On the Road to .....Somewhere Great

In Part Four of  "Oh the Places we've Been and the Critters we Saw", Mitzi and I head up the Fraser Canyon to Lillooet, a drive of about three hours from where we were camping with our friends just north of Hope. Our goal was to spend the afternoon with our friends Del and Mark, and their dogs King, Lady May and Princess Mollydawg, who visited Eddie and I at our campