Bourne Travellers

Our long weekend started at 2 o'clock on Friday when I picked up Layla from school, and Greg from work and headed out on a 10 hour drive to Magrath, AB to visit Greg's parents. We have only made the drive once and that was nearly 2 years ago, after our very first visit to the Okanagan. At that time we thought it was the gruellest, most dangerous drive ever. This time around we thought it was the most serene, beautiful, and stunning drive. One that we look forward to doing again in July. I guess we have become accustomed to twisty, mountain roads since moving to BC last year.

It was also Baron's first major road trip. He has flown to Edmonton a couple of times but the farthest he had ever driven is Kelowna. He loved it, as did Layla. Layla is a more experienced cruiser than Baron. She loves when we take Greg's SUV rather than my van because she loves to have the window down. Here's Layla enjoying the ride, she didn't know I was taking the picture...she was just enjoying the wind on her face.

When we left Osoyoos it was 25 degrees and there were boats on the lake, people on the beach, and campers arriving in a steady stream. It seemed as if we were the only ones heading out of town which worked great for us. We didn't have to battle any traffic. Only a couple hours out of town and we had already hit snow. Not falling snow but large snow banks on the sides of the roads. It's hard to imagine it is still "winter" in some areas! The melting snow made for many beautiful waterfalls along the way.

We saw a few black bears, 6 mooses, a ton of dear and some mountain sheep on our drive.

The drive home was equally great. Layla's excitement had worn off and she managed to nap a bit. A stark contrast to her constant babbling on the drive there. When we got home we said "Whew, that was a long drive wasn't it Layla" and she said, "Yes! But we had lots of fun on our drive! Can we do it again on Thursday?"

Since Layla was a baby we have "cruised" as a past time. This is how we have discovered so many of our hikes and lakes around the Okanagan so I guess it's just normal to her. We promised her when we make the trip in July we will stop at some of the beautiful mountain towns and go to a park, jump in a lake, have a picnic, whatever. I'm so glad our kids love the outdoors as much as we do.