That is precisely what happened to Jeanette and I this past weekend. Friday was a planned men's golf outing at the Belmont Golf Course - photo below - followed by a routine weekend at home. That plan changed quickly late afternoon, Thursday past. I called my foursome golf guys to let them know that I was dropping them in favour of a weekend at the lake.
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| A photo Jeanette and I took at Belmont Golf Course when motorcycling last Thursday |
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Thursday afternoon, we had arranged to look after Easton for a couple of hours while Ginette was practicing her kineseology on a client. When we arrived at her home, she asked if we wanted to join them at Trevor's family cabin at Barriere Lake for the weekend. It was a last minute decision by Ginette and Trevor too. The boat
needed to be returned to the coast - for its winter storage - and no one
else was planning to be at the lake. Why not? The weather forecast was
for mid-summer like weather.
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| Coquihalla Highway north towards Kamloops, BC |
Now that was one very quick - and most easy - decision. Golf was out and we rode out early Friday morning. We would be arriving earlier that Ginette, Trevor and Easton but we had a key to get past the locked gate and the cabin locks.
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| Fantastic summer like weather for mid-September on the high mountain highway. |
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| Nearing the small city of Merritt, BC. |
We stopped in Merritt for lunch before leaving the Coquihalla Highway in favour of Highway 5A (the old highway) along Nicola Lake and north to Kamloops. It is a two lane road that is twisty and picturesque. It is a perfect motorcycle road!
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| Riding along Nicola Lake on Highway 5A |
Being mid-day Friday, there was little traffic on the Coquihalla and 5A. That made for an easy motorcycle ride.
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| Nearing Kamloops, this farmer was busy haying and bailing. |
When we arrived in Kamloops, it was hot! Our riding clothes quickly came off in favour of t-shirt riding. What a treat! From Kamloops, we rode on Highway 5 towards the town of Barriere; about 40 minutes north.
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| Barriere is when we left Highway 5 and rode east through the town and for another 35 kilometres to the lake and cabin. |
It a mostly 35 km paved 2 lane road east from Barriere to the lake. About 6 kilometres from the cabin, the pavement ends and the road - albeit gravel - is smooth and mainly dust free. The district applies a coat of vegetable oil on the road and it works well to control dust.
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| Soon to leave the pavement..... |
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| ...for this smooth gravel road. |
We arrived at the cabin by 3:00 pm. The gates unlocked, I rode the Harley down to its parking spot.
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| Pleasant 5 hour ride up to the cabin - with breaks, lunch and fuel stops. |
It didn't take long before Jeanette and I were changed from riding clothes to beach clothes and enjoying the peaceful view from the deck.
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| Perfectly calm..... |
We walked along the beach a bit and got things ready for when Ginette, Trevor and Easton would arrive. At 6:30 pm, they drove in. Once unpacked the barbecue was fired up and dinner was enjoyed outdoors. The mid-September weather equaled a typical mid-July heat. It was fantastic!
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| Our view from the deck during dinner. |
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| The sun setting at the western end of the lake. |
Early the next morning, Trevor, Easton and I drove out and headed for the high mountain country in search of wildlife. None was sighted but it was fun to get out in the fresh mountain air. We drove through some cut lines (in 4X4 mode) and then ended up at the eastern end of the lake where we hiked through the bush to a quiet sandy beach area.
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| Back at the cabin, Jeanette and Ginette were up and breakfast was being prepared. Easton is mixing the pancake batter. |
The balance of Saturday was spent boating, kayaking, playing with Easton on the beach and just enjoying a truly pleasant summer like day.
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| A neighbour flew his float plane in and tied it at his dock. The next morning he took off back for wherever home is. |
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| Fun time with Easton in the sand. What's not to like about that. It's so touching to watch him discover so many new things. |
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| He amused himself for quite a long time. |
When he tired of the beach, we loaded ourselves into the boat and headed for a nice leisurely ride. Easton loves to handle any steering wheel and dad, Trevor, was happy to oblige.
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| Mister boater at the helm.... |
He loved driving the boat but hated having to wear the life vest. He'll learn to accept it though!
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| Cruising at high speed.... |
Trevor stopped the boat in the middle of the lake and we all just cherished the peaceful quiet before Trevor jumped into the lake for a swim. Easton was quite surprised when his dad did that!
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| "Hey....whatch er you doing dad?????" |
Back on terra firma, Jeanette and Easton enjoyed some personal time together playing in the water near the beach. They were both in seventh heaven!
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| The dock below the cabin |
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| A view of the cabin from dock side... |
Trevor got Easton into the water and whizzed him around and around. There was a lot of laughter. The cool water had no effect whatsoever and Easton wanted more and more whizzing......!
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| Great fun.... |
While Trevor and Ginette entertained Easton, Jeanette and I took the kayaks out for a couple of hours.
We paddled to the extreme west side then back east, past the cabin, and
along the shoreline to a point on the east side of the lake.
Back at the cabin, steaks were soon on the barbecue and the other fixings were being handled in the kitchen. We enjoyed a fantastic Saturday evening enjoying dinner overlooking the lake and another wonderful sunset. What a blessing!
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| I handled the steaks.....Jeanette handled the other fixings.... |
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| Sunset on Saturday night... |
I was up very early on Sunday morning - and so was Easton. I put him in his jogging stroller (with nice big tires) and we headed off for a long walk while the others slept in. We were gone for well over an hour and, once back, everyone was still sound asleep so Easton and I played on the swing, in the sand (with plastic pails and little shovels) and I generally followed him as he walked around and about. Good fun!
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| Once breakfast was completed, and dishes washed, mother and daughter headed off in the kayaks while Trevor, Easton and I busied ourselves with loading the boat onto the trailer to return it to the Lower Mainland for winter storage. |
Trevor hitched up the boat trailer and backed it into the lake. Once loaded and strapped down, he drove up from the lake and we began the process of washing it down. It needed a good cleaning after spending the better part of four months or so in the water.
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| Trevor is giving the boat some final touch ups.... |
By lunch time we had packed everything up, cleaned the cabin, gathered the trash and an hour later we began our ride/drive back for home. We followed Trevor for a few kilometres before he encouraged us to go ahead. We did just that! We agreed to meet up in Merritt for a mid-afternoon lunch.
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| Just leaving the cabin in the woods. |
We took a different route from Kamloops. Trevor, Ginette and Easton continued on the Coquihalla while Jeanette and I chose to take the slightly longer route back on Highway 5A through the twisty turns and along Nicola Lake. We arrived within minutes of each other at the Tim Horton's in Merritt.
Lunch had, we continued our journey south on the Coquihalla Highway and home. We were in the garage and unpacking by 6:00 pm.
What a fantastic long weekend we lived up at the cabin on Barriere Lake. Talk about a 'peaceful, easy feeling.......while there!
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| Easton had a blast...... Here he is enjoying corn on the cob! |
And that, dear readers, is just how one's plans can change so quickly......and, I might add, for the better. Great memories lived!
Oh....and there is no Internet or cell service at the lake. If not for a land line phone, we would be completely out of touch while there. Not a bad thing!
Thanks for dropping by.
