Hi everyone
Can’t believe it’s been over a month since we last posted something on the blog! Although I do think we have a good excuse: We’ve had lots of visitors in the last couple of weeks!
I’m just going to post some pictures and explain some things but I don’t really feel like writing a lot so the pictures will have to do for now!
Read the rest of this entry »
Just a picture of a bald eagle I spotted yesterday while taking Grizzly for a walk on Spanish Bank Beach in Vancouver.
Because the 24th of May is Victoria Day, we had a nice long weekend! Time for another road trip.
We got invited to go to the Okanagan together with some friends. It is a region located in British Columbia defined by the basin of Okanagan Lake and the Canadian portion of the Okanagan River. The region is known for its dry, sunny climate, arid landscapes and lake shore communities. The economy is retirement and commercial-recreation based, with outdoor activities such as boating and water sports, snow skiing and hiking. Agriculture has been focused primarily on fruit orchards, with a recent shift in focus to vineyards and wine.
“Wine Tasting” that was everything we needed to know to get ourselves out there! It still took us 1,5 year to visit that region. It’s not too far away (only 380 km) and it’s a very nice drive. You go through Manning Park (and yes we saw a bear!, lots of deer, coyotes, ground squirrels and various colorful birds).
The weather was gorgeous and therefore ideal for a wine tasting tour. I was driving and Kris and Dulce were tasting. No worries, even though I was driving, I did get to taste what I wanted!
On Sunday we first went to Okanagan Falls to visit The Blasted Church Vineyard. Really nice location, amazing view!
After buying the first bottles of wine we visited See Ya Later Ranch (one of my personal favorites)!
First of all, they were extremely dog friendly, which probably has something to do with the fact that I really liked them, but they also had an amazing ice wine. Definitely one of the better ice wines I’ve ever tried (and trust me, I’ve tried quite a lot).
Besides that I also really liked their vineyard and their branding!
Grizzly after he broke loose from the pole he was tied to (obviously having fun with the winery’s dog).
After buying more bottles of wine we headed to the Naramata Bench. Twenty two wineries are located on this prime agricultural land. Some are situated on the picturesque rolling hillsides while others are perched at the edge of cliffs close to Okanagan Lake. A remarkable setting.
The first winery we visited on the Naramata Bench was Laughing Stock Vineyards. More bottles of wine were purchased:).
Next stop: Popular Grove. Gorgeous winery, amazing view! Besides wine they also sold cheese. Unfortunately the cheese I wanted was sold out, but Dulcie tried some and she loved it!
Our next stop was Hillside Estate Winery. This time I got to try some wine, because we were going for lunch after at the Hillside Estate Bistro. The food was fantastic! (just to give you an idea of what they were serving: Kris enjoyed the Rare Seared Albacore Tuna Melt and I had the pleasure of trying the Natural Pature’s Chèvre and Tomato Tart.
The unique thing about Hillside Estate is the impressive tower. It kind of dominates the view as you drive north along Naramata Road. The massive structure houses cellars dug deep into the side of the hill with 6.7 metre high walls of solid river rock.
Last but definitely not least: Elephant Island Winery. My second favorite! You can actually taste the wines outside on their patio with a remarkable view over Okanagan Lake. Of all the wineries we’ve visited, those people seemed the most laid back. They have some very unique fruity wines. We were able to try about 5 different wines. 3 of them really appealed to us: 2 dessert wines: The Cassis and the Framboise (you could taste the Framboise for a small donation, it was to die for!) the other one was the Black Current wine. All three of them were berry flavored.
Ooh and just a little hint, if you ever go there and buy wine, make sure to ask for some food recipes. They have some really nice ones based on some of their wines.
Since most of the wineries close around 5 we decided to head back to the hotel and wait for Ben to return from his soccer tournament.
A picture from our new wine collection:
On Monday we walked around town and gave Grizzly the opportunity to play in the water of Okanagan Lake.
We had a wonderful stay and met some really nice people! Thanks Dulce and Ben!!!
Later this week you can probably expect some pictures of last weekend (when we went to Vancouver Island).
Hope everyone’s having a good time!
I’ve been fascinated about the volcano activity in Hawaii ever since we’ve been there.
We were just watching a documentary on Discovery Channel and I decided to have a quick look at the current update of the eruption of the Kilauea Volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii.
I was looking at the pictures, and all of a sudden run into a picture that looked very familiar (but slightly different).
Picture I found on the website of the Government of Hawaii, taken on April 27th, 2010
The picture shows lava, on its southward journey to the ocean, it crossed and buried the County lava viewing trail.
