Friday and Saturday, August 29 and 30, 2014 (Peter Hope Lake Recreation Site, Quilchena, BC)

Friday was a cold, cloudy rainy day...not looking very good for those campers coming out for the last long weekend of the summer!

Shortly after 10:00 Deb and I made a run to Quilchena, dumping the garbage at a rest area along the way. We filled the water containers with fresh water, Deb picked up some eggs in the store and then we headed back. We were only gone about an hour.

Steve was out fishing when we got back but it wasn't long before it started raining and he was back. He caught a 12" trout even though he was out for a short time...

We spent the rest of the day inside reading,

We woke to a much nicer day Saturday...but windy. We have actually had a number of windy days this past week...not so nice for fishing.

Shortly after noon we headed out on the quads for a ride...today we thought that we would take a ride to Plateau Lake.  We rode back down Peter Hope Road about 2 kms and turned right (northeast) onto Plateau Lake Road.

There are lots of free-range cattle in this area. This little fellow was quite curious as we drove by...

We went the full length of Plateau Lake Road until we came to a 'T' in the road. We never did find the turnoff to Plateau Lake (nor on the way back) but at the 'T', we took Dardanelles Lake Road and managed to find it! A very rustic recreation site with a very lumpy road in!

There was a group of campers there, though. We stopped, took a few pictures and chatted with an older fellow and his wife staying there. These kids are likely their grandkids....


After our short visit at Dardanelles Lake, we backtracked our route there...and still didn't find the turnoff to Plateau Lake. At the intersection with Peter Hope Lake, Steve easily found a geocache hidden by the fence...

On the way back to the lake, we took the road that goes around to the cabins on the other end of the lake...



The end of the line...a gated community....


We were back just before 2:30...about 55 kms, a beautiful lake and one geocache later! After putting our stuff away, Steve read while I put together a chili-cheese dip and then we headed over to Deb and Ray's for happy hour. Their daughter, Kristi (from Saskatchewan) was back for another quick visit...this time with her brother, Garrett, from Vancouver (and Freya's half sister, Kira)....

We were also invited for dinner...Deb basting the ribs on the barbecue....

Because it was so windy outside, dinner was inside their coach. Here are Freya and Kira being good girls sitting on the couch...

Just finished another delicious dinner....ahhh!~

...time for a little R'nR before the evening fish...(Deb, Freya, Kristi and Kira)....

Freya is tired right out after a day of playing with Kira!

Just before 7:00, Steve took Kristi out fishing in the boat and Garrett went out in Ray's v-tube.  Ray, Deb and I sat around the campfire reading and chatting until we were joined by the fishers. Garrett lost one and Kristi caught one about 8 inches. Steve snagged some old fishing gear on the bottom. We enjoyed the heat of the campfire for awhile longer and then called it a night shortly after 9:00....another great day at Peter Hope Lake!





Thursday, August 28, 2014 (Peter Hope Lake Recreation Site, Quilchena, BC)

After his coffee this morning, Steve headed out in the boat fishing. 
It was a cool morning with possible thunderstorms forecast for today. Judging by the looks of those clouds, I'd say they are right on....and they were, it wasn't long before we started hearing the rumble of thunder. 

And that's what the day was like weather-wise...on again, off again thunder along with some rain, and sun.

I spent the morning doing a little baking and trying to get pictures uploaded to the blog using a very intermittent internet signal. After I took the walnut raisin loaf out of the oven, I took the laptop and MiFi over to Ray and Deb's place to use their internet signal booster. While the pictures were uploading, I chatted with Deb and after accomplishing the upload, I went back to our rig. Steve had come back in from fishing...his growling stomach and the rumble of thunder had brought him in.

After lunch, we thought we would go out for a walk before it started raining...there were some pretty nasty looking clouds out there!

We read and puttered around inside for most of the afternoon. We didn't think we'd be able to have our happy hour outside because of the rain, but just before 4:00 it stopped and Steve went out to get a campfire going. Deb and Ray came over and we enjoyed cocktails and dinner with them.
After dinner, we returned to the campfire for dessert and then it was time for Ray and Steve to head out for their evening fish.

