summer holidays

Another vacation done and a ton of photos to sort. We headed north, via the old Gold Rush Trail (sort of), to the sparsely-populated South Cariboo region of British Columbia this year, and stayed in an old cabin on Timothy Lake near the thriving metropolis of Lac la Hache (population 400). It's at an elevation of 925 metres (3000 ft) so even though the days are still hot, the nights got pretty darned cold! It's ranching and lake country: rolling brown hills covered in cattle ranches, forests of Lodgepole Pine and Aspen and dotted with fish-filled lakes.

What was particularly interesting environmentally was seeing the devastation wrought by the Mountain Pine Beetle in this region. When the beetle sweeps through an area it hits only the most vulnerable trees so the resulting burnt sienna amongst the green is actually rather scenic, if sad.

So what did we do? Paris Hilton would be bored silly but we managed to entertain ourselves. We went canoeing:

The boys enjoyed the cutting-edge, highly-skilled sport of 'tubing':


And we even did the more traditional vacation activities of swimming, hiking, and hotly-contested games of Monopoly and Scrabble:










We headed out to do tourist activities (and not just because we had the togs) at places like The 108 Mile and Nicola Ranches:



And there were endlessly beautiful vistas and wildlife. I was definitely a happy camp photographer even if my pathetic attempts at watercolour landscapes ended up in the circular file. Guess I needed a few silent sunrises and cheap thrillers to recharge my batteries.

PS Now that September is almost here, don't say the 's' word!