LEFT THE ISLAND

Last Monday was Aileen's eye appointment and she got the okay to head south but first must go back for a follow up appointment on October 15.  Since we have left the Island, we will drive down in the car and stay over a couple nights.  Monday was also Richard's birthday so we got to celebrate with him and his family.  Actually, Robin had the foresight to book Aileen's appointment for that day just for that reason.
We did depart from the Island Thursday morning.  We headed off expecting to be early in the line up for the 9 am sailing but were surprised to drive right on to the 8 am ferry.  That was a real bonus.  The rest of the day was more laid back with being an hour early.  We stopped for the night at Pickard Creek Forest Service Campground where it was very quiet.  However, it was rather cool the next morning so we had to run the coach furnace for a long while.  When we went out for a walk after breakfast, there was a nasty wind making it feel much colder.
We only had a about an hour's drive to Penticton from there so again, a pretty leisurely day.  We were set up in our friend Karen's driveway before lunch.  We've been enjoying visiting with Karen and Bev M.  Last night we joined them and a few other friends for Thanksgiving supper.  It was also our fifty first anniversary, hard to believe it is already a year since our big party!
I've been out twice geocaching and enjoying the local fall colour.  I gathered forty four caches on Saturday and a large number of photos as the sun was shining and everything looked great.  Caching takes a back seat to photography at times like that.  Yesterday, it rained the whole time I was caching so there wasn't much in the way of pictures.  So, in much less time, I gathered forty nine geocaches. 
Our current plan is to be here in Penticton until about October 17th when we hope to begin our drive south.  We plan to drive to Victoria this coming Sunday for Aileen's Monday appointment then back here again on Tuesday.  One day this week, I intend to take a drive up to visit our storage unit in Salmon Arm.  Looking forward to meeting up with our friends Al and Laurie on Wednesday.

Since it was our anniversary, Aileen thought we should have our photo taken.  I set up my 6D on the tripod, mounted the flash and adjusted the head, all with my heavy coat on, then took my coat off and jumped in front of the camera.

 The rest of the photos were taken with my Canon SX60

These two photos were taken in the rain at Butchart Gardens using flash on my Canon SX60

One of Richard's flowers

Under Richard's weeping willow tree using on camera flash

Michell Farms, Saanich near Victoria

Sumac along the Similkimin River at Pickard Creek

Poison-Ivy, Pickard Creek

Blue Elderberry, Pickard Creek

Stuck his tongue out at me

Got an itch

The Mountain Goats were near Summerland above Okanagan Lake

The rest of today's photos were taken where I was geocaching above Peachland, BC 

This is a super telephoto shot of a zipline.  I couldn't make them out with the naked eye, but when I heard the noise it makes roaring down the cable, I would zoom in.

This maple, anchored with spider webs, caught my eye while I was shooting the zipliners

This was on my way up the mountain yesterday just as it started raining lightly.

It was raining quite well here and to keep from getting rain drops on my lens, I parked the car cross ways on the road and shot out the passenger window from the driver's seat.