Category — Hobbies

Late this past week we checked the weather stations on-line to see what day would be best to go snow-shoeing. At first we thought Friday, however when we woke up Friday morning it was snowing pretty heavy; so the beauty of being retired is…… you don’t have to go that day….. there is always another day!

Anyway, we headed up this morning and it was fantastic. The skies were starting to clear, the fog was lifting and it looked like it was going to be a sunny day at the top of the mountain. Well, sure enough when we arrived the sun was breaking through and you definitely needed sun glasses to prevent sun/snow glare.

Once we headed off it was amazing today. Snow conditions were the best we have had so far, the trails were well tracked and the scenery was spectacular. Part way around we stopped for a muffin and soaked in the sun…… it was so great.

Most times when we go snowshoeing we are lucky to see 3 to 4 other people on the trails, well today we met at least 60 other snow-shoers out on the trails. It was such a spectacular day and the snow conditions were so amazing it was easy to see why there were so many out today.

Enjoy the pictures:

We headed up to Sun Peaks this morning to go snowshoeing. It was sunny in Kamloops when we left however by the time we got to Hefley Creek at the start of the road up to Sun Peaks it was clouded over.

As we got closer to the Village it began to lightly snow and by the time we got the car parked and walked back to the Delta Hotel it was really snowing hard…….. kind of like ice pellets. Anyway over the next hour it came down pretty steady and we were covered as you will see by the pictures.

This was one of the busiest days we have seen for use of the Nordic Trails and also the Snowshoeing Trails. It was great to see so many people out enjoying the snow.

On Sunday Dec 19/10 we went snow-shoeing up at Sun Peaks for the first time this winter season.

Weather was not too bad; it was about -6C when we started and and as we got going the sun came out for a few minutes, however within a half hour it clouded over. We were pleasantly surprised by the amount of snow so early in this season; you’ll see how covered the trees are! Beautiful! This is at the base of the Mountain and there is a lot more snow up top!

Usually we are the only ones out on the trails and just occasionally see other snow-shoers. However today we ran into 3 different groups of people out snow-shoeing. One group was quite large; about 10 people.

The highlight of the day was watching (from a distance) the dog sled team being hitched up and then talking off on the cross country trails. This consisted of lots of barking, jumping, yelping and then once they got going they shut right up and ran like the wind. It’s too bad the pictures are from such a distance, but you get the idea from the photos attached….. Enjoy!

Today Brenda and I went golfing at Pineridge Golf Course. We received free 18 hole passes from the good folks at Wine Kitz the last time bottled wine and decided today was a good day to use them.

Our tee time was 10:15 a.m. and our round started out pretty average; Brenda was doing very well for only golfing once or twice per year and I was shooting a couple over par when we got to the 7th hole.

The 7th hole is a short par 3 (85 yds) so I took a Gap Wedge (53 deg) and put a great swing on the club and made great contact; the ball flew almost straight at the pin, it landed short, took one hop then spun slightly sideways and fell in the cup. It was so surreal to see it happen and then we “high fived” – “hooted and hollered” and did our own private celebration. It was great to have Brenda there to see it……….. we never ever imagined that this would happen when we were golfing together.

The pro shop at Pineridge Golf recorded the date, hole, club selection and gave me a nice hat pin that is a “#1”. See picture attached.

Today we headed up to Sun Peaks for our final day of snowshoeing for this season. The weather was not too bad, it was certainly warm however the sun never really came out but you still needed sun glasses from the glare off the snow. The parking lots were full, lots of people on the hill and plenty of tour buses loading and unloading vacationers and their luggage. The snowshoe trails were alright considering they have obviously not had any new snow for quite a while. Overall there is probably 3′ – 4′ of snow in the trees which is a lot less than in previous years; so it could be a pretty dry summer unless we get a bunch more precipitation. Kamloops is such a great place to live….. Golfed 4 days earlier this week, a bicycle ride in beautiful sunny weather yesterday and today it was up to the ski hill. Attached are few pictures from today.

This morning we headed up to Sun Peaks for our first Snowshoe trip of the season. It was fairly cold in the Village when we arrived; the notice board said it was -14.3c at the bottom and -12.8c at the Alpine Meadow. So there was definitely an climate inversion happening. Although it did warm up once we got into the trees and by the time we left, which was shortly after lunch it was about -7c. Today we just did the Valley Interpretive Trail which isn’t overly long and apart from going up and down a few hills there isn’t really an big change in elevation, it was basically a warm up trip for future snowshoe trips. There was a fair bit of snow for this early in the season and it was really sticking to the trees, so you did get the occasional dump down the back when ducking under branches. Also at one point on the trail they have set up a bird feeding station with some bird identification charts hanging in the trees so you can see the various species of birds flying around. While up there we also checked out the Condo we have rented at Trails Edge for the January and the Family Ski Vacation, it looks good and the location is definitely ski-in and ski-out. Pictures are attached – they were taken my cellphone camera.

