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Roland's Visit

This blog post is a bit more personal and is a bit of a tourism brochure for Merritt! My brother-in-law from Switzerland who visited us last year came back this month for 3 weeks. He loves Canada. :) We had a great time again showing him our neck of the woods- the weather was brilliant for most of his stay which made it even better. Hiking is what he most loves and he obviously does plenty of it...the trek up Windy Canyon didn't leave him huffing or puffing at all (guess who needs to get in shape!) He and Othmar had much to discuss sitting amidst the sage, bunch grass and pines. :) We also took in the High School rodeo...I was impressed with the number of girls who were in all the events...was glad that Roland could see that it is very much a part of the ranching/farming life style in B.C. that isn't just a man's game. Of course we took him to the viewpoint which looks out over the entire city and points out local features. The shooting range was another place on our itinerary and he practiced bow and slingshot with Othmar. Out in Kamloops we visited Someday Retrievers where Linda trains dogs for hunting and obedience...very cool to see how she works. Farmers Market down town was in full swing where we had land-jaegers and eccles for snacks and also checked out Paul Lake- great park and boat access- and hiked that a bit. A few hours later, by some bizarre coincidence we met the eccles vendor at Pinanton Lake many kilometers away. We also saw how you could fit 4 people and 3 dogs in a boat smaller than ours! Caught our first race at the Speedway: Being boy scouts at heart I watched them test out a lump of local coal to assess it's burn-ability- the answer is yes. And of course we went fishing (on Nicola Lake) where the fish simply mocked us! And finally, the local wildlife at Kentucky Alleyne Lake was a bit more accommodating.