Kelowna

   If you read the title you'll know where we've been the past week and a bit. Yes, beautiful Kelowna, BC. We've been staying in a house on top of a hill beside Okanagan Lake with two dogs and a cat. It's a pretty spot and it's the perfect time of year to be here. The weather's been great and the summer crowds are gone.

  Our trip west was interesting, to say the least. We had an early flight from Toronto that never got off the ground, literally. When we pushed back from the gate a sound issued from beneath our seats that was reminiscent of when the differential on my 1972 Triumph TR6 blew up, spewing gears all over the road. After a half hour the pilot informed us the splurfengang was moofing and we were going back to the gate so we could get on a different plane.

  It's important to note this plane had just come from the hangar -- I'm assuming it was there for maintenance. I guess someone forgot to tighten the flimflaggen or maybe the plane had a sign on it saying "Don't take this one". I'm guessing the half-filled coffee cup and monkey wrench lying on the floor in front of the plane wasn't a big enough clue to deter anyone. In any case it was broken.

  Our next plane was scheduled to leave ninety minutes later and it almost did. We boarded while they were rushing to load food carts from catering. I guess they didn't get finished as we sat there for an hour until they were done. Bottom line, we arrived four hours later than expected.

  This didn't really bother us since the homeowners informed us they weren't leaving until five o'clock. Of course, if they'd have told us that earlier, rather than their original estimate of noon, we'd have booked a later flight and saved ourselves the ridiculously early morning drive to the airport. As it turns out our late arrival gave us the perfect excuse for not spending the six hours with them our planned arrival time and their updated departure would have entailed. Instead, we spent an interminable ninety minutes making small talk with them, half of which was drowned out by their nine year-old's piano practice.

  But, back to the airport. As I said, we arrived late so I went off to get the rental car while Penny waited for baggage to arrive from the nether regions of the terminal. The nice man at the counter who, because we were late, didn't have the car we were supposed to get asked if I minded driving an SUV. With visions of some smallish thing like a RAV4 or Bronco I agreed and headed off back to the luggage carousel with giant key fobs in hand.

  After a short wait our bags appeared and we prepared to head off in search of our vehicle when a voice cried out "Penny!" from behind us. Actually the voice cried out twice as Penny  ignored it the first time, figuring no one in Kelowna would be looking for her. Surprise! It turns out my cousin Paul had arrived at the same time and was heading off to see his brother and nieces in the Kelowna area. Small world, as they say.

  Anyway, off to the parking lot we trudged, only to find our little SUV was the size of one of those dump trucks you see hauling tons of rocks out of strip mines. It was big enough to put two Hondas inside. It should have had one of those "This vehicle makes wide right turns" signs on the back. My friend Bill would have been right at home in it though as it was the same size as his Secret Service Suburban. Black too. Anyway, it was a Ford so I'm sure it was bigger... because they are. It's the kind of vehicle you need to park at the far end of the lot because you can't fit it into a regular parking space without knocking the door mirrors off of the neighbouring vehicles. We only had it for the day so we climbed aboard and prepared to roll over any cars that got in our way.

  When we arrived at the house we met our three charges, a six year-old Siberian Husky named Willow,

... a one year-old Welsh Corgi named Buffy,

... and a three year-old Bengal named Fezzik.

  I asked the cat if he wanted a peanut. He looked at me like I wanted to start a land war in Asia. If you don't get this look up "Fezzik" in Google.

  The animals are cute, friendly and entertaining. Buffy and Fezzik chase each other around the house and wrestle, barks and hisses echoing through the atrium-like living room.

  Willow's a sweetheart who just wants to lie in the sun and look charming. They're all pretty cool and Willow has ascended my list of favourite dogs, currently number two with a bullet, as they say.

  We're on top of a ridge that overlooks canyons and forests on one side and Okanagan Lake on the other. During last year's wildfires, which were concentrated in West Kelowna across the lake, enough embers blew across to start fires very close to our neighbourhood resulting in an evacuation. You can see evidence of it all around us.

  There are numerous old logging roads around us that have been converted to hiking trails. They're very scenic walks and the dogs love being out on them with us.

  At this point I should mention the reason we came across the country for a house sit. If you weren't following along before I'll reintroduce our friends from Yellowknife, Bryan (above) and Sheila.

  We try to meet up with them during our travels whenever possible as the NWT is a bit off the beaten path. Last September we stopped at their Calgary condo for a few days and this time they made the trek southwest to meet up with us here. We spent a lot of our time with them this week hanging out at the house eating, drinking, playing games and catching up.