Deb and I sat in front of the campfire with a mug of hot chocolate with Amaretto (thanks, Deb!). I was looking through some cookbooks that she had brought over. She's trying to get me a little more enthused about cooking....haha....good luck with that, Deb! LOL!

Deb headed home around 8:00 just after Ray had come in. Apparently he caught a 17 inch trout and lost another nice fish. I sat out until Steve came in about a half hour later. He, too, caught fish...one 12 inch and two 10 inch...very nice!


Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, August 25, 26 and 27, 2014 (Peter Hope Lake Recreation Site, Quilchena, BC)

I decided to combine these three days since we really didn't do much Monday other than relax here at Peter Hope Lake...and enjoying the good company of Ray and Deb....like all of the other days! :-)

One thing Deb and I did do though was take a quick drive to the rest area at Stump Lake where we could dispose of a few bags of garbage. There are no garbage cans here, so Deb knows where the closest cans are...it's not so bad for us because we can just put the bags into the back of the truck until we can dispose of them but they don't have anyplace to store them....and they certainly don't want to leave them in the motorcoach or the car!

On the way back, Deb got a picture of the smoke from yesterday's forest fire...

Tuesday morning Ray and Steve headed off bright and early at 7:30 to Blue Lake...they were going to fish this trophy fly fishing lake.

This curious Whiskey Jack came by to welcomed us...




Ray had read that the fish here are built like torpedoes...this one was on the shoreline barely breathing...

Trying to get your  fly line out past the guides is real tricky in a float tube...

Fish on! That was in the first 5 minutes...

Dang! Forgot my net. This was a 20" fatty. I lost another nice one shortly after...
Ray in the distance...

This Dragon Fly hovered in front of me for over half an hour and would chase away any others that approached me. I named him Chopper. This picture is blown up quite a bit...they have quite the face on them...



Thanks for a great mornings fish Ray and sharing some of your pictures! The rest of the afternoon was spent lazing...and then it was time for happy hour...and more lazing!

Deb invited us for a taco dinner....delicious, as usual!


Wednesday morning Deb and I headed into Kamloops shortly after 9:00...for another day of shopping! I must say I have really enjoyed our "gal time" and our shopping expeditions! It was another day of many stops...topped off by lunch out! It was going on 3:30 by the time we got home.

While we were gone, I think Steve and Ray had a pretty relaxing day. It was just too windy for Steve to go out in the boat fishing...that's two straight days of strong winds.

After all of the groceries were put away, we went over to Ray and Deb's for happy hour. We visited with them for a couple of hours and then headed back home...time to go inside and get out of the wind! The rest of the evening was spent inside watching TV/reading....ahhhh...





Sunday, August 24, 2014 (Peter Hope Lake Recreation Site, Quilchena, BC)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, STEVE! 
Yes, today is my wonderful husband's birthday! I won't say how old but he is one year away from a significant milestone :-)

He spent most of the day out on the lake fishing....coming in briefly when nature called or his stomach growled. It was finally a good fishing day for him, he caught a couple of 14" trout, lost a couple and had lots of hits (what a nice birthday present!)

I spent the day cooking and cleaning. Ray and Deb were joining us for a birthday dinner celebration. It was going on 4:00 when they came over for happy hour...

...and presented Steve with a cute birthday card complete with a new fly for fishing...

Just before happy hour started, we noticed numerous planes flying overhead. Well, it turned out that there was a forest fire burning just over the ridge on the other side of the lake. We were told by the camp host to be prepared to evacuate if the order came down from the forest service...yikes! At one point, the smoke got quite thick and you could really smell it!








The water bombers hit the fire hard then let a helicopter and ground crews take over before dark. It was around 5:30 when a big tanker truck came into the boat launch area to fill up...and we found out from the camp host that the fire was under control and was just in the mopping up stages....whew! Good news!

We had lasagna, Caesar salad and garlic toast for dinner (thanks for the picture, Deb)....

...and then went back outside for dessert around the campfire...

I made brownies as Steve's birthday cake but didn't have any candles...so a tealight had to do as we sang Happy Birthday to him...

Yukon Jack less the toe (the famous Sour Toe Cocktail he had in Dawson City) brownies and ice cream!

Ahh...the end to another great day at Peter Hope Lake!