5C's Que Pasa

What we woke up to Saturday morning, still smoky. We did have 0.6 of a millimetre of rain in the early morning hours, not much to speak of.

This was the reason they put in an evacuation alert for the entire City of Vernon late Friday afternoon.

They actually did have huge pieces of fire debris fly thru the air over the lake and spot fires were put out.

Such a dramatic shot. Vernon had a very small amount of precipitation early Saturday morning as did the fire area. But that along with cooler temperatures and less wind allowed those fight this inferno to keep the fire more contained.

The smoke cleared a bit as the day progressed and we got out for a ride around the park

Different light at sunset last night but we were a bit clearer for which we were grateful. We actually had a late afternoon shower.

The smoke enhances the colours.

What a great view to wake up to. We haven’t seen those mountains for a few weeks. There was so much promise to the day.

A few hours later some clouds came in as did strong winds with gusts up to 46km/h. The wind was so strong that it knocked a few cutsies off their perches. I closed the windows and turned on the A/C . We had white caps for a while. Still great to see blue sky.

Early afternoon I noticed from the street side of the house ( north towards Vernon ) smoke.  This is from the White Rock Lake fire now moving closer to Vernon, a city with a population close to 70K.   This is the same fire that destroyed a good part of Monte Lake last night. We drove through that area in the RV on July 8th the first day of our vacation. Such a beautiful area to be in, I often think of those who live here and how fortunate they are.

The wind is moving the fire quickly.

Taken just a few minutes later.

“Large fires like the White Rock Lake wildfire often create their own weather patterns. Sometimes with that comes an increase in debris being cast across a significant distance. Sometimes that debris can be large enough and hot enough to create an ember fire,” said Vernon fire chief David Lind.

To the left of Okanagan Lake ( area B ) is where the file is burning out of control. Okanagan Lake is very wide but based on what I added above from the Vernon Fire Chief,  they ordered this evacuation alert ( not yet an order ).

The smoke was swirling directly overhead. All I could say was wow!!  This is not a B & W photo.

Bottom left you can see the fire burning in a patch of sun. To the right of the bottom middle tree yo can see dark smoke, all the while sending smoke everywhere. Vernon is 16 miles / 26 km away, from us, a nonstop 20-25 minute drive. Not to worry, we are very safe – well so far.

This was now the view from our patio. The smoke was moving in a circle.

View of Vernon from Kelowna, late afternoon today. Taken by Micah McKerlich.

Facing east about 15 minutes ago.

Facing south.

I myself am amazed. The round white in the sky surrounded by pink is the sun.

Can you make out the swirl of smoke between the flags and the tree? Mother Nature was the creator of all these colours.

The smell of smoke is strong. Facing south yet again, this was taken only 12 minutes later than the photo three up. Less than 15 minutes to cover the mountains with smoke!

Carlie decided to take a nap  in the play pen.

She was using the entrance ( covered by towel so they did not trip ) as her pillow.

Meanwhile Ciela decided that we needed more holes in the lawn.

Orange sun from the fires colourizes the lake and the aquatic growth that grows in the lake and is tossed aside once the geese have their fill.

It is also leaving a mess along our beach. Due to the low level of the lake we have a wider beach but it is too smoky for us to go paddling. We have seen a few people out on their water skis.

Wrestle time. They are very long dogs.

They love having a little blanket near the fireplace in addition to their various beds, They will not do a “sit” on the floor, only on a towel or a blanket. Such prissy girls. I believe ( not certain ) that this is Carlie.

And this is Ciela having a nap. Her face is more caramel than tan. Can you believe that they turned seven  months old yesterday? I remember when they were so very tiny when we picked them up. The breeder told us to hold them, love them and then enjoy every moment with them as they would not stay small for  long. Happy to say we took her advice but I would  love to go back in time for a few days to cuddle the tiny twins.

We have now done our second BBQ, this time yellow fin ahi tuna steaks ( and a bit of left over salmon ). Perfection along with our garden veggies. This was the only bit of our fresh peas that we got to enjoy before the rest disappeared  from our garden. The green beans were the last from the freezer and last summers beans. Yesterday Colin picked some fresh beans. Yummy.

Even the small bees are being greatly affected.