  Like us, Bryan and Sheila are frequent travelers and they rarely celebrate their wedding anniversary at home so coming to Kelowna for their thirteenth seemed a natural. I mean, we flew four thousand kilometres for their wedding so it's only fitting they had to come twenty-five hundred kilometres to celebrate their anniversary with us, right? On Tuesday night we headed off to the Old Vines restaurant at Quails' Gate Winery for dinner.

  The food was terrific as were the wines and the scenery. It was a special evening and we're already looking forward to our next visit with them when they come to Toronto at the end of December.

  By Thursday they were on their way home leaving Penny and I on our own for the rest of our stay. Not ones to let an opportunity for some exploring go to waste we set about making plans for the remaining four days in the Okanagan.

  Our first stop was Okanagan Spirits Craft Distillery. Yes. More drinking. What choice did we have? We sampled some of their best grog including absinthe and, yes, absinthe makes the heart grow fonder. Sorry. Their main outlet and distillery is in Vernon and, since Paul had invited us up there for Friday, decided to put off any purchases until then.

  Friday morning we headed north up the Okanagan Valley on a very scenic drive along many charming lakes until we reached Vernon.

  We met up with Paul and our first stop took us to Planet Bee, a great place to stop if you're interested in honey. We bought a couple of different varieties and sampled some mead which they make using their honey. Well, this is no ordinary mead... as if mead were in any way ordinary. Pretty spectacular stuff so we bought some to take home. No idea if it will make it home and we might just end up drinking it all here, in this home.

  With honey done and dusted we headed off to meet Paul's nieces, Rachel and Arielle, for lunch downtown. Now, since Paul is my cousin that makes Rachel and Arielle my cousins too! New family. Cool! Now let me attempt to correctly define the relationships. Paul's grandmother on his father's side was my grandmother's (on my mother's side) sister. That makes him my second cousin. So far so good. As far as I can tell Rachel and Arielle are second cousins once removed. I mentioned to Paul he could also be a second cousin once removed if he left by the exit door. He stayed so he remains my second cousin, not removed. Did I mention it's cool discovering new family? We'll have to come back. There may be more family hiding out here.

  We bid the ladies adieu and headed off to the main outlet of the distillery, drank ourselves into a moderate stupor tasting all the different offerings, bought a few then walked some of it off on the Vernon Rail Trail.

  Our final weekend here started with a wander around the local Farmers' Market and I have to say it's a very impressive one at that. The assortment of fresh, local produce and interesting things to eat was a welcome change from the tired offerings and kitschy crafts we've seen at most North American markets. I'm not including markets we've seen outside N.A. as nothing we've seen on this continent can compare to them.

  Sunday morning, as we were preparing to leave for an afternoon of cycling on the Myra Canyon rail trail, Fezzik decided to show us his displeasure at not letting him outside.

  Scratch two houseplants. The homeowners call the cat "Little Shit" because of stuff like this. "What did that Little Shit do now?", seems to be a popular refrain here. He's a very smart cat so I have to respect that. For instance, he's figured out how to get the robot vac to start.

  Alas, he is such a little shit. When we leave we won't miss him very much. On the other hand I'd gladly take Willow home with me. Buffy, not so much.

  Anyway, after Penny cleaned up the mess we headed off for a beautiful afternoon of cycling. The Myra Canyon rail trail, a twelve kilometre (twenty-four return) stretch of the old Kettle Valley Railroad line, spans trestles and tunnels while it winds through the Myra Canyon. Since there was only one e-bike available I arranged for Penny to take it and I assumed the harder job of actually self-propelling myself along the route. It's a rail line so it's pretty level so not the worst thing in the world.

  It's a beautiful ride and I heartily recommend it to anyone who comes out this way during the spring and fall. It gets really hot in the summer so maybe not such a good idea then.

  The trail includes eighteen trestles like these above and two tunnels.

  Since it's been cool the past few nights the fall colours are on full display which made it a very vibrant scene.

  Also, we were up about four thousand feet above Kelowna so some spectacular views of the city, Okanagan Lake and the surrounding hills were available.

  Tomorrow we board the red eye flight back to T.O. and on to our next sit across the street from Lake Ontario in Toronto's Long Branch neighbourhood. We'll be charged with caring for another border collie named Scout so much ball-throwing and trail walking will ensue. I'll be starting work on son David's basement so much of the dog care will fall to Penny. I'm sure it won't be a chore in such a beautiful location.

  I'll miss Kelowna as it's a terrific spot amongst the mountains. There's skiing all around us in the winter and great hiking when the snow is gone. With wineries, microbreweries and distilleries there's always something interesting with which to wet your whistle and a cosmopolitan restaurant vibe as well.

  I won't miss Fezzik.