Apparently in the last couple of months, the viewing area we’ve been to, is completely gone!
Check the website of the governement of Hawaii for more updates.
While I was checking my pictures from our trip I also came across these (I know it’s not the same as Kris’ pictures, but I kinda like them:))
Sadly enough, I didn’t have a waterproof camera while snorkeling in Hawaii. But I had an underwater case for my camera, so I was actually able to take a picture of one of the amazing sea turtles you get to swim with while snorkeling.
I hope everyone had a good weekend, enjoy your week!
Ever since we were born you’ve both been around and supported us in everything we did (even though we know you didn’t always agree on our choices:))
Just to say, we love you both a lot, you’re the best moms in the world!
Happy Mother’s Day!
I’ve finally managed to convince Kris to post some photos.:)
Since there were still tons of pictures from Hawaii that he didn’t process yet, it was ideal to start with.
One of the main attractions on the Big Island is Volcano National Park.
It’s pretty spectacular, you can actually walk along the craters of still active volcanoes, you get access to lava tubes,…
Of course some areas are closed for public because of volcanic fumes.
The new eruptive vent in Halema`uma`u Crater, Sulphur Banks, and Pu‘u ‘O‘o vent generate high levels of gasses that may affect hikers. We did go there, but didn’t have any problems.
The road in the picture above is also located in the National Park. In the distance you can see the smoke plume caused by lava flowing in the ocean. If you want to go to the lava viewing platform though, you have to exit the park and drive to Kalapana.
The platform opens around 5pm until 10pm. You have to call to check if the weather permits you to go out there. We were pretty lucky, because the platform was actually closed for a couple of days (just before we visited the site). Visitors were not allowed to hike up to the viewing point due to toxic and hazardous fumes. We were advised to get some flash lights, lots of water and hiking shoes. It wasn’t as dangerous as we expected but the authorities just want to make sure that visitors realize that they are walking on lava and there’s always the risk of cracks occurring.
The most spectacular time to watch is in the evening because of the colors (that’s also why they wanted visitors to carry flash lights).
As of February 1, 2010, lava has not been flowing into the ocean for at least 4 weeks.
Let’s talk about something else now.
We’ve mentioned before that we visited some of the Lost filming locations. In our search for some of those locations we also stumbled upon this nice place.
On some of our road trips:
The second main attraction was definitely the Mauna Kea Observatory. Something I’ve always wanted to visit! The top of the mountain houses world’s largest observatory for optical, infrared, and sub millimeter astronomy.
There was however one little problem: When you rent a car on The Big Island, there are limitations on where you can actually drive. If something happens to the car, when you drive in those restricted areas, they will not come and help you (they will not tow the car). Any damage to the car will be charged. One of those roads was the road up to Mauna Kea. They strongly advised us not to go there.
We went to the visitor center and checked with the park warden. He told us that it`s not advisable to drive up to the top without a 4×4. We both were disappointed but figured it was not worth the risk. We did get a NASA patch from the warden (small consolation). It was an LCROSS patch, because on that day you could observe the LCROSS impact. Pretty amazing!
When we stepped outside the center we met some Flemish people. We started talking and they told us they were visiting Hawaii to support Sietse De Laeter who was a participant in the 2009 Iron Man.
Obviously they were also disappointed that they were told not to drive to the top. We were talking about the possible risks of going there and all of a sudden a guy from Calgary shows up saying that he drove his Honda Civic up the mountain and it wasn’t a problem at all. We thought: if he can do it, so can we! We teamed up with the Belgian couple and started driving uphill. It was a gravel road and pretty steep, so definitely no ideal driving circumstances. But the main problem was actually the fact that the peak was at 4205m. There was a chance that there wasn’t enough oxygen for the car to get to the top.
We did slowly approach the top. We were about to park the car and all of a sudden the engine died. Well, at least we made it to the top!!
At that point we were so happy to be able to check out the observatory, that we didn’t really care whether the engine would start again.
I was suffering from altitude sickness so I wasn’t able to do a lot, but Kris did walk around and got a very nice shot:
In the end, we got down the mountain just fine. Conclusion: An excellent day!
I think this was the last batch of pictures from Hawaii. We definitely had a good time and we both agree that this was a very memorable vacation!
Finally! We’ve waited almost four months to go on this road trip. For some reason we were really, really looking forward to it!
We started driving Thursday evening, direction Kamloops. We booked the Accent Inns for the night. Quite nice actually, pleasant memories! It’s the same hotel chain we stayed at (for 3 weeks) when we first arrived in Vancouver. Funny how all those hotels have the exact same interior.
