Whining, not really attractive

Tom Wolfe said "One belongs to New York instantly.  One belongs to it as much in five minutes as in five years.

Gladys is going to New York without me.  My own fault really.  I just couldn't justify the air fare for 2 days in the city.  When you live on the west coast it takes a day to get to the east coast and a day back. So, I told myself that with only 4 days off to make the trip (work, sigh...) it just wasn't the right time.  But really, when is it the right time?  So here I am reliving the moments that made our trip in May 2009  so very special.  

Our wonderful day walking the Brooklyn bridge, around the park and back. 

The architecture is just so amazing.

All countries present and accounted for!

Our first site of Times Square. I will never forget.

I imagine she will have an amazing time, bringing back great souvenirs (like the coffee mugs we didn't manage to bring back last time) and fantastic photos to add to the hundreds we have. I on the other hand will be attending the Filberg Festival in Comox, BC.  Sure it will be fun... but it's not New York, nothing is.

Favorite moments from our summer vacation

Sea to Sky, or in our case, Sky to Sea

We are almost home... that is almost back to the coast.  How I miss the ocean.  While I love to visit the interior of BC I know I could not live that far away from that big beautiful ocean.

Little sneak peaks of the Squamish River as we sail along Highway 99 south.

The famed Britannia Beach, home of the BC Museum of mining.

You know you are closer to the coast when you spot an arbutus tree.

We're getting closer to horseshoe bay.  Little do we know what kind of ferry wait is ahead.  I really recommend if you are headed for Vancouver Island, and really, why wouldn't you be...reserve a spot on the  ferry to save yourself the pain of waiting for two sailings. When will we learn?

Okay, this is just dazzling. I so love the ocean.

The last shot of the trip.  We are almost home.

Whistler, just as beautiful as you can imagine

It has been 25 years since I visited Whistler, it is nothing like my memories and everything like my memories.  I know that probably doesn't make sense but it's changed so much physically its unrecognizable.  The thing that remained for me was the feeling it evoked.  I was there for New Years Eve 1985.  There was lots of snow on the ground, people partying all over the place, it was magical!  So, fast forward (Oh my god... how fast!) to 2010, July no less, gorgeous sunny day, hot hot hot...  people all over the place, just magical.

We walked the loop through the village, tons of stores featuring gorgeous wares, a Starbucks on each end and probably a couple in the middle we missed!

I wonder what this is like in the dead of winter?  Does it freeze over completely?  I imagine a skating pond... how pretty.

I really love the architecture here, everything seems to belong.

The sun was glinting off the chair lift, drawing your eyes right to the top.  We had such a good winter watching the skiing that happened here.

This photo I took for my sister who is Moose crazy!  Isn't he a hoot.  And so very Canadian.

The most unlikely pet we saw on the entire trip.  This little goat garnered more attention from the kids than the exceptionally cute kiddie area below.

Love the little huts here, I would love to recreate them in my garden.

British Columbia, the Best Place on Earth.  Yes, I believe this to be True!

Merritt to Lillooet, through Spences Bridge

Leaving Merritt via Highway 8 we headed towards Spences Bridge.  The dry scrubby underbrush soon changed to beautiful green farmland the closer we got.

We followed the Thompson river along the Trans Canada highway 1 to Lytton, from there we headed north again towards Lillooet.

Along the way we spied a river rafting group.  These people have guts!  This river was really scary looking.

There were trains going in every direction on every track we saw. I think this would be a fantastic way to see BC.

Fascinating

This mountain, just north of Lytton was amazing, just peaking out (pun intended) from the clouds.

Is it really July in BC?

Kamloops... must be the hottest place on earth

In a delirium of heat we drove through the city,  the air conditioning just blasting, looking for somewhere cool (right!) to enjoy an iced coffee.  We found McArthur Island Park, yippee!  Sweetie promptly laid down a blanket on the grass beneath this massive tree.  He spied this birds nest immediately. 

This fluffy feather grass was everywhere. I really wanted to bring some home with me.

I went for a walk along the waters edge (in the shade of some gorgeous trees) and saw this little guy sunning himself.  The Yellow bellied marmot.  Cute huh!

This little guy was as curious about us as we were about him.  He got really close to Sweetie, then his tail blew right up!  Watch OUT.

Creepy.... a murder of crows.

A shot of Kamloops from the hotel window. It's bigger than I expected. 

We stopped for lunch at a little cafe and our waitress suggested we check out The BC Wildlife Park.  

When we got there they were just feeding the birds of prey.

This guy put on a great show, swooping over our heads. Yikes.  Wow is it HOT HERE.

They have two grizzly bears, both quite old, but still very intimidating. Sweetie was totally enthralled. 

This cute little train does a circuit of the property.  Would have been a godsend in this heat had it been running  when we arrived.  Bad timing I guess.

The clouds were just too far away to make any difference to the heat here.  I swear you could feel your skin sizzle when the sun hit.  

Heading North to Kamloops

We've decided to take the Sea to Sky Highway back to the coast, not right away mind you, this is just too much fun to end too quickly. But what this means is we once again head north.  Back to Keremeos, over to Hedley, up through Princeton, on to Allison Lake, then through Aspen Grove.  We sort of by-pass Merritt because we suddenly have a hankering to see Kamloops. 

Our brief stop in Hedley gave us some fantastic photo ops. This store was a feast for the eyes in a sort of colorless background.

I really tried hard to get a telephoto of the minesite in the side hill.  I tend to take blurry photos with that much magnification (note to self... bring tripod). This one wasn't so bad.

Fascinating little store here in Hedley.  I think these are pumps?  Not sure, but loved them lined up in a row like painted ladies.

A lovely little garden beside the tourist information site welcomes everyone to Hedley.

On the road again.... this is somewhere on Highway 3 North.  Pretty!

We went off road (not really) for a quick stop at Kentucky Alleyne Provincial Park.  Beautiful lake with the most interesting rocks....

This little guy sort of skittered away when I approached the waters edge.

LOVE those aspen trees. I just can't seem to stop taking pictures of them.  This has been the longest day of driving yet!  I am tired!