Thanksgiving in Penticton: Day Three

 Another beautiful morning dawned, so we did our practice walk for the Rock and Roll half.

 18 km later, and we decided to walk some more...It was market day in Penticton.

 This chief is standing outside the Penticton Tobacco shop.

And the graffiti below is all on buildings around our favorite bookstore.

 It makes for some pretty good spots to take pictures of people though. Here is my almost (at the time) 10 year old.

 Dad always finds the piggies.

 And finally, in the alleyway from the back parking lot through to main street.

 After a lovely lunch at the golf course, we went for a drive to show Andrew how much Penticton has been growing. Houses are popping up everywhere. I'm not sure I love how they build them hanging off the mountainside.

 Once you get into the mountains, there are deer everywhere. It's almost like being on the island!

 And the views are spectacular.

 Me and David kept hopping out of the car every few metres to take pictures. Or dance. You know, whatever.

 THIS is the mailbox house for one of the little subdivisions we drove through.

 It was such a cute little development. This is the main office building.

 From the east side of the building, we drove through to OK Falls.

 I've never seen one of these little libraries before. Apparently they're all over the place.
You can borrow a book at the beach, or if you finish one you can drop it off in there. Sweet deal. I think every beach should have one!

 This picture was taken with my fake HDR app. Love the detail.

 I wasn't the only one struck with the view here!

 Next we drove on the west side of the lake. Past my favorite ranch.

 Ain't it pretty.

 This structure is for hosting weddings and events. Crazy beautiful.

 We stopped at another beach for a photo op.

 While David read his book from the little lending library.

Thanksgiving in Penticton: Day Two

Day two was lovely. So we went on a bike ride. Have you been to Penticton lately? They had two very big windstorms a few years ago, and lost hundreds of trees. The community raised the money to replace the trees and build a park (or series of parks) along the waterfront. Isn't it beautiful.

From the waterfront, we headed to the canal. In the summer it's usually filled with people floating, but on this sunny October morning it was clear as glass.

As much as I love the greenness of the coast, I love the countryside in Penticton too. The brownness, the water, the HUGE skies.

 I really love riding my bike. Canya tell?

 We stopped for a picnic on the northern beach. It was almost desserted, except for geese and ducks.

 Then we turned around and cycled back towards dad's house.

 I had promised that we would stop at all the parks and play. So here we are at the first one. Even Grosspapa got in on the action.

I tried to take a nice picture of Grosspapa and his oldest grandson.

But then they got silly.

 And David punched Grosspapa in the gut to get away.

 Look how pleased he is with himself.

 So this first park was made to look very natural with rocks and rope and wood to climb and jump on and over.

 A little farther down there's another park with exercise gear. But then there's a final park with all kinds of crazy things to climb on, or over or RIDE ON. This is me and dad in the jeep :)

 Andrew tickling David through the holes in this thinger.

 And one more big sky shot.

Thanksgiving in Penticton: Day One

We had a whirlwind October. Something happening every weekend (which reminds me, I need to download pictures from my camera...) Thanksgiving weekend, we headed through the mountains to spend Thanksgiving with my dad.

 We set off on Thursday afternoon, and as usual made a trip of the drive. Our first stop was Bridal Falls to run up to the falls and back. Obligatory group photo at the bottom of the falls.

 Cute little mushroom creatures hiding in the moss.

 We also stopped at Bromley Rock because it is beautiful, and Andrew had never been before. There is a campground here. I would like to camp here.

 This is the view along the highway where the campsites are. There is a current in the water here, and you could float quite nicely down the river.

But (below) is where there are the most calm (but deep) pools. I think you probably see a lot of people cliff jumping here in the summer.

 I think it probably took us five hours, but we finally made it to Penticton. Where everyone was glad to see each other and the good times commenced. More later...

Still trying to catch up...

 I'm two months behind, but here we are in Steveston again. My friends Julius and Michelle invited us to join them for lunch at our favorite barbecue house. It was an absolutely lovely day, as you can see from my pictures. And Steveston is a photographer's paradise.

After lunch, we all meandered to the Cannery end of town. As it happened, there was a market on that day, which meant free admission to the cannery.

 Where they had gorgeously ghoulish displays like this one for the children to play with.

 And they could also operate the machinery. Well, parts of it, anyway.

 Then as usual, we made faces and ate ice cream.

 Oh, and only because this was the same day, here's a picture of my beautiful twins (below).