Here is the newly slimmed down happy couple at the beautiful
Sparkling Hills spa and resort in Vernon. They took us on a drive up to Predator Ridge where this amazing new hotel is perched high up on a rocky ledge overlooking Okanagan Lake.
From the moment you see the first sign as you near this beautiful hotel, you are bedazzled with Sparkling Swarovski crystals either embedded or hanging nearly everywhere you look...even the trees!
The whole lobby shimmered with cascades of swarovski crystals
The entire front is made out of glass that is held in place by these huge clamps on cable stringers... jutting out at impossible angles..the architecture is amazing!
Emil and ronda and John hamming it up for our laugh of the day...all wishing we were staying for the night instead of just touring this beautiful hotel! We said we would if we won the Lotto Max that night... You guessed it ..Not a Winner!
This is the view from inside as you look towards the main entrance and look up three stories. The cascades of shimmering swarovski crystals were suspended in beautiful patterns... amazing.. the pic does not do it justice!
This is a high end gated community that offered up gorgeous homes perched high above amazing rock walls that became the normal for landscaping once you were up in the mountains.
On the way to Rutland near Philpott road...a car slammed into the telephone pole after a run in with a logging truck that resulted tragically for the car driver, I am sure . The logging truck lost its entire load of logs onto the highway so we waited well over an hour for the road to reopen while the logs were picked up and transferred to a new logging truck.
Going home was even more exciting as we rounded a curve only to find a long line up of stuck traffic on Highway 33 on the way to the Big White turnoff. Two police cars were in the middle of the traffic and tried to restore order after closing down the highway. We waited quite some time in the wet snowstorm until a snow plow came. The rest of the highway to Beaverdale was no screaming hell either with nearly a foot of snow on the road in some parts and only two cowtrail tracks to drive in... a littel hairy for the bea!
And last but not least the beautiful
Paradise Ranch that Ronda says is hers... she is not living there quite yet, but with any luck, the move should come soon! The Modern Spanish architecture was so suiting to the country side. The house was only part of an extensive ranch that raises a special breed of Peruvian horses.
Thanks to John and Ronda for taking us around to all the amazing sites in Vernon!
"The Creator"
