Hello, hello!
I am back from holidays and I had a great time. Above is the view we had from our place on Okanagan Lake in Winfield BC.
I arrived in Kelowna Saturday morning and my grandparents came and picked me up. On they way back to their place in Vernon, my parents called to say that they arrived and were waiting for me. We had managed to find a place to stay in Winfield, a basement suite of a house on the lake. However, by the time we got there, launched the boat and unpacked, we were way too tired to do anything. Its kind of pathetic but we were all in bed by 9 because nobody had slept the night before.
On Sunday we were total keeners! We were up at 7 and on the water by 9. Unfortunately the weather was not kind to us at all. It was windy and cold and we had trouble getting on the boat because of the waves. But we were on holidays and determined to get out on the water. We toured the shore for a bit and the houses down there, I mean mansions.....wow. I wish I had money! The featured house is just one of many "chateaus" that we saw.
By noon it had warmed up a little although we still had not seen the sun. My dad tied us to a buoy in a small bay and I went swimming. The water was surprisingly warm and eventually everyone went in. We had buoyed in an area surrounded by cliffs of rock. Being the adventurous girl that I am, I swam up to the rocks and attempted to jump off of them...but there were too many rocks under the water for me to actually jump. But the rocks had caves, very cool.
So Sunday was a bit of a bust, we headed home shortly after that and called it a day. It was unfortunate we never got to do any boarding.
Monday was awesome! We were (again) the first people on the lake (9am) and mom and I sunned on the front of the boat while dad putted by the shore and dreamed of a lakehouse of his own. The lake was like glass and it was very hot out. I volunteered to be the first to try our new wakeboard and I have to admit I was a little scared. I needed have been, it was really easy. For those of you who have not wakeboarded but have waterskied....wakeboarding is so much easier. I hate waterskiing but I love wakeboarding. Its amazing how a little board and some speed can make you glide on water. The feeling is so cool. Being the cocky 24 year old I am, I had to try hot doggin on my first go. So I began to carve and then got gusty and crossed the wake...successfully! But then on my way back over the wake I tried to jump and found out that the board did not jump with me! That was when I did my first (yes, first) faceplant of the week. It was very painful and my chest and stomach was so sore and I felt like throwing up. Apparently that is not how you "get air." I was a little bit more cautious after that. The rest of the day went well, bouncing back and forth between wakeboarding, kneeboarding and swimming. Mom did very well on the wakeboard and dad was content to just "drive the boat." (Here is a picture of when I was up, I dont have my eyes closed, I am just checking out the board).
Tuesday was such a bad day that we didnt even get on the water. Instead we went into Kelowna and shopped and went mini-golfing and then out for lunch. It was a really quiet day and we ended it with a swim and a movie.
Wednesday was gorgeous and that was the day my grandparents came out. We actually drove the boat to a marina where we could dock it and get lunch. Grandma and Grandpa met up with us there and then spent the rest of the day boating with us. I showed off my boarding skills (they were improving) and had no major wipeouts. In the evening we got to tour a cherry farm as my grandma's cousin runs it. It was 5 mins down from where we were staying and it was so cool! You wouldnt believe the amount of people it takes to pick and sort cherries! The staff was 90% Mexicans as they cant get the locals to sort cherries for 9 hours a day. They spoke little or no english and translators were present. But the cherries are transported by water so that they dont get bruised or cut and they are sorted by size (largest is best of course). It was very neat to see the process and surprising to find out that they are the biggest market in fruit and that 70% of the cherries are sent overseas to Japan. After the tour we were given a bag of the "exoport (best)" cherries and I have never tasted better cherries. They must package what they pick everyday so only the freshest cherries are sent out. We ended that day with many margaritas garnished with cherries!
Thursday was another beautiful day like Wednesday and we did a lot of boarding and swimming.Here is a picture of dad going out to get the boat in the morning. His boat is very beautiful.
