#238 Nomad Diary. 10-16 May 2025. Move Valemount to Vernon, British Columbia. Vernon Airbnb for 8 nights. Nomad Notes: How Do You Decide Where to Go Next? Lots of Pictures.
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| At Incredible Helmcken Falls in Wells Grey Provencial Park, BC |
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| Drive in Wells Grey Provencial Park |
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| Google Recommendation in Clearwater, BC |
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| Darrell's Meal in Clearwater, BC |
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| Info Board at Wells Grey |
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| At Wells Grey Park, BC |
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| Near the Fall at Wells Grey, BC |
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| Valley View at Wells Grey Park, BC |
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| View Beside the Highway on Our Drive to Vernon, BC |
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| Farmland Views on Our Drive to Vernon, BC |
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| View from Our Vernon Airbnb. Our Hosts Garden and Mountains Surrounding the Area. |
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| Inside Our Vernon Airbnb. Walk-out Basement 1 Bedroom Apartment with Laundry. |
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| Darrell Cooking Tacos for Dinner in Vernon. Saturday. 10. We packed up and left our Valemount airbnb today. It was a nice place with so much more to explore in the surrounding mountains and hiking paths. About 10:30 we were at the Hungry Hiker Cafe before driving 30 minutes one way to see the recommended Helmcken waterfall in Wells Grey Provincial Park. We had a second breakfast as it was too early to order lunch. Then we drove to the waterfall. We drove past signs to other waterfalls along the way and stopped to see those on our return trip. We arrived at the falls and walked a short distance from the car park to the overlook. Wow! It is spectacular! So worth the 30-45 minutes one way to see. We drove back south through the park stopping to view another waterfall and on toward our Vernon destination. Darrell has been driving the whole day, but he’s okay with it and I am too. We got to Vernon and went to a grocery near our airbnb. We arrived, moved into our place and made tacos for dinner. |
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| White Lilacs in Our Vernon Airbnb. These are in Bloom All Around Town and in All Colors. The Scent is Heady! |
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| We Met Betty and Ray at Vernon Church of Christ. He's a Cousin to Our Manitoba Friends LaDean and Luc. |
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| Murray, the Preacher, Has Been Here 20 Years. His Lessons are Very Good! |
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| Call with Son Jeremy and Quinn in Brasilia |
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| View of Vernon, BC From Our Airbnb Sunday. 11. Went to worship at Vernon church of Christ. It’s 10 minutes from our airbnb. We enjoyed our 10-noon time with the group there. I meet and write down people’s names and try to learn something about them as my way to connect and enjoy people. Several of the people are long time residents of Vernon. Some have transplanted from other provinces in Canada (Alberta and Saskatchewan). Some are related to people we met in Manitoba 2 years ago. This was a fun discovery. The preacher, Murray, had really good Bible lessons and a sermon. In the afternoon we had a phone call from our kids in Brazil! Quinn, our 4 year old grandson, is adorable (of course!), and it’s so sweet to see him on a video call and to sing to him! I have a song that I sing to my grandkids. It’s “Skimminy Rinky Dinky Dink”. I googled this song. Lol. I have learned that there are a lot of variations on this song. I learned it watching a kids show in with my children called: “The Elephant Show”. Here’s what the internet told me about this song: “Actually, Skidamarink does not mean anything. It's just a silly, made-up word. The song is originally from an early 20th century Broadway musical, and over the years has been sung as Skinnamarink, Skinnymarink, Skiddymerink, and more. It's a great song for Parent/Child classes.” “The song's meaning is spelled out in its signature lyrics, skiddy-mer-rink-a-dink-a-boomp / Skiddy-mer-rink-a-doo / Means I love you. Its origins date back to 1910 when it was written by Broadway lyricist Felix F. Feist and composer Al Piantadosi for the musical The Echo.Jan 19, 2024” The Wiki article on this song is quite interesting with the original lyrics. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skidamarink Here are the lyrics that I sing which I learned years ago from the Elephant Show. I have made the song mine and varied it to what I remembered! Lol! I did enjoy learning more about this song. I will keep singing it now that I know the history! My lyrics: “Skiminy Rinky Dinky dink; Skiminy Rinky Do. I love you. X2 I love you in the morning and in the afternoon. I love you in the evening Underneath the moon. Skiminy Rinky dinky dink; Skiminy Rinky Do. I love you. I love your Momma. I love you. I love your Daddy. I love you too. Boo Boopie Doo!” Blow a Kiss. |
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| Fresh Farmer's Market Veggies! |
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| Darrell's 'Diet' Sandwich. Really. Sourdough Rye from the Farmer's Market! |
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| Grandkids in Alabama. Esther and Owen Like to Play When We Call. Lol. |
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| Field of Flowers on The Mountain Above Our Airbnb. |
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| Going Up the Mountain |