Friday, early morning (way too early, but for a good cause) we headed in the direction of Jasper. We could have easily made the decision to go straight to Banff, but we wanted to drive along the Icefields Parkway. We’ve visited Jasper before in the summer which was nice, but not at all comparable to the winter scenery. We were even able to walk on the Athabasca Glacier together with Grizzly which was quit fun (and cold). The glacier is actually the most-visited glacier of the North American continent.
I’m not going to talk about climate change, but it is definitely one of the only glaciers I’ve seen that shrunk that much in such a short amount of time. There’s signs everywhere that show you the history of the size of the glacier.
For pictures: Read the rest of this entry »
Nothing exciting happened in the last couple of weeks. Same old, same old:)
I did celebrate my birthday, got lots of very fun presents and the good thing: Still more to come.
It’s quite funny when you live abroad, presents keep coming 
.
Kris gave me a book: “The Daily Coyote”. I have to say: It’s an amazing book. I finished it in less than a day, and I loved it! The book is about a wonderful young woman’s search for herself in Wyoming. She tells us about her daily life. Nothing special you think? Well, part of her day to day routine is raising a coyote.
If you’re curious, but not really interested in reading a book about it, then make sure you check out Charlie (the coyote) and Shreve’s blog at http://www.dailycoyote.net/. She also created a sister site: HONEY ROCK DAWN .
Speaking about wildlife and nature, we’re actually going away for the long weekend. We’re leaving on Thursday evening and we’re heading to Banff and Jasper. Hopefully the weather allows us to drive along the Icefields Parkway (on our way to Banff). It started snowing again, so we’re not sure what route we will take, since most of the mountain passes are covered with snow… I know it’s still a bit early for wildlife but, who knows, maybe some bears are awake… We’ll see. Doesn’t really matter though since the landscape is just breathtaking…
A picture from the archive:
After visiting Jasper and Banff (and the hot springs:)) we also plan to go to Cochrane to visit some of our friends.
Lots of exciting things to look forward to…
I’m sure Kris will provide us with some really nice pictures in the next couple of weeks!
Hope everyone is having a great time, and we’ll hopefully be able to update this blog on a more regular basis from now on.
Last weekend Kris surprised me with a weekend getaway to the Sunshine Coast.
We were able to find a Bed & Breakfast last minute. We decided to go and explore an area so close to home, but one we’ve never visited before.
The ferry takes you from Horseshoe Bay to Langdale. It only takes 40 minutes, just enough time to get an “all aboard breakfast” on the ferry.
We drove along the Sunshine Coast, direction: Egmont. We were told to definitely hike up to the Skookumchuck Rapids. It’s about an hour hike on an easy trail. Really worth it. Go to Sechelt and visit one of the visitor centers to get a schedule of the best viewing times of the rapids.
Back to Back
Enjoying the sunshine
After a sunny afternoon we decided to head back to Sechelt and check out our B&B and enjoy the hot tub.
Upon arriving in Off The Hook B&B we were welcomed by Dave (the owner) and Chloe his puppy.
Dave and Arlene will try their best to make your stay as pleasant as possible. With an incredible tasty breakfast and lots of recommendations you are ready to head out for the day. After a day of hiking, kayaking, snowshoeing or …. the hot tub will be ready for some relaxing. The view from the hot tub is phenomenal and breathtaking.
The pictures below are provided to us by Off the Hook B&B.
One thing’s for sure, our weekend was way too short, and we will definitely go back in the summer to visit Dave and Arlene!
The Olympics started two weeks ago, sadly enough it’s coming to an end… We’re watching the gold medal hockey game right now (Canada – USA). I’m so stressed out, I can’t watch:). We really hope they’re going to win!
It definitely was an exciting couple of weeks.
It started of with a flashmob I’ve participated in. It is a large group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, perform an unusual and pointless act for a brief time, then quickly disperse. Together with a some friends I started practicing the dance a couple of weeks before the actual event. Because there were more than 2000 people attending, it wasn’t the most spontaneous flashmob, but it was definitely good fun!
Here’s a little video:
We went to see the Olympic Cauldron which was really exciting. It’s big!!
We also went to watch the Women Half pipe competition, which was AMAZING! It’s truly indescribable .
A couple of pictures below.
Quatchi and Miga: My best friends
Half Pipe
Hannah Teter
Half Pipe
Me at the Half Pipe
Moguls: where the first Canadian won gold on Canadian soil (Alex Bilodeau)
Just a quick update: Team Canada WOOOOOONNNN!!!! Canada now has 14 gold medals. A record!!
If you missed the big game, go here for a recap: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jr9j-MRTxz8
Go Canada Go!
Ine | 
