A Long Trip!

Neither Elaine or I have taken a vacation for a good many years.

This year we bought an RV and changed all that! 

On October 2, we departed from Whitecourt and visited one of our sons in Red Deer, Alberta.

2444 km in 53 hours driving time

22 cities and locations visited

Below are some of the shots I took

This was one of the better views to wake up to. No free samples though.

And, yes, we had snow.

Penticton at night

Three views of Wrights Beach Camp on Skaha Lake outside of Penticton., A very nice place

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Daphne in her normal travel position.

Coming out of one of the mountain passes. Note the tunnel

Elaine's plant survived a month on the road. It flowered all summer, a month or two in the house, the trip and its still going strong.

These next two are interesting, lots of veggies and fruit, all on the honour system The price was on the bin, and you put your money in a mail slot You don't see this amount of trust anymore

This was a very good pick up along the way. We used it a lot!

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Would we do this type of trip again? Not likely because there was too much travel involved. We will likely research a place, go there and stick.  Driving a 28 foot class C through the cities for groceries, propane etc. is not much  fun. Either a towed vehicle (Toad)  or car rental is required for us to get around.

Everything worked. Great furnace, fridge, freezer, and water system.

I will Post a Second Edition

Bits and Pieces

It Has been a slow couple of weeks with temperatures in the 30C range. Too hot to do much outside other than watering the garden and taking drives. This is our new flower garden/ pumpkin patch  somewhere in there ,there are pumpkins growing.

We also had a good crop of sunflowers. If you look close, you will see a bee sleeping through the +6C night. The sun warmed him up and he continued on with his pollinating.

There was a cocky Magpie in our neighbour's Mountain Ash tree watching me very closely.

Elaine finally finished her most elaborate crochet project to date...a baby blanket.

I may have posted this Kingfisher with crayfish before, but I like the shot.

More and more mule deer are coming out to feed, and likely to get away from the mosquitos.

The old crow found something tasty, at least for him

The doe Mule Deer look healthy

This family of ducks is also looking good

The Great Blue Heron thought I couldn't see him!  just couldn't get closer.

Early Morning Walk

I took Daphne out this morning and visited one of my usual spots. There were lots of critters around. See I told you it was early. The Blue winged Teal was still napping.

The Red winged Blackbird was awake and noisy

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Another sleepy Blue-winged Teal

Mrs. Green-winged Teal was busy with the kids

Something must be itching

Great Blue Herons

This has been a good year for watching Herons. They are coming out of the swamps and feeding on the gravel bars. I won't repost the previous shots, but will post the new ones.

They are one of my favourite birds. Regal, majestic and quiet.  My goal this year is to get more in flight shots. They are hard to come by as they tend to fly away, not towards me.

One of my favourites!

This is the best I could do so far. The day was a little cloudy and early in the morning so the shutter speed was not what I wanted

Lots of Deer Today!

I was out and about at 6:30 am because I couldn't sleep. Daphne was OK with the early hour. These were taken along the Athabasca Riverbank and the Rotary Park pathways.

 They did not seem to mind me, but kept an open eye on Daphne. Some of them did not even bother to get up, but stayed still and enjoyed the morning sun.

I saw seven different deer along my walking route.

They are all looking a little worse for wear, starting a heavy shed. I did not see any sign of them giving birth. I am hoping for some fawn pictures this year.

Daphne was good and did not pull or attempt to growl or chase.