Last weekend was The City of Kamloops Rube Band60th Anniversary. Rubes from across Canada attended the celebration. In total there were approximately 60 current and past members in attendance. Festivities started on Friday night with a Wine & Cheese get together at the TRU International Center; where we had a chance to renew acquaintances and reminisce about days gone by. Then on Saturday morning we all met at the Kamloops Curling Club to form up and parade (with a police escort) down Victoria St. to Riverside Park. After a few minutes to catch our breath and cool off we put on a 1 1/2 hr. stage show for the park audience. The band was looking good and sounding good………. best in years. The afternoon show was followed with an evening Banquet and Dance. Members who have passed on were remembered and stories that are unique to the band were shared……. what an evening. Sunday activities included Golf, the Wildlife Park and/or Sun Peaks. It was great weekend! In the end it was best summed up by emcee Claude Richmond on Saturday night when he said “Lots of Bands can play better than us”, “Lots of Bands can march better than us” and Lots of groups are probably funnier than us”; “But, No One can do it all and have been around as long as us”. That pretty well sums it up!

Thanks to our friend Roxy for taking all the great photographs……… below are a sampling of her pictures and her great eye for catching the  perfect photo op!

Today we headed up to Sun Peaks for our last snowshoe of the season. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky,  the sun was shining bright, the temperature was about 5 deg C and it was a fantastic day. There is a lot of snow up at Sun Peaks and the conditions were perfect; it wasn’t icy and it wasn’t sticky so snowshoeing was outstanding. We headed out of the village and not too far out on the valley trail we came to a snow cave that someone had built; see the pictures below. Then after going about 3 km we stopped for lunch just off of the snowshoe and cross country ski trails. After a few minutes we could hear a snowmobile coming down the cross country tracks which at first we thought was the trail setting machine; but it wasn’t. The driver of the snow machine went by and waved, he wasn’t going that fast but he kept looking behind. Well all of a sudden around the corner came a dog sled team of about 8 huskies pulling a sled, there was a lady all bundled up in blankets and the sled was being steered by a driver on the back. It was really neat to see and it happened so fast we didn’t have time to get a picture. After lunch we headed back to the village. For those skiers out there the conditions were amazing. No lift lines, the slopes were not busy and the snow was looking good. It’s hard to believe that a little over one month ago we were on a beach in the Caribbean enjoying 30 deg heat and sun. Enjoy the pictures below. L&B. 

Well it’s no longer a secret. We’ve started a Rock Band and it’s called “Lindsay and Grampa Rock Band”. Attached are pictures from our media kick off and just click on this link to hear our 1st Big Release Hit Single. The video quality isn’t the greatest as we are just starting out and on a pretty low budget. However the music is excellent, especially Lindsay on lead guitar. Now, some of you may say that this sounds and looks like another somewhat famous band, but we are currently in negotiations to get rightful ownership of this song. We’ll keep you all posted, until then……. WE ARE   HITTING THE ROAD!!!!!!!!

Last night we called up our friend Rick P. and asked if he would like to go snowshoeing at Sun Peaks, he was game so off we went to Sun Peaks this morning. It was snowing lightly when we left Kamloops and a little harder up at the mountain. But, overall the conditions were excellent. There has been quite a bit of snow since our visit a week ago (get ready Lindsay, Jeff, Kevin and Tamara for some great skiing/snow boarding at the end of February). Once we arrived we got suited up and headed off on one of the many trails. Part way along we stopped to take a group picture by resting the camera on our day pack and using the self timer. We had no sooner taken a picture than this lady comes jogging down the trail wearing small snow shoes. No Kidding, she was jogging along. We got her to take another group picture. I’ll get these two pictures attached and others once Jeff (a.k.a. Low Paid Tech Support) fixes my weblog picture link issues. The trees along the trail are really getting covered with snow and if you accidentally bump a tree or branch it will dump a load of snow on you. Well, poor Rick is that slight bit taller than us and a couple times when ducking under hanging branches he moved the tree limb enough that he got completely covered. He has the greatest sense of humour and the greatest most memorable laugh even when getting snow covered. We did a loop of about 4km and headed back to the Sun Peaks Village to have our lunch at Bento’s Day Lodge. After lunch we headed home and by now it is really snowing. Got stopped in a traffic back up because somebody put their car in the ditch and the tow truck driver decided the best way to pull the vehicle out was to block the main road…. not thinking I guess. We finally made it home but the road conditions were a little slick. Great companionship, great conditions and a great day……… we’ll do it again.