A Year in Review: 2024

This year I thought I'd try sending annual wishes via my blog.  The reason for this is twofold - I want to be inspired to write my blog more regularly AND some of the things I wanted to share with you can be found elsewhere in the blog.  

Christmas 2023:

We bought our most expensive gift to each other at Christmas 2023 when we purchased a 2018 Tesla on Christmas Day!  I'd been looking at purchasing an EV and had gone to the Toyota dealer in Castlegar with a request for information - I wanted a red,  full EV Toyota  in the spring of '24.  Could it arrive then?  Two days later we had a text from our daughter about someone selling a Tesla in Rossland.  We called and thought we'd take it out for a drive on Christmas Eve afternoon.  The owner, Cody, was moving to Iceland in January - the reason it was for sale.  We only mulled it over for a few hours and made him an offer on Christmas Day.  Voila! 

We took possession of it in mid-January and plated it at the beginning of Feb.  We have definitely experienced adventures in Teslaland but Dave has been figuring out how to do most of the required maintenance and repairs.  He successfully changed a wheel bearing and is about to tackle the heater in January - it quit a few days before THIS Christmas.

Gardening:

I enjoyed another year in the garden and I'm pleased that I can still do the work.  We have 3 gardens going - one in Kaslo, one in Trail and one at Kaslo Community Garden.  This year, I put our garden on the Edible Garden Tour in Kaslo and that was a very satisfying experience although BC was experiencing one of those "heat domes" on the weekend of the tours.  It was a hot summer and the garden produced very well, particularly tomatoes.

Reading:  

I still belong to two book clubs and enjoy each one.  Favourite books from this past year are The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams and Doppelganger by Naomi Klein.  I also read Walter Issacson's biography of Elon Musk and likely would never have bought a Tesla if I'd read it earlier.  I actually do really like the car when it communicates with me in a way that I can understand and it does seem to be a well-made product.  I need a bumper sticker that states:  I did not buy this car from Elon Musk; I bought it through the circular economy.

Bridge:  

I rarely play "live" bridge now and try to have a weekly online game with my brother-in-law, Phil, in Wetaskiwin, AB.  We rarely do well but we enjoy it and it's cheap.  I did play in a "live" tournament about a month ago - it was shocking to see how some of the players have aged.  But they still manage to play a mean game of bridge!

Exercise:

I'm still pretty dedicated to exercise but decided to give up running after a summer attempt at getting back into it.  My knees just DO NOT like it.  I'm still trying to get out for regular fast and slow walks and most of the time it works.  Cross-country skiing this fall is in full swing.  I usually ride an e-bike now and put on 3000 km between March and Nov simply riding to town on it, plus a few holiday excursions.  Definitely trying to follow the axiom "use it or lose it".

Travel:

We went to the Maritimes to visit with Dave's sister and one of his brothers.  It was a good time and we did a bit of hiking and also got over to PEI to see our friends near Montague.  The Island is just as beautiful as it was 40 years ago!  Actually, not much seemed all that different in NS and PEI - it's slow to travel through and totally scenic!

We took a trip to ID, OR and WA in the fall with our camper and bikes and discovered some new areas in Central OR that we had never visited.  That trip is somewhat covered elsewhere in the blog if anyone is interested.  

          

Family:

The NJ folks seem to be fine and we are heading there for a visit at the end of December.  Callie will turn 13 on January 8th. Both girls are into soccer and basketball and Callie plays tennis, while Abby is becoming quite the gymnast.  

Meanwhile, in Rossland, we don't see as much of the boys as we'd like to do but we do try to take them out for a monthly meal so that we can REALLY talk.  They do love to talk.  Atley is heavily into cross-country skiing as well as continuing with downhill.  Miro is completely a downhiller.  And they bike everywhere.  The entire family keeps very active all the time and I feel that we rarely see them.  This seems to be a bit of a thing with our generation.

Wishing you all the best for the next year.  It could be interesting.....and let's hope it is not too eventful.  

Travels in America: Back to John Day

 We left Deschutes State Park early one morning and had been advised by the camping attendant that the Cottonwood Canyon State Park was full to capacity.  We decided to head over there and take a look at the park anyway.  It wasn't too far out of our way and it would give us an opportunity to scout out the area.  We were glad that we visited.  Once again, we hiked along the John Day River which we had met earlier on our travels through eastern Oregon. 

The cliffs alongside were rugged and beautiful and we walked for a couple of miles as an out and back.  It was busy there (although not "full" at the time of our arrival) with lots of fisher folk, and I enjoyed the historical displays.  

On the route over to Cottonwood, we finally had an opportunity to get a good glimpse of Mt. Hood which had been shrouded in cloud for days, even though it was bright and sunny at Deschutes.  I was simply amazed at the huge network of wind generators located in this part of OR.  I'd always admired the commitment WA state seemed to have towards renewable energy, but it wasn't a patch on the state of Oregon!

After one more venture back to Biggs, OR and the great Indian food, we crossed the Columbia and headed north towards Canada.  Our last night in America took place at one of the Roosevelt Lake National campgrounds.  It was a lovely spot with lots of nice FLAT walking and the campground had few visitors.  No one monitored the place and there were no drop boxes for camping fees.  When the rain came we headed for Canada with a stop in Northport, WA to pick up an awning for the camper van.  It hadn't arrived, unfortunately, because now we'd have to make a return trip and pay duty on the product.  Glad that our dollar was slightly higher in those days of crossing the border!  

