Now Winter can come
Since getting home from the Okanogan I’ve been so busy I hardly know which way is up! Lots of Yukoners are thinking “warm” so I’ve been working almost full time at the cruise office as well as all my other jobs. Something had to give, and it was cutting...
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Lakes, bugs & logging in the Merritt high country
Yesterday my brother-in-law and I drove 3 hours to their cabin in the high country above Merritt, BC, and did some exploring. It’s a beautiful area but the devastation being caused by the mountain pine beetle (dendroctonus ponderosae) and the efforts to deal with it are heart-wrenching. This is...
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A railway history day at Myra Canyon, BC
One of the highlights of the Okanagan Valley for anyone with an interest in history has to be the Myra Canyon section of the former Kettle Valley Railway. Now a hiking and biking trail, this 12-kilometer section of the rail line has 18 trestles and 2 tunnels, and the...
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Agri-tourism and Thanksgiving in BC’s Okanagan
The Okanagan Valley is a superb location to celebrate Thanksgiving (except that Cathy isn’t with me). Just up the hill from my sister’s place is an orchard that really knows how to blend tourism into the business, and yesterday my daughter and grand-daughters and I spent a couple of...
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The day begins in Kelowna
The day has begun – I spent the night at my sister’s and am now back at my parents’ place having coffee while the rest of the world wakes up. I stopped in to see the Kelowna CruiseShipCenters office yesterday afternoon and had an enjoyable visit with the owner...
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From the snowy Yukon to the sunny Okanagan
As of last night I’m in Kelowna for a week visiting family. It’s nowhere near as warm as I’d hoped, but it is sunny – and the Fall Wine Festival is on 🙂 This is what my driveway looked like yesterday as I was getting ready to leave. In...
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Sabreliner 65 – an unusual jet in town
The past few days there’s been a corporate jet parked at YXY of a type I didn’t recognize, so this afternoon I finally took a few minutes and stopped for a good look. The Mexican-registered beauty, XB-RSH, is a 1980 Rockwell NA-265-65 Sabreliner. The really cool thing about the...
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Winter prep – timing is everything
I got the snow tires installed on both cars yesterday. This is the first time that I’ve ever been able to do it myself, and saving $240+ for an hour’s work felt great! It takes a considerable investment in extra wheels, and having an air compressor makes the job...
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Preparing for Winter
For many of us this is an even busier period than summer – getting ready for winter is a lot of work when you live like we do. In the city we didn’t have this “problem” – the thermostat provided heat all winter, the driveway was easy to shovel...
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Bye-bye, cruisers! The end of the 2009 Alaska cruise season
I try to get down to Skagway to see the last ships each year, and yesterday turned out to be an excellent one. Lousy weather (as expected), excellent day. I always wonder whether people know the kind of weather to expect when they book these very late (or very...
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