Autumn Colors of October

Virginia Creeper

The autumn colors of October first caught my attention in our back yard when our vines were turning their predominantly red colors.  This hasn't always happened, often in the past it seemed they preferred to just die and fall off so this was very welcomed.  This is a Virginia creeper, part of the grape family with fruit the birds can enjoy.

Thompson River

The Thompson River, seen here just down from where the North and South Thompson Rivers meet, flows past MacArthur Park where views of the south side show wide sandy beaches. 

Xeriscape Garden

The xeriscape garden is a peaceful stop if you're out walking MacArthur Park.  It is a great example of plants easily grown in the Kamloops area, which only gets about 250mm (under 10 inches for us older folk) precipitation annually.  Xeriscape means "water conservation through creative landscaping" so works very well for our climate.

MacArthur Island Loop

This shows part of the MacArthur Island Loop which is a total of 3.1 km (2 mi) or shorter if not all of it is walked.  It circles around the outside perimeter of the park and gives access to everything there.  Room for walkers, runners, bicycles and skateboards, too.

Sunny day with fall colors

A playground was recently added near the Soccer Association Clubhouse, I didn't get a photo but it had so many families there whenever we were nearby.  MacArthur Park has almost anything one might be looking for whether it be for sports as a spectator or participant.    A park our city can be proud of.

Canada Geese

While taking a drive out to Cinnamon Ridge to drop off the last of our Hallowe'en pumpkins, we saw fields and fields of Canada Geese.  This was the largest crowd in one field but there were thousands of them in fields along the roadway.  It is common to see flocks of Canada Geese in Kamloops but we've never seen such large flocks before.

Pipeline work

The construction of the pipeline has been ongoing for awhile now.  This is the hill seen above the airport.  The grade is very steep but thankfully we've not had any snow yet up to this point, the beginning of November.  

An up close view of the grade the pipeline is following doesn't look quite as steep in this photo but it was IMHO.  It was a beautiful day for a drive November 2, 2021 with blue sky and sunshine. 

There is just no place like home! 

Hot Nites in the City 2021 - Kamloops, BC

What an incredible turnout for Hot Nites in the City 2021!  There were more cars than expected and the crowds couldn’t have been any bigger, I am sure.  Impossible to always get a good photo with so many people but I’m not complaining.  Even the weather could not have been any better.  The temperature was comfortable with cloudy skies then the sun came out and made the day even better.

Visiting from Revelstoke

With over 470 vehicles on display, it is impossible to share them all here.  If you were not one of the lucky ones to have been able to attend, I will try to give you a variety of what was there. 

1932 Cabriolet

Some of these cars have come a long way to participate in this show, one if from as far away as Yellowknife.  There turned out to be an overflow of those wishing to register so it shows the interest of so many wishing to participate in the 26^th annual show. 

Spooky School Bus

I don’t claim to know a lot about these cars, trucks or buses so no technical info, just enjoy the beauty of them, although some don’t quite fit that description.  This school bus definitely is interesting and done with humor but a beauty it is not.

'57 Chevy

Back in the day….. Keith owned a ’57 Chevy very much like this one when he was a member of the Kamloops Pacer Club.  Brings back old memories, for sure.  We aren’t seeing as many of those members as we used to see with their cars in this show but we did see a couple of them. 

Fred and Helen

One very familiar couple is Helen and Fred who also go back to the Pacer Club days, known by many of us Kamloopsians.  They are still bringing their cars for us to see and enjoy.  The pretty blue one is Helen’s.  

The Blues

This color seems to be a very popular one this year.  I’ve checked back to see if the blue and turquoise were in the car show over the years but it appears that there was only one other to be found on one of my past blogs.

1931 Model A

We’ve not gone to all of the Hot Nites in the past but have been to several and some of those are on my We-Love-Kamloops blog in 2010, 2012 and 2014.  I decided it was time for a new one.  Just click on each of the ‘years’ if you wish to see the other ones. 

Speakers

This is the back seat of a bouncing truck that had some great music blaring out of the speakers shown here.  Not sure how easy it would be to sit inside with volume up to justify the size of those speakers or to sit on the seats above them. 

Due to the CoVid, there was not a Hot Nites last year and we are still not out of the woods with the pandemic so it was amazing to see so many were able to be part of it this year, a lot of credit must go to all those involved in making it such a success.  Hats off to all.

Ford Sunliner

Hopefully I did justice to the many beautiful cars shown on the 6 blocks of Victoria Street as well as the avenues branching off of Victoria.  There was music on the corner stage at 4^th Ave and plenty of vendors to see, as well.  A great place to be, plan to make it again next time.

There is just no place like home!

Salmon Lake Resort ~ Douglas Lake Ranch

We are slowly making our way out of the CoVid pandemic at this time in 2021 and looking forward to spreading our RV wings once again.  We are taking our RV to Salmon Lake Resort to enjoy some country living with friends who are able to join us from the coast.  Our travels take us from Kamloops onto Hwy 5A towards Merritt.

Nicola Lake

When we reach Nicola Lake, a beautiful lake which is an important part of the history of the area, we will make a turn onto Douglas Lake Rd.  For more information on the Nicola Valley area, click here.

                                                            The Lady of Lourdes Church

The Church is an old log building that sits on the corner of the highway and Douglas Lake Road so if you are looking for Salmon Lake Resort, which is not shown on GPS, just turn at this point and follow the road for 47 km.

Horse cooling off

We are on our way to spend a few days and enjoy the relaxation and fishing.  Salmon Lake is within the Douglas Lake Ranch land, which consists of half a million acres, some of which we are driving through and enjoying the scenic views.

