Trip to Penticton

We just got home last night which is why I haven't posted for a few days. We left on Friday, after Susan got off work, wanting to catch the three o'clock ferry. It was busier than we expected and ended up catching the five. When we got to the booth we found out that they don't debit and we had to park at the side while I ran down to the bank machine to get some cash.

By the time we left Starbucks in Tsawwassen, it was seven-thirty; quite a bit later than we intended to be on our way. We stopped again in Chilliwack to grab some McDonalds and didn't stop again until Princeton.

As we were approaching Hope, we noticed some very dark clouds ahead of us, but it was clear directly overhead. Once we got onto the number three highway, we started to see flashes of lightning ahead of us and the roads were wet. There were also patches of the highway where the road was covered with clouds of steam. It was very cool but I had to slow right down through a few sections of road. The weather stayed like that for the entire trip -- clear but we were following the storm.

It was so relaxing, driving at night because there was barely any traffic. Such a smooth drive. I really had to get out and stretch when we got to Princeton though. When we finally got into Penticton at about twelve-thirty, we were all very happy to hit the bed.

The first night in Penticton, it rained so hard in the middle of the night that it woke me up. There was thunder and lightning and the rain was coming down in buckets. It was just sprinkling in the morning though, so it didn't rain on our picnic.

We went down to the beach at Okanagan Falls where everyone had already arrived. Gramma was sitting with her back to us and I walked up and asked if we could join them. Gramma was so surprised and we had a great visit with everyone who showed up.

It got a bit windy in the afternoon so we decided to wrap it up and head back to Gramma's house. By the time we got back to the motel to change, it was pouring rain. We were so lucky we left when we did. When we went to the car, after we'd changed, it had started to hail like no hail I'd seen before.

Half way to Gramma's, the hail became the size of marbles! Incredible. It was kind of scary but cool at the same time. During the visit it continued to rain and hail on and off.

We all left at about nine-thirty and went back to the motel for our last night in Penticton. We slept and got up at nine and headed out on the road at just after ten.

We took our time driving, stopping at a few places to be tourists; it was fun! We shopped in some fruit stands and bought a bunch as we slowly made our way home. Just about ten hours later, we walked though the door to our home. It was a very good trip and I'm glad we made it, but it was good to be home again.