Gwendy’s Button Box is a novella written by Stephen King and Richard Chizmar. It is a coming-of-age story about a young girl who meets a stranger who gives her a strange box (beware of strangers bearing strange gifts). Most of the story follows Gwendy’s teenage years in Castle Rock and her interactions with the effects of the Button Box. The … Continue reading →
Over the span of 50 years we have hiked almost every trail in Yoho National Park, and some trails quite a few times, in both summer and in winter. Yoho is our favorite National Park in Canada, A new video is now available on YouTube, featuring the Yoho Valley. Click the YouTube link on the menu bar for more KamloopsTrails … Continue reading →
Michael Connelly started the Harry Bosch series in 1992 and the Bosch character has now appeared in 23 books. The latest book (2022) features Bosch and Renee Ballard (5 books) working cold cases in Los Angeles. All of the books are police/detective procedural stories. In this book, there are two cases on the desk, one which follows forensic clues to … Continue reading →
There are a number of old homesteads in the hills that we can visit from time to time. No location information is provided, for good reasons. On a snowy day I stomped in to visit one of the many in the hills around the Kamloops area, but a short video shows more of the heritage site: There are a number … Continue reading →
We drive, hike, and bike on the the Goose Lake Road, passing the lake along the way. We have hiked the hills above too(with permission from the owner at that time) and we are still hoping to paddle it. Each time we go past the lake, it is a quiet, secluded spot. In spring waterfowl occupy the lake, and there … Continue reading →
Blood Song is the first book in an impressive trilogy Ravens Shadow. It is the story of a young man, Vaelin al Sorna, who is left at age 10 to be part of the Sixth Order of the Brotherhood, as a warrior for the Faith. The first half of the book is a coming-of-age story following the 7 years he … Continue reading →
We started at the junction of Lac le Jeune and Goose Lake Roads and hiked down to the Hull Hill Road, then followed single tracks across the forested hills. When we snowshoe areas like this we see trees, snow, and if we are lucky, the winter’s sun. Old douglas firs are found on undisturbed hillsides and next to gullies. And … Continue reading →
On a summer day we drove to Lytton and then crossed the Thompson River to get to the Botanie Valley. We drove part way up the rough Botanie Mountain Forest Service Road, then parked and hiked to the top and back. A video has been compiled to feature our hike of the mountain: There is more to the … Continue reading →
We explored the San Rafael Reef Wilderness in Utah and hiked and scrambled some slot canyons from Wildhorse Road, just outside Goblin Valley. Our favorite hike of the whole year was Little Wildhorse Canyon, but we also enjoyed Ding and Dang Canyons, just a bit farther west. Ding and Dang required some scrambling and some of the downclimbing in Dang … Continue reading →
The Music Shop is a wonderful book. It is a story about ordinary people who strive for dignity and their guru is Frank who provides musical therapy in the form of albums selected to match each person’s needs. Joyce introduces us to a series of characters who are touched by Frank’s caring and his vinyl music shop becomes a hidden … Continue reading →
Pines by Blake Crouch is the first book in the Wayward Pines trilogy which was also made into a 10 part miniseries for TV. This book uses a limited point of view to bring the reader to a big twist/revelation at the end. It starts as a crime novel as the protagonist Ethan Burke, a Secret Service Agent, travels to … Continue reading →
We traveled to hike Death Valley in the winter months. From the Furnace Ceek area we hiked up Funeral Canyon. This is a lesser-known hike, but one we enjoyed a lot: Thanks to Jackie for leading the way. We hope to get back to Death Valley for some more hiking. More Information – Funeral Canyon Hike
Continue reading →We camped at Horsefly Lake Provincial Park, we padded the lake over 3 days, we hiked to a lookout over the lake, and we hiked another trail to the top of Viewland Mountain. A video on YouTube features some of the sights to be found at Horsefly Lake:
Continue reading →We hiked Sidewinder Canyon in Death Valley in winter. We enjoyed the hike in the main canyon, but there were 4 additional slot canyons to explore too. This was our favorite hike of this trip. We worked our way through some dark slot canyons and took many photos. These are compiled into a new YouTube video: More information – Sidewinder … Continue reading →
We snowshoed the 5.7 km loops twice on the (North) Bush Lake Trails on fine winter days. We know many routes in the area, but most of the trails were well-stomped-in by snowshoers, so we followed those. We could see other routes that hadn’t yet been broken in, so we will be adding some new tracks over the next month. … Continue reading →
The Long Call is a mystery/crime novel by Ann Cleeves, the author of the Vera and the Shetland series. Ann Cleeves is a master storyteller, writing procedural detective books with well-developed characters and complex lives. For much of the book, the pace is slow and the small team of detectives in rural Devon follow possible leads, without much success. As … Continue reading →
