a sunday afternoon... living the dream.

Sunday equals adventure. from the word "sun" meaning "adventure". hense, sunday is adventure day. Tom and Partick and charlie and I got into the truck and headed up into the hills. on the way, i rolled over 300 000 km on the truck.

300,000 km.

We got to a cool spot on a quiet lake and got ready for a little paddle.  Tom and I hopped in and went on a short tour.  The lake was pretty shallow.  We didn't get any fish from the boat, and Pat was empty too when we got back to the shore.

launchy launchy

!/2 way around the lake, tom a i got out of the canoe and explores around the bush a little.  It was tough going with so much deadfall.  but we wore jeans and not-flip flops after the lesson we learned at reluctant dragon cove a few weeks ago.

tom

lots of deadfall, like i said.

On the way back, we tried more fishing, but no dice.

tom, trying to use his mental powers to catch fish. 

late afternoon

We messed around the site for a few hours.  We had a pellet gun, some hot dogs, some beers and a chainsaw.  we used them all.  it was good times.

the little camp spot

army guy.  aka. pellet gun target.  the smoke reminded me of 'nam.

packing up

sniper tom

Weirdest thing.  while we were up there, a '71 dodge demon came ripping by. 

the muddy road out

one last photo on the way down.

It was a sweet afternoon trip, and only 25km from my front door.  Possibly a place we will return to.

More adventure next weekend, you should come.

the paddle around dee lake

Dee lake is at the top of the beaver/crooked/deer/island/dee lake chain. i'd paddled them all except dee. saturday was the day to change that. Christine and i packed up the truck and headed up beaver lake rd to island lake. there we took off the canoe, hopped in and got to it. heres the photographic evidence...

through the channel between island lake and dee lake.  dee lake resort.

into dee lake

this island put the island into island lake

the island campspot.  menatl note to self... go here with a tent

christine checking out the island

good camping views

looking towards the island lake rec. site.

It was a sweet little day trip.  good roads (though bumpy enough to rattle off the front license plate it turns out).  we'll be back.  maybe ice fishing??  definately camping on that island.

an adventure with dad

since we had spent the last 2 days in a truck driving from manitoba, smelling each others pizza hut farts, it was time for a short, mid-week adventure. outside of the small closed cab of a ford f-150. it had to be somewhere kinda close, not too crazy, and cool. beaver lake rd it is.

1st stop, high rim trail.  we headed south from beaver lake rd, on the part of the trail that tom and i snowshoed on.  pretty cool.  we saw a bear.  after about 5 km, it got pretty muddy, so we turned around.

vernon creek.  before it gets contaminated by civilization

trail workers bridge across vernon creek.

Next stop, beaver lake forestry rec. site.  we ate smokies and explored around, and schpitzeered all afternoon.  good times.  not a cloud in the sky.

rude dog at beaver lake. 

Next we took echo lake rd to king edward and into specs lake.  a spot mike and i have camped before.  a helicopter came and hovered about 3 meters off the lake.  not sure why, but it was cool.

the site at specs lake.

then it was on to oyama lake.  a short stop there to look around, then down oyama lake rd. to civilization. 

the oyama/wood lake land bridge from the viewpoint on oyama lake rd.

It was a solid adventure by all accounts.  thanks to dad for indulging some 4x4ing.  hope we can do it again soon.

2007 km from pinawa mb, to kelowna, bc.

After 10 years of my 1984 mazda rx-7 GSL-SE being parked in a barn in manitoba, circumstances arose that needed the car to be moved.  to my house seemed like a good place.

Here is the set up. 

Friday am - fly to winnipeg, get picked up, go to uhaul, get the trailer, drive it to said barn, load the car, pack some other stuff, go to pinawa, chill out.