Travels in America: The Columbia River Corridor

We have visited the Pacific Crest Trail in Manning Provincial Park and have walked a few km of it.  In OR, we had the opportunity to walk a few more kms on our hike to Dry Falls (previous post).  I found this sign interesting when we walked 

into Cascade Locks (parked our camper van there) out to Dry Falls and back.  Also had great burgers at the local pub with a view of the Bridge of the Gods over the Columbia.   This sign is mile 2155 if you are walking north to Canada.  

I always enjoy a stay at Deschutes State Park along the Columbia.  We noticed that the bike trail along the I-84 is pretty much complete from Cascade Locks to Hood River.  We did the section from Hood River for 9 miles out to the end of the bike/hike section.  Then we biked on the road (sometimes adjacent to the I-84) to the town of Mosier and beyond.  Very pretty at that particular time and there are spectacular views of the Columbia Valley and the many wind towers that dominate the WA side of the corridor.  Here's a picture of the park and valley  at Deschutes State Park. 

Travels in America: Biggs Junction, OR

 Our travels through central OR were good and I wanted to spend a bit of time hiking some times at Mt. Hood.  It didn't work out.  That was the first day of poor weather and Mt. Hood was completely invisible.  We did drive to one area with a lodge and there was even a bit of snow on the ground.  This is advertised as having lovely meadows which I am sure is very likely.  I did a lone, very short hike to a waterfall, walking in cold and wet  conditions.  We headed off to Deschutes State Park and were able to get a campsite, but barely!  Tons of fisher people there.  As the wet weather continued, we heads to Cascade Locks and hiked a wee bit of the Pacific Coast Trail to a quite lovely waterfall.  It's been very dry in the area, and I was surprised to actually "see" Dry Falls, pictured below.  

We opted for a second night at Deschutes and decided to go out to a restaurant I'd seen a billboard for on the I-84.  It's an Indian restaurant in a very small place.  What a pleasant surprise!  We biked the 8 miles from our campground to the "bus" that is the take out restaurant.  A local writer had an article about the owner which was posted on their billboard.  The owner decided that since over 20% of truckers in the US are of East Indian descent, he figured they might like a "taste of home".  I got the impression that the truckers order their food online and give the cook an idea of when they will arrive.  Biggs Junction is a "truck stop" on the junctions of the I-84 and SR 97 that runs N/S through central OR.  In the western part of the US the number of East Indian truckers is more like 35%, according to the article.    We loved the food so much that we headed back there the next day after taking a short side trip over to Cottonwood Canyon State Park.  That was more of an exploratory venture than anything else but we did like it and plan to visit the park some time.  We will definitely plan to travel to Briggs Junction again and eat authentic Indian food.  Highly recommended.    

Arrival of Winter

 Yesterday, I hiked with one of the local walking groups and we came across steady snow just above the Wardner bench.  I was surprised at how much snow the snow deepened as we ascended.  Very nice though because we had

our first "bright" day since the beginning of November.  A welcome relief!  As well, at our place, the temperature went below zero last night so I guess the bedding plants are finished for the year.  Nov. 27th - not bad!  Here's the view from the clearcut at the top of the Wardner trail - that's Kootenay Lake visible,  with lots of snow and interesting clouds.  

Fall Gardening

 It's been a long fall and I can actually still garden, I notice.  We did get snow on Wednesday and it covered the ground but I have geraniums still blooming and I have yet to bring  my potted dahlias indoors.  These capers were harvested on November 6th.  I cannot  ever remember picking seeds on the 6th of November.  

                       

 

Meanwhile, in the mountains of the Rossland Range there is plenty of snow and I have already been skiing 4 times.  Last year, we did not have this much snow until January. The strange behaviour of the weather is all part of climate change, I guess!  

eanwhile, up in the mountains of the Rossland Range, there is plenty of snow.  I've already been up to ski 4 times this year.  I think we can attribute all these strange weather behaviours to climate change!  

Travels in America: Palisades Cove State Park, OR

 After making the decision to avoid the last piece of the John Day Fossil Beds, we rerouted ourselves further west in central OR.  Originally, our plan had been to visit Crater Lake, but with more smoke further south, we opted to stay "north" and happened upon the Palisades Cove State Park.  What a stunningly beautiful area!

  The National Forest campgrounds were all closed, as well as many other campgrounds in the area.  We opted to stay in the open one and it was nice.  We didn't realize that we were high on a plateau above the Crooked and Deschutes Rivers.  After our arrival, we immediately took our bikes out for a ride and realized what sort of a plateau we were on.  The sunset was gorgeous that night and we opted to spend the next day at the park.  That day we hiked and biked and unfortunately the clouds moved in and we didn't get a second amazing sunset.  But we did see great views of Mt. Jefferson, a place that I had never heard of.  It is pictured above.   I'm sure that this place is VERY crowded in the "high season", but visiting it in October was perfect.  About a dozen other campers shared the campground with us and the fall colours were just past peak, but still hanging on.  Here is a view from a plateau top showing the 2 rivers and their reservoir.  I'd highly recommend a visit if you can get there when it is not busy.