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| View From the Woods Above Vernon |
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| More Flowers!! Overlooking Vernon, BC |
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| Flowers Over Vernon, BC |
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| House in Our Neighborhood with a Mural! Monday. 12. It was cold and raining this morning, but I got my wish to go to the local farmer’s market. We bought radishes, cucumbers, tomatoes, strawberries, sourdough rye bread, wild caught trout and tuna. We went to Wal-mart to get some batteries and a couple more items. I got a haircut today. Much needed and enjoyed! I got a text from my friend Sarah from North Carolina. I sent her a text back and invited her and Bob to meet us in Vancouver for our our Alaska cruise in June! Tuesday. 13. Talked to Alabama grands this morning. Owen 3 and Esther 1 ½ with their Dad Eric, our oldest. At 11 am we attended Zoom online Bible class with the congregation in Kent that started it and that we have stayed in touch with. After a substantial lunch we went for a 1 ½ hour walk up the mountain behind us. It was full of yellow flowers and wide views of several lakes in the valleys. |
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| Today's Walk to a Waterfall Near Vernon, BC |
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| Darrell at the Waterfall. Very Loud and Powerful! |
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| Wild Caught Salmon from the Farmer's Market. |
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| Veggies to go with Salmon Wednesday. 14. I learned today that Sarah and Bob are coming to Vancouver and going on the same Alaska cruise as us! We are looking forward to our cruise reunion with the couple who went on our first cruise with us! Today we attended a 1pm Bible class at the church of Christ in town. Thursday. 15. We walked the Rail Trail next to a lake in Vernon, BC. We grocery shopped at Safeway market after going to the farmer’s market and getting a few things there. At 7pm we went to the church’s Bible study at the home of the preacher’s family. Some people attended online. We were guests this week. There was another couple from Alaska who are traveling through in their RV. They have made friends with the church here, especially the preacher’s family and they are also here. We enjoyed the last 2 chapters of Mark as the class focus. After class we stayed until past 11pm. We enjoyed the visits and getting to know each other more. Naomi, Murray’s wife, told me about Murray surviving a ‘widow maker’ heart attack 1 ½ years ago. The story was amazing as to the timing and the details coming together that saved his life. They had a list of 16 incidents during that day that were unusual and significant to his survival. All worthy of praise to God. I’m grateful that we have met Murray and Naomi and learned from his excellent teaching. One woman who was there I set up a time to visit with her on Friday afternoon at her house in town. I connected with a few of the women through facebook and enjoyed encouraging conversations, faith and life challenges. I also asked about the Sunday barbeque lunch for the church and the expectations. We plan to leave after lunch and drive to our Penticton housesit. On Sunday bring our meat for the bbq and a salad or side dish to share. |
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| Local Vernon Small Farms. Farmstands are Frequent at Driveways. |
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| Nice Vernon Small Farm. |
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| Rail to Trail Next to Kalamalka Lake |
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| Another Kind of Yellow Flower |
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| Our Shadows and Our Brief Lifetimes |
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| Kalamalka Lake, Vernon, BC |
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| Can You See the Spider About the Size of a Large Ant. |
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| Houses Overlooking Kalamalka Lake and Trail |
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| Houses on Kalamalka Lake |
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| Farmer's Market Buy. Our First Time to Have Haskap Berry Jam! Also Known as Blue Honeysuckle with a Flavor Mix of Raspberry and Wild Blueberry. Yum. |
Friday. 16. Today Darrell and I woke up just before 6am. We got up and did our tougher ‘Diamond Lite’ routine. Darrell made a batch of his apple oat-barley pancakes. We had a lovely breakfast with dark coffee, real maple syrup and a new-to-us Haskap Berry syrup that we bought at the farmer’s market. It’s thick, dark and low sugar. We both enjoyed it a lot! We’ve made a plan to buy several jars for Christmas gifts if possible. Darrell called his mom and we all visited for about an hour. Darrell went to town to get a battery for our food scale and some lettuce and red onion for a salad for Sunday’s potluck bbq. I went to Lisa’s house in town for an afternoon ‘session’ and demonstration of EPT, my former profession. She was interested to be together and we enjoyed each other's company and the session. We learned that we are the same age of 60. We are both the youngest sibling in our families. She lives in the same neighborhood she grew up in! I have never had that experience being a nomad and moving around all of my life. My longest neighborhood experiences have been the most recent two: Madison, Alabama for 12 years(or so) and just before that in Burlington, NC for 7 years. Darrell cooked dinner with our farmer’s market sourdough noodles, asparagus, garden herbs, rotisserie chicken, and an internet recipe using cottage cheese for an alfredo sauce. It turned out very delicious. We watched some tv before bed. The sun is up until late at night and from early morning. We have to look at the clock to know how many hours have passed.
