he had left behind. It was then I noticed the spot where he was sitting was moving. It was covered with lice! He must have been crawling with them!"

"The first winter we were in Snowdrift Stan had an attack of appendicitis. It was October and the lake was about to freeze over. We had a short wave radio which we were able to contact Fort Resolution by tapping out our messages in Morse code. Dad knew how to operate it but I couldn't. When Stan took sick I tried to send a message to have a plane come in and pick us up and take Dad to the hospital in Yellowknife. I tapped a message out but they couldn't figure out what I was trying to tell them as I was making so many mistakes. Stan finally had to get on the radio and tell them what was wrong. They send a plane in right away."

After Diana was born, Stan and Ethel were transferred from Snowdrift to Fifth Meridian and eventually to Little Red River. Their last stop was in Fond du Lac. They stayed for several years, finally deciding to leave when Corinne was old enough for school.

"Our transportation on our final journey from the North consisted of planes, dog teams, train, car and sleigh... From my early life on the farm; to living in Canada's Northwest Territories with my husband Stan, I truly had a wonderful life."

Ethel and her four children.

Ethel and her family settled in Alberta, where she had two more children-- my mother-in-law, Barb, and her only son, Gerry. They enjoyed many years together, before Stan passed away in May 1999.

I really enjoyed reading Ethel's memoir. As time passes and years go by, I think it's easy to find yourself thinking that you've lived a normal life-- but normal lives can be truly extraordinary. So here's to a very happy 95th birthday for Ethel, a mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, sister, cousin, aunt, neighbour and friend!

Candy Melts

When it comes to baking, the discovery of candy melts has opened a whole new door into decorating for me. No longer am I limited only to frosting and hard candies... I can pipe my own designs!

Candy melts are basically coloured pieces of chocolate. The come in small solid disc shapes, and can be melted down to a liquid in the microwave. When they are in liquid form, you can pipe them into whatever shape you want them to be. If you pipe them on to wax paper, they will solidify, and then readily peel off the paper.

It's AWESOME! They come in every colour of the rainbow-- you can mix them in melted form in case they DON'T come in the colour you need. You can make your decorations ahead of time and store them in the fridge... Candy melts are a great discovery.

In July, I used candy melts to make two different decorations. The first were for a baby shower for a friend and beautiful mama-to-be, who is due in early October. She is expecting a little girl, and her shower was themed around a pink, white and gold colour scheme. I piped out some flowers for garnish on the cupcakes, and they were quite a hit.

An added bonus was that the shower hostess had a beautiful cupcake stand, so they looked even better all arranged in a tower!

My second project was Adventure Time themed decorations for Jeff's 31st Birthday dessert. Jeff has recently been watching a lot of Adventure Time-- a quirky cartoon with a plethora of characters.

I started by making a very simplistic drawing on paper with ballpoint of the basic shapes of the characters. Then I went about mixing candy melts to make suitable colours. Then I was able to pipe the different colour layers onto wax paper-- I had to wait for each colour to cool and solidify before I could add in the next.

And voila! Jeff had Adventure Time characters to decorate his chocolate strawberry shortcakes!

I am very pleased with how both of these turned out. But they were both very time consuming, so I'm gladly taking a break from baking, for the time being.

Oh Canada - Sentinel Pass

On this Canada Day long weekend, there are many things to love about our great country, and one of them is the Rocky Mountains at our doorstep.

Tom and I can count the number of Alberta hikes we've done on one hand (it's actually pretty sad when you think about it). We can now bump that tally up to six, as we joined Andy and Joyce in checking off Sentinel Pass from the list.

Sentinel Pass is 5.8km (one-way) hike that begins at Moraine Lake. It started with a 2km uphill climb of switchbacks. All in all, the elevation gain on the hike is about 725m (2400ft).

 Wildflowers in bloom.

Wildflowers were in bloom all along the bath. Red indian paintbrush, white wild daisy, and pink and blue unidentifiable species!

Exiting out of the wooded switchbacks, we entered the Valley of the Ten Peaks. This was a beautiful valley surrounded by towering mountains and looming glaciers. The path evened out into a relatively flat stretch, and we sped along the trail.

 Glacier in Valley of the Ten Peaks.

We reached the base of the pass, and were able to snap a quick photo with some of the ten peaks in the valley behind us.

 Tom and I at the base of Sentinel Pass.

We completely lucked out with the weather on this hike. It was sunny all day, there was a cool breeze (in some instances, it was a COLD breeze), and there was not a hint of rain.

 Base of Sentinel Pass.

As we turned our attention away from the Valley of Ten Peaks, we took in the switchbacks we needed to navigate to get to the top. For the most part, the switcbacks weren't too bad. There was a small steep section with some loose scree that was very slippery, and we even tromped through a bit of residual snow, but otherwise it was uneventful.

Jagged switchbacks to Sentinel Pass.

 Purple flowers growing from some moss.

One thing that never ceases to amaze me about hiking in Alberta, is the number of people who go out on the trail totally unprepared. We saw all sorts of people on the trail... Hiking in jeans, no backpacks, no water, no food, inadequate footwear... I drank almost three liters of water while we were on the trail. I have no idea how anyone could do it without any!

When we reached the top of Sentinel Pass, we could take in the view where we had come from. Not too shabby!

 A view from Sentinel Pass.

We ate our lunches with a throng of other hikers (about two dozen or so), before packing it in and heading back.

 A view from Sentinel Pass into Paradise Valley.

Although we hiked up, and headed back the same way we came-- a second option was for us to park a car at a second trailhead, and hike down the opposing side of Sentinel Pass into Paradise Valley. Maybe next time?

 Sentinel Pass.

Our last stop was back at the trailhead at Moraine Lake. Moraine Lake is the most photographed lake in Canada-- and it was the first time that I've seen in it person! The colour of the water isn't really done justice by this photo, but I can understand why this is such a favourite for tourists.

Docked canoes on Moraine Lake.

Cheers, and Happy Canada Day!

Final Stop, Lisbon

At long last... Our final stop on this two and a half week trip was in Lisbon, Portugal. Lisbon was a refreshing respite from the 38 degree weather we had experienced in Seville. It was cooler in Lisbon, between 20 - 25 degrees while we were there-- much more pleasant for all the sightseeing we did!

On our first full morning in Lisbon, we decided to check out Castelo de Sao Jorge (St. George's Castle). One of the first things I spotted on our way to the castle was a rather discreet public urinal tucked into the corner of a building. It was on a main walking street, and had a knee to shoulder height black screen, about a meter deep, for men to step behind. No door, it was open-air, with a bit of water trickling from somewhere (I didn't investigate that closely). Just one of those things that you'd probably never see in Canada...

St. George's Castle is a Moorish castle that sits on a hilltop in the historic area of Lisbon near the Tagus River. Excavations have suggested that the first fortifications on the hill were built during the 2nd century BC. The castle itself is considerably younger.

 St. George's Castle

Castles are so cool. They take you back to a time that you will never experience yourself, and will probably never truly understand. As we squeezed past other tourists on steep, narrow staircases, you couldn't help but wonder-- what was life like back then?

We also found ourselves wondering, "What is making that god-awful shrieking noise?" It sounded a bit like a toddler shrieking for help. But we later realized, no. It is a group of peacocks shrieking at each other. 

Peacock #1

After listening to four of these birds shriek mindlessly at each other for an hour, I'm now convinced the peacocks may be the stupidest birds on the planet.

Peacock #2

While I was sitting on a bench, waiting for Tom, I also had a close encounter with some sort of interpretative dance troupe. I have no idea what was happening, or what play (dance?) they were interpreting (it was being read in Portuguese), but a group of teenagers came dancing/crawling/dramatically sweeping past me. Anyone who knows me can probably picture my awkward frozen horror as several teenagers crawled/danced over the bench I was sitting on. IN MY PERSONAL SPACE! Stranger danger! Later we saw them dancing in other areas of the castle, and I avoided them like the plague.

View from St. George's Castle.

From the castle's vantage point on the hill, we had some nice views of the city. AND we actually asked a couple to take a picture of us!

And, as you can see, we did a lot of stairs in Lisbon as well. The set of stairs below took us down to a castle turret protruding out from the main structure.

More stairs!

After a lunch consisting of chick peas and sardines, Tom and I made our way to the Lisbon Aquarium-- a highlight on the trip for us.

My favourite exhibit was the sea otters. There were two sea otters at the aquarium, and they seemed to be great friends. They were swimming around collecting chunks of white fish. When they had a good piece of fish, they would swim on their backs, resting the fish on their chest as they swam. They would share and hand fish back and forth between them! The photo below may be the greatest photo I took in Lisbon!

There was an information plaque beside the otter exhibit that said it is not uncommon to see the two otters sleeping while floating in the water, holding paws. They hold on to each other so they don't get separated while they sleep!

A puffin.

There was also an exhibit with Arctic birds. It seemed like the birds had just been fed, so there were chunks of fish all over the enclosure. This meant that there were birds flying around near our heads. Not my favourite experience... But we emerged unscathed (without being pooped on). The aquarium also had a huge central tank full of sharks, barracuda, sting rays, sunfish and eels, and smaller exhibits with jellyfish and tropical fish. There was also a temporary exhibit on underwater forests by a Japanese aquarist. The exhibit was set to a soothing composition of music-- it was really lovely!

 On our second full day in Lisbon-- and last day of our trip, we went to see the last few major tourist attractions. First stop was Jeronimos Monastery. The monastery began construction in 1501, and was completed a hundred years later in 1601. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and an example of Portuguese Late Gothic Manueline-style architecture.

Jeronimos Monastery

Not much of the monastery was open to the public, so there was less to see than we would have hoped. But I was impressed by the webbing-like arches inside the church

The last major sight on our list was the Belem Tower-- which turned out to be the most poorly run attraction that we saw on our entire trip!

It seemed like there was only one narrow stairwell up to the tower. You had to take the same stairway to go up and down. When you add in a couple hundred tourists who all want to go in different directions... You have a problem. There was also a complicated green and red stop light timing system that was supposed to allow certain people at certain levels to travel up and down without major traffic jams... But there was only one man who appeared to be trying to direct people, and it was chaos. At one point we were stuck in the same place in the stairwell for a couple minutes, and a teenager ahead of us appeared to be hyperventilating her way into an anxiety attack.

Belem Tower.

The Belem Tower is a fortified tower that was built in the early 16th century. The tower was built as part of a defense system at the mouth of the Tagus River, and has evolved over the years. It is four stories tall, and also contains some low-ceiling dungeons that served as a political prison

 Me standing on Alberta.

By this point in the trip, we were ready to go home.  We conveniently stumbled upon a map of the world, and you can see me above, indicating our trip home to Canada.

I like travelling, but there's nothing like coming home.

The next morning, we caught a cab to the airport bright and early, and were on our way.

Not sure where our next big trip will be, but you can be sure to catch it here.

Until next time!

Castle Hopping in Sintra

May 15, 2015

The city of Sintra, Portugal was our last day-trip of our holiday. This destination was recommended by my friends, Amy and Jill, and a random American man and his enthusiastic wife that we met in a restaurant in Seville.

Sintra is just a quick 40-minute train ride away from Lisbon. It is the home of several national palaces, a Moorish castle, and various other palaces. The majority of the buildings were built in the 19th century, and host a variety of architectural styles. Sintra has become a UNESCO World Heritage Site. And when you get a load of these pictures, you will understand why.

From the train, we got our first glimpse of the Moorish Castle, high on the hilltop above the city of Sintra. Turns out I actually didn't get a picture of our first glimpse of the castle, but the photo above does the trick and capturing our awe. Except in this photo we are above the castle... When we arrived on the train, we were below the castle. First we had to hike up the hill. I'll save you the suspense... Our day in Sintra was a 25,000 step day, about 16km of walking.

Castle of the Moors.

The Castle of the Moors was beautiful. The only thing that would have made it better was if more of the castle inside the walls had been left intact, or had been recovered. The outside walls are the most prominent remaining structures of the castle, and there were a few small artifacts left in a limited museum-like display room.

It was hella windy in Sintra. This was probably the coldest day of the trip (and by cold, I mean it was 19 degrees... so not too shabby!), but the windy made it a bit uncomfortable. This was the first time that I brought a jacket with me and actually used it!

Tom and I, windblown.

As we made our way around the walls, we were treated to some nice views of the city. We also had some nice views of the ocean in the opposite direction, and a National Park.

The very top of the Moorish Castle also provided us with a vantage point of our next stop, the Pena National Palace. The Pena National Palace was the summer residence of the Portuguese monarchs during the 18th - 19th century. From a distance, it was a very intriguing looking place. Bright colours, interesting architecture...

Pena National Palace.

Up close was another story... Up close, I felt like I was passing through the gates of Disneyland. Nothing like bright red, yellow and blue paint to make a place feel like the ultimate tourist attraction.

Gates of Pena National Palace.

Tom and I made a full circuit around the palace, peeking in nooks and crannies, and holding on to railings in the gusting wind.

We toured through the to royal residence where kings once slept! And trailed behind an English tour guide. I'm not sure if the tour guide worked for the palace, or if she was giving a tour to a specific group, but we fully took advantage of her English monologue.

Plaster ceiling in the palace.

One of the things that surprised Tom and I in the palace was there seemed to be a good deal of effort that was put into making some of the rooms appear more splendid than they actually were. For example, there was a room that contained fake wood paneling. The walls were literally painted to look like wood paneling. Or, there was another room that where the walls were painted with a series of columns and arches, in an attempt to make the room appear larger than in actually was. This was the main difference between the palaces we saw in Spain, and what we saw in Portugal.  In Spain, the palace and adjoining rooms WERE huge. In Portugal, there seemed like there was a concerted effort to make rooms APPEAR huge.

Nonetheless, it was still an interesting visit. One of the most interesting tidbits we picked up is that after the passing of King Ferdinand in 1885, the ownership of Pena Palace passed to his second wife Elisa Hensler. There was an uproar about the ownership, and in 1889, the property was purchased by the Portuguese state. At least, that is the story we eavesdropped out of the English tour guide. Wikipedia says that Elisa abandoned Sintra to move in with her daughter. The first story is so much more dramatic!

A backwards glance at the palace.

On our way out of the palace we headed into the Pena Park behind the palace. There was a series of small lakes (ponds) where we watched some black and white swans patrolling the perimeter.

A swan patrolling a pond outside Pena Palace.

All in all, an easy day trip, and some unique sights. Who doesn't love castles and palaces!?

Next post will be my last on our trip: Final Stop, Lisbon.