On Friday, our last day of holidays, the weather was shit. It was warm but very windy and so we decided to head into town and visit my Uncle Bill and cousin Brad, who just recently moved to Winfield. They have a very nice brand new house and after getting the tour we headed out for lunch at a place called "Turtle Bay Pub." We got a seat out on the patio by the water and to our surprise there were actually turtles in the water! Of course my dad couldn't resist and continuously fed them fries for the whole meal. The turtles never got any because the ducks and large fish were much faster. I swear Winfield is going to have some ducks with heart disease after that! When we finished lunch, the sun had come out and, even though it was still a little windy, we headed back to our place to enjoy the lake for the last time.
We toured my uncle and cousin up the shores a little to show them the huge homes and then I said I wanted to go boarding. I got up the first time and it was fun and I eventually wiped out. I decided to go again and everything was fine..then I decided to cross the wake. Big mistake. Oh, I had done it all week long with no problems....not this time. With such speed that I had no time to react, I hit the water face first. And I blacked out. Now, for those of you not understanding what water feels like at that speed, let me help you out. It feels like concrete. No other words for it than that. I dont really remember much, not what happen to the board (it was ripped off my feet, that is how hard I hit because I was strapped in good) and the next thing I knew dad was beside me with the boat. When I finally came around, I was scared shitless because I couldnt see anything. I actually put my hands on my face to make sure I still had eyes....oh I know you are laughing but that is how scared I was. I hit the water so hard that the left half of my face was NUMB for almost a quarter of an hour. Its like after you get a cavity filled and they have frozen your lip and you keep poking it and you dont feel nothin...yeah, like that. Oh, but then I tried to breathe...big mistake. I had, apparently, taken in a lot of water in my nose and it tried to go down my throat and I panicked because I was disorientated, hurt and I couldnt breathe. My poor uncle was perched on the swimgrid, posed to dive in for me. Instead, he pulled me out and I just laid on the boat gasping for air and doing my best not to cry in front of my 15 year old cousin. I eventually got air in my lungs and ahold of myself and, standing up, is when I realized how much pain I was in. My right arm was so sore that I could not lift it up. I must have hung onto the rope for a second when I hit the water and as a result I had badly pulled the muscles in my right arm. The face got better, the arm did not. Needless to say I did not do anymore wakeboarding that day. The wipeout must have looked as bad as it felt because there was no way in hell my cousin was going to try wakeboarding after my wipeout. Mom did, she is such a gutsy little thing. Check out her wicked boarding style.
Brad did go kneeboarding (he rocks) and he did go tubing. I huddled on the floor of the boat, wrapped in a towel, craddling my arm. As far as I was concerned, holidays was over for me right then and there. The rest of the day was not so bad. It was practically over anyway. We headed back to shore, loaded the boat on the truck and had some dinner with drinks. We went for one last evening swim after dinner but I swam badly as I couldnt use my right arm. I was like a doodle-bug going around in a circle with my one good arm. It was pathetic.
If I thought the next day would be better...I was very wrong. You never really discover how many muscles your body has until you cant move them. My neck was stiff as a board, my right arm (although I could lift it) hurt like hell and all the muscles in my right thigh had been pulled too. I had to pick up my leg to get my shorts on....pathetic! Oh, did I mention the headache??? Oh yeah, the head-splitting, dizzy, make you want to throw up headache that lasted for 3 days!!! I have never been in so much pain in my life! Without a doubt I had a slight concussion and I hope to never get one again.
My dad felt bad but it really wasnt his fault. I liked to go fast, I find it easier to control and I dont really know what happen..one minute I was crossing the wake and the next-SLAM!
So its Tuesday and you are wondering the long term effects? Yesterday was a great day, no headache (I will not tell the number of pills consumed over the weekend)and the pains were not so bad. Today I hurt and I can feel the strain in my neck, not to mention the back pain....oh god its bad. So I am planning on going to massage therapy this week, boy do I need it.
So you are asking me, "Was it worth it?"
Hell yes!
