The Interior

Aside from some great home cooked food, Mölkky, fun hikes, and a few face-to-face encounters with bears, we were drawn and stuck (in a good way) to the Interior of BC for the last 2 weeks of August for two main events:

1. My brother and Miya's wedding, and 2. The South Okanagan wine-cycle tour with Team Cock and Bulls.

Let me just start by saying that no woman in the world at any point in their life wants a younger and more beautiful sister. I already have one, for god-sakes. But I got another one on August 14th, and when she was pronounced to us as Miya McGrew, I couldn't have been happier.

 In fact, and for good reason, I don't think any of us could have been. She is beautiful both inside and out - and aside from the obvious of making my brother ridiculously happy - she also is remarkably talented and creative, and has a great laugh.

The wedding was more beautiful than any one you could imagine. The reception, however, actually managed to Trump it. Imagine a stunning valley, an organic apple and peach orchard, tea lights everywhere, and a small little canopy in the middle of it all. This was where we toasted to the new couple, and all danced the night away.  You can just make it out at the very bottom, left hand side of this pic below.

 

After the wedding, Bastian and I drove with my mum and dad to paradise. (see Heart rock Cabino post, July 2008). Paradise has changed a bit since I was there over 2 years ago. Read: a new 2500 square foot home on the bank. But it is still everything it is to me. Sleep ins, swims across the lake, campfires, boat trips, hikes, going going gones, runs, big dinners, poker, cards on the dock. It's all the same. In large part, this is due to my mum and dad. They make the place. In particular, when they do things like lose at the Finnish game we brought and then have to eat a Finnish candy we brought - which is not very tasty, as you can see from their reaction. (this is where Bastian looks at Phil and says, 'hey, just don't lose.")

 

Aside from some treats I brought from Bali and China, Sebastian brough the-game-of-the-summer (mölkky)  and some "real' beer, which he shared with my dad.

Needless to say, Bastian fit right in. He got the nickname 'kokanee whisperer' and inherited a dolphins jacket. He's practically one of the family.

We went for three hikes with Bastian - to show him bears and in the process, learned the Finnish term, Paska Housu.

We saw a bear and it's cub only a 40 or so meters from us at silver star. Here we are, celebrating!

Then went to Revelstoke National Park to try to find a real bear - a Grizzly! Instead we found some giant slugs, an ice box, a snow forest, a no forest, and a rain forest.

The last highlight, as was mentioned briefly at the beginning, was our bike trip. We rode 272km in 4 days, and in the process drank ourselves silly with free wine.  So silly, in fact, that by the end all we wanted in life was beer.