This was released  August 1st. Kelowna is in the dense smoke and that is what we have been enduring.

The air quality has been hazardous for us. Finally yesterday we caught a break and the smoke was not too thick, we had some hazy views and could see blue sky at times.

This handsome fellow was caught visiting our gardens two days ago.

Tonight while the sun starts to set….

… it has become nap time.

We were driving at 8AM ( only 30 minutes behind schedule ). It was smoky and a cool 48F. We drove less than five minutes and came up on some elk.

What a lovely surprise.

It all happened so fast that it was difficult to get perfect shots.

We just stopped the RV and stayed put as they moved past us. Perfect goodbye to Banff.

The girls settled in and were asleep very quickly.

We drove thru smoke, a bit of drizzle at one point and we experienced high winds just past Golden. We made good time driving the speed limit.

We stopped just past Revelstoke in that huge open area to pee the girls. We stopped for 20 minutes, one did nothing and the other pooped.  Neither were interested in breakfast kibble nor water.

As we carried on, the girls were alert and playful. Here they are doing a tug of war with my sock. They were asleep within ten minutes of driving.  They are going to be great traveling dogs.

Three Valley Gap Chateau. This is an out of control fire burning just across the lake around the bend and today, 13 days later the fire has grown and keeps burning and as of this morning is 500 hectares. It was only 60 hectares when we passed by.

First thing we see as we round the bend. This fire is 18KM west of Revelstoke.

This map ( from July 20 ) shows the Trans Canada Highway on the other side of the lake. So we were very close as we drove past.

It was burning strong 13 days ago.

We could not slow down as there were vehicles behind us.  As I snapped this photo, just below here where firefighters put irrigation over the roofs of two homes. I also noticed that all the trains were at a full stop, not moving anywhere.

Impossible to see because of the smoke. To Colin’s left is the Mara Lake fire near Sicamous. This is where we had to do a small detour.

As we drove ahead to the detour I saw all this smoke, another new fire.

There was no signage as to our detour to the west but once we got to the end we could see lots of indication of the detour heading east.

Top right shows the fire area and the road that has been closed.  We drove to the left and turned left at Canoe at 97B. Very heavy smoke as we passed by our usual connection to 97A. Now there are fires all along the lake on the top left.

Taken yesterday, August 2nd.

Today, late afternoon.  So exciting to see a bit of blue up there and a big less of the smoke. Still hot at 93F and 100F with the humidex. Sadly the anticipated rain showers/ttundershowers have greatly decreased. We are at the mercy of Mother Nature. The airport opened around 3:30PM, it was closed for 48 hours.

The only problem with this site was that it was next to the public bathrooms which gave the girls lots to bark at.

Lots of area to spread out. By putting the ramp within the fence the girls are free to go in and out at will.

My chair that I moved around depending on the sun which kept popping out.

This was taken from our first site. Kinda of looks like that wee thing was being pulled by the 45′ Class A. They actually were sharing a spot built for two RVs.

Another long RV.

This one had its own back balcony. Most of the RV’s are from Alberta & Quebec with a few from B.C.

I took photos as we walked around. This 5th wheel has no windows on this side.

That is a black door, the only one into the RV,  it is plexiglass and you can see right into the RV. A new concept I guess, weather proof?

Still lots of smoke.

Very tiny RV mostly used for cooking. They had several children and two tents. The yellow is a badminton net.

Smoky sunset.

Sadly Carlie came in with dozens of mosquitoes bites. Ciela had not a one. Obviously Carlie is much more sensitive to insect bites. The bites bothered her but I did not have any liquid Benadryl and didn’t think that my out of date non drowsy Claritin was a good idea. Dr Google was of no help. Sunset photos by Colin.

Wednesday had much less smoke and we got to see some magnificent mountains.

The girls discovered an interesting hole on our morning walk.

Made by a large enough critter that they could put their head into the opening. We had to keep them from digging further into the hole.

These lucky children did it all including roller blading and biking. Their parents kept them well entertained. The little girl even had a backpack type of bladder full of water with a hose to “water” the trees and not her brother. Nice family.

My own personal rant for here in the park.  Colin just noticed this less than an hour ago. Time to open a good bottle of wine.