Saturday - more chilling out.  more packing

Sunday 6:30 am.  get in the truck, drive to the barn, hook up the trailer with the car on it, start driving.

the car, on the trailer, behind the truck.  sunday morning

1st stop was brandon for gas.  while we were there, surprise surprise, a 1984 rx-7 was seen.  what are the chances of 2 1984 rx-7s in the same random parking lot?

what is this?  another 1984 mazda rx-7?

 We made it to the border not long after brandon.  here are some pictures...

car, truck, trailer, border.

the blue mazda pulled up while we were peeing at the border.  feels like we're being followed.

 After dinner in swift current, we made for medicine hat.  the evening prairie sunset is something we don't get in kelowna.

near piapot, sk.

getting into the rockies

the blue mazda in banff at a lookout near the bow river

wildlife overpass

 The next day, crossing into bc, what did we see?  the blue mazda again.  that guy is making good time.

parked by the blue mazda at the bc border.

tried to get a shot of the blue mazda on the bridge, but it was fully ripping

but we saw it again in golden.

and at rogers pass.

the silver mazda at rogers pass.

another shot at rogers pass

 

forest fires near rogers pass

drafting behind the blue mazda

 When we got to glacier park, just eat of revelstoke, i realized just how close to home it is.  definitely a place to check out more in the future.  only 2 hours away!

glacier park

glacier park

 

glacier park

After revelstoke, it was a quick beeline for home.  My mazda made it to our place saftely, and the truck has since returned back to manitoba with the driver... dad.

speaking of dad... thanks for the use of the truck and you accelerator foot.  look forward to you next visit.  maybe pick you up from the airport in my rx-7.

next time, we'll bring a putter

 It's september 8th.  time to get our adventure on.  in a canoe. on okanagan lake. camping.

so we did.  it started when i picked up tom from his new place.  pretty sweet.  Hi rita.
Next were the usual stops.  grocery store and beer store.

Then, off to peachland and find a place to launch.

We headed across okanagan lake on a hot saturday.  not the best idea in a canoe due to tons of boats, but we couldn't wait for all the oil to dry up to have the lake to ourselves.

we headed for rattlesnake island.  We pulled the canoe into a sweet cove on the small bare grassy rock island.

the sweet cove on rattlesnake island

SPOILER ALERT!! no rattlesnakes were seen.

old fire pit?? on rattlesnake island

It was a very cool place.  great views of the lake, a cool cove to land, and the mingolf course.  seriously.  In the middle of okanagan lake is an abandoned minigolf course.

one of the holes.  pretty cool.

weird story.  it involves hostage taking in labanon.  seriously.  heres the link. it'll open in another window.

bank off the wall, down the rock face, past the stump and boom... hole in 12.

rattlesnake island and hostage taking

after an hour on the island, we made for Reluctant Dragon Cove.  seriously, its a place.

landing in reluctant dragon cove.

we got there and it was still pretty busy, so we just kinda hung out until the place cleared out a bit.  then we got a fire ripping (lots of firewood was brought over in the canoe), set up our tens, cook and began to really set about the place.  whatever that means.

tom.... showing us what "setting about the place" looks like

looking north from our camp

We did some exploring up a rocky place near the campsite, but with sandels and shorts, the roses were pretty crazy-ass.

we tried to get up there.  in flip flops.  don't do it.

tom, coming through the roses... bleeding

sun going down over peachland.  view from the climb.

back at camp, bleeding.

Back at camp, the sky got pretty cool and then, out of nowhere, an austin martin DB-77 rips by.  didn't expect that.

like i said... cool sky & an austin martin

peachland lights.

evening on reluctant dragon cove

In the morning we packed up and got on the lake before any major boats did, but not before a pretty big wind did.  We didn't really pay attention to where we parked the truck the day before, but karma led us right to it.

Pretty awesome trip.  Thanks to tom for being a sweet co-pilot.  happy birthday dood.

Next weekend is road trip to MB to pick up my old car.  should be an adventure of a bit of a different breed, but an adventure still.

stay tooned.