Ironman Canada 2008

Last sunday, Peach-city held the 26th Ironman Canada, with thousands of volunteers. It was an incredible event!
The start was at 7am at Okanagan lake with a 3.5km swim, followed by a 180km bike run to Oliver over two mountain passes and back to Penticton. After the bike track, the athletes went on the marathon running course 42.2km to Okanagan Falls and back to Penticton. Some of the runners got wet a second time, due to heavy rainfalls in the evening. The event lasted until midnight. All the remaining runners where then collected by the "Bäsewage".

Small boxes in a big truck

After a waiting period of 6 months (thank's to the SWISS MOVING SERVICE LTD) our stuff finally made it to Penticton. All it needed was a few stamps from customs at Kelowna Airport the night before and the following morning was delivery time.
The thing now is... we don't really have the space for all the stuff, so there are boxes all over the place. And of course some stuff doesn't work here due to different standards, such as the BBQ gas-hose or the X-Box. It all goes into little projects now and challenges to be solved.

The channel floaters

The whole summer long, thousands of people float down the channel between Okanagan- and Skaha Lake. Floating devices filled with ice and beer and the party starts right there!

Wicked wig party

This was the farewell-party for Bettina from Vernon, who returns to Switzerland and comes back in October. Everyone had to wear a wig and it turned out to be a really funny party, oh-yeah!

Naramata by bike

Following the KVR (Kettle Valley Railway) it took us all the way to Naramata where the lake was awaiting us. The ribbons of steel that made up the Kettle Valley Railway are gone. All that is left are 16 km of track, the odd station house and out buildings, a few relics and the history. The Kettle Valley Railway was the tie that bound the Kootenays to the rest of British Columbia. The Kettle Valley Railway started at Hope and went all the way to Midway, zigzagging throughout the south western sections of B.C. From Hope, the KVR made its way through the Coquihalla River gorge. It continued onward to Princeton, West Summerland, Penticton, along the south side of Okanagan Lake and finally south to Midway, for a total of 525 km.

Ya-hooo from the Calgary Stampede!

What an event - thousands of people gather together for the so called "greatest outdoor show on earth". From July 4th-13th the Calgary Stampede takes place in the middle of downtown Calgary. I was driving there by myself, because Nicole was in Horsefly performing at some festival. And since our stuff, including the tent, is still on it's way to Canada, I had to sleep in the car. I chose to stay on the Calgary West Campground. Its convenient and quiet location next to the Olympic Park was perfect for me. It was an 8-hour drive to Calgary, but it was worth it! You get to drive right trough the Rockies and you even enter into a different time-zone.

The first bear on camera

The last bear we saw, disappeared into the woods before we got our camera ready. But this time it worked. The bear did not seem to be bothered and enjoyed his breakfast at the side of a busy road.