A Walk in the Park

As the kiddies ready themselves for school and the long weekend signifies the end of play time, a few of us headed out for a last blast at some fun. Four of us piled into Kev's four wheel sleigh, the Outback, and made our way to Kelowna, my home town.
Saturday was an amazing day of road riding as we meandered through orchards, back roads, and golf courses. This time of year Kelowna is a dream. It's cool in the mornings, the smell of fall burning is in the air, fresh Macs are dangling off the trees tempting you to pluck one and run, and the occasional thunder storm rips through. At about 50k, that's exactly what was about to happen. We saw the storm clouds brewing and headed for home...dry clothes, tuna sandwiches, tea, and Kev's mom's cookies. A perfect end to a ride and a totally reasonable rationale for shortening the ride.

Sunday morning looked perfect. It was to be run day and what better place to go than Okanagan Mountain Park on the eastern shore of Okanagan Lake. It's just down the road. Although the morning was sunny, it was clear that a storm was mixing. On our way out we met up with a big black bear who was fixin' to relieve a local farmer of some fresh fruit. That wasn't too far from the trail head so we were left a bit unnerved. I think Linda said it best when she said, "okay, so nobody gets dropped today, okay?"
The trail up the grassy, yellow hillside was beautiful as dark clouds mounted on the west side of the lake. Our decent into Wild Horse Canyon was not steep, but sure long. We noticed the length on the way back as our little legs sucked up what little they could of the dry, Okanagan air. We did end up running through a short thunder storm, but nothing we couldn't handle. A brief stop under a log to keep dry was quickly remedied by the realization that we were getting wet anyway, and a "what the hell?, it's summer in the Okanagan". Duncan coaxed us out into the grass and we continued on through the burned out landscape of the 2003 fire.I wore the S Labs again, easily my favorite shoes these days, and they really performed well. Even in the soaking wet grasslands of Okanagan Mountain Park, the contagrip sole stuck like glue. I'm McLovin'em. I think the picture below really says it all...S Labs are a stand out shoe...and there's a hint of XA Pro 3D back there too.I tried to spare you the entire written story of the weekends run and created a little video. Hope you enjoy the video and that you're all out there playing hard, even though summer is officially over.


And a reminder, if you're interested in great Salomon gear for excellent prices, make sure you find time to get down to the showroom this weekend. Check out my previous blog for details.