Gateway to Douglas Lake Ranch

Douglas Lake Ranch is the largest ranch in North America.  It is known for their beef but also as breeders of quarter horses.  The horse breeding began with Chunky Woodward for cutting horses and won the 1967 world championship with Peppy San.  The bloodline continued and produced several world champions, all bred on this ranch.  The breeding of quarter horses has continued since for their abilities with cattle.

Douglas Lake Ranch community

The Ranch was originally owned by John Douglas Sr. then sold in 1884 to a group who founded the Douglas Lake Cattle Company in 1886 with the intention of gaining the Canadian Pacific Railway beef contract.  As time went on the size of the ranch continued to grow and the group who owned gradually changed. The ranch was then owned by the Ward family and continued to be until 1940 when they sold. 

Douglas Lake Ranch Church

In 1959 the ranch was again sold.  Charles (Chunky) Woodward and John West purchased then when West passed away two years later, Woodward, who passed in 1990 became the sole owner until 1998 when the family sold the Douglas Lake Cattle Ranch.

Airstrip entrance

A big ranch would not be complete without its own airstrip, would it?  This is the gate that opens for the strip, which caught my attention.  I’m not sure this was the style of plane that was originally using this strip but none would be very big, I am sure.

Great scenery

There are several lakes on the ranch land, which offers some beautiful views as well as some good fishing.  Not all are available for public fishing though, if the only access is on private land.  The rolling grasslands offer some great sights while the lakes sweeten the view.

Salmon Lake Resort

Known for good fishing and a store with fishing supplies , Salmon Lake Resort is a great place to visit.  It is a fly fishing lake, as are many others in our region.  Kamloops is known as the ‘stillwater fly fishing capital of North America’ and Salmon Lake would be one of those considered to be included.

RV Park

Salmon Lake resort offers cabins, a campground as well as the RV Park which we stayed at.  Their lots are nice and big.  Lots of visitors, some who’ve been several times before and first timers like us were coming and going throughout our visit.  Fishing was part of the reason we stayed at Salmon Lake Resort, which has the RV Park and where boats can be rented for fishing.  Our timing was the beginning of the hot spell we are now dealing with and that may have had an effect of the lack of catching many fish.  At least that is the fishermen’s story and they’re sticking to it!

Mini cattle drive

What better way to leave the ranch land than to see these two riders and their shy dog move their cattle down the road.  Cattle seemed to handle our passing by much better than the poor dog did.  We are known to be cattle country in this region but this surely is a rare sight, and one we were fortunate to see.  Just another reason to say there is no place like home.

 

 

Winter Wonderland - Douglas Lake Road - Nicola Region

Winter is a season that offers so many beautiful scenes out there.  We’ve been waiting for that day that has sunshine, blue sky and snow that will offer us some of those scenes when we go for a drive.  Our winter has given us some of that but not all at once until we decide, “this is the day”.   So off we go.

Hwy 5A view

We don’t have a promise of sunshine all day so we know that our sunshine may not last long but we will continue ….as we head towards a cloudy area.  Our drive takes us along Hwy 5A from Kamloops and we will find a road we want to follow from there.

Stump Lake

There are several lakes along 5A.  We pass some maybe-frozen lakes and some that are not.  The only sure indication of a frozen lake is seeing some people ice fishing on the far end of Stump Lake so we know that one is ok, but we have not had the typical cold winter days so not seeing as many ice fishing as expected.  

Douglas Lake

We decided to turn up Douglas Lake Road. Keith has only been part way and I’ve never travelled this road so this is new territory.  We are not seeing a lot of snow yet but we do see some great reflections as we pass by Douglas Lake.  There is not a lot of traffic today so we’re able to take our time and enjoy the sights.

Ranchland

Douglas Lake Ranch has been here since 1872 and raised cattle that supplied beef to the early CPR construction crews.  The ranch has since shipped hundreds of train loads of beef from this half million acre ranch.  We are not going to see all of that acreage but we do see their church and some of the housing as we pass by. 

Steep logging road

Once we get to the highest part of the Douglas Lake Road we begin to see more snow but we have yet to see what I’d hoped for.  We are about as high as we are going to get and I was beginning to lose hope that we’d see something spectacular. There is so much history in these hills and we pass a few ranch signs that must have stories to tell.  I’ve shared some of that here.

Winter is here

We passed a sign that said we were in a Logging Area so we’d need to proceed with caution as these roads were not always meant for two lanes.  We are leaving the ranching fields and getting into the trees.  Due to the snow on the road, we’re not sure what is under it but we are heading down a very steep and curvy road, hopefully not too slippery.  It isn’t easy to show how steep they are in photos.

Creek meanders downhill

All of a sudden we are seeing a winter wonderland!  I am so excited I just keep snapping pictures to get as many as possible as we travel down the hill.  We sure don’t want to stop and thankfully nor do we need to.  The next few kilometres were all offering sights of such pretty snow covered nature.  Good old Mother Nature has come through for me, once again.  We even got a slight bit of sunshine that got to peek at us down there from over the mountains.

Beautiful winter scene

Never would I have expected this change in scenery but as we followed this road, which also had running creeks all the way down seemed to make the difference of the tree growths by the creeks as well as the moist air that had to have contributed to the covering of the bushy branches.  Everything looked so pretty and clean.

Winter Wonderland

We did not meet one truck on this stretch of the road, for which we are thankful but I will say it isn’t an easy road with all the curves and the steepness of the descent.  Not everyone would be too comfortable with the roadside deep ravines. 

Westwold 

All of a sudden we are back to our familiar winter scenery as we approach Westwold on Hwy 97 to return home, covering 230 km on our drive today.  Although we don’t see any ‘spectacular snowy’ scenery on this part of our travels, we are passing some that have their special times of the year and we will return for those when Mother Nature tells me it is once again time to enjoy this part of her beautiful world.