Nomad Notes. Sarah and I met in 2001 when our family moved to Burlington, NC. Sarah and I crossed paths because we were both massage therapists who rented space at the same location. We became friends and enjoyed the 7 years that I lived there. Together we shared many hikes, walks, trips and massage trades. Our family moved to Alabama, relocating after Darrell was ‘downsized’ from Labcorp. Sarah had married Bob and was settled into her life while continuing as a therapist. After Darrell and I moved to Alabama, Sarah and I planned to meet up on a Caribbean Cruise where we would take continuing education hours for massage. Sarah’s husband Bob owned, with others, a marina in North Carolina and loved cruising. He wanted to go and this meant Darrell could also opt to go. Darrell said to me that he thought I would never want to go on a cruise. I said that I changed my mind and now I wanted to go. This was our first cruise. It was on MSC, and lasted 7 days. We enjoyed the cruise! Having Bob and Sarah to explain cruising and to have dinner with and to explore ports with was very enjoyable. It was several years until we took our 2nd cruise (on Princess; 2 weeks to Hawaii; round trip from L.A. with my Dad and his wife) for our 30th wedding anniversary in 2013. Since 2013 we have continued to cruise. We mostly choose to go on Princess ships. We have also been on Carnival, Norwegian and Holland America.
Sarah from Alaska asked me some questions about our nomad life. She was good at asking questions as conversation starters. Often I answer short or quickly and feel insufficient to the topic. I’ll deflect answering longer, and then I think more of the complexity later. Here’s a common question that she asked me:
How do you decide where to go? Before retirement we each had a dream location and trip we wanted to take and spend months enjoying without the responsibility and ties to property in the US. In 2022, we were both retired and set off on our England adventure, my dream location. In the fall of 2023, we set off for months away to New Zealand, Darrell’s dream location. We were blessed to accomplish both of these long journeys with months away from the US. Our calendar since has been up to our discussions, our opportunities, and what we expect we will enjoy together.
We fill in the time with family. We roughly decide who we will visit and for how long. What days, weeks and months we will visit. This can change depending on how details come together. We put priority on visiting our grandkids: Quinn (age 4 in Brasilia, Brazil for 2 years; Owen and Esther (ages 3 and 1 ½ in north Alabama), Darrell’s Mom (age 91, lives with daughter near Denton, Texas;Dad just passed in April 2025), our kids (4 in north Alabama and 2 in Brazil through 3/2026), our siblings (2 in Tennessee, 6 in Indiana, 2 in Nebraska, 2 in Utah), our friends (worldwide people we meet on cruises and at local churches that we map and attend in various countries).
We ask ourselves what we want to see in a location? What is there that we have heard about in locations? Can we work some of these sights into our trip? We consider how long our travel days will be. How long will we be driving in one day and for how many days? We learned that driving around New Zealand was enjoyable, but 1 night stays were less preferable to 2 and 3 night stays. We try to minimize airport time and flight days.
Darrell begins to look for housesits that could be available in our time frame. He keeps our profile up to date on trustedhousesitters.com. When we went to New Zealand, he had to join a different group to get that country's housesits.
I began looking at airbnb’s that appeal to me. I like views of water or mountains or both. We like to hike. I like airy and sunlit spaces. We prefer a level entry, parking, a full kitchen, laundry, separate bedroom and a tub/shower. We don’t get all of these, but I try. While on our current trip, it took us several discussion times to agree on what we both could enjoy. Do we spend time driving or living in an area and getting some local flavors and friendships?
Our choices of house sits will fill in our calendar and then we have days, weeks, or months between to fill in and create our own trip. The different available properties and costs for what we get can make us want one above another. We also fill in for cruises when they feel good for us. We decided to do an Alaskan cruise in mid-June because we have done these in the past and have enjoyed them. The dates lined up well in our calendar and the price was drop and go.
Darrell slightly disagrees with my order. He says that we pick a general area of the world that we want to explore and then how we can do that while visiting family. This year we decided to go to Banff. Now how does it fit in with last year’s visits and the current year’s visit. It’s not always a step one, two, three. We have an area selected and then look at family visits. Then we trade out ‘items’ within the calendar to arrive at our ‘final’ itinerary. This Canada trip has given us a shorter timeline to book out. We also try to remain flexible because life has a way of dictating our days. Darrell had to work in eye treatments every 5 weeks and we flew from Calgary back to the US for his Dad’s funeral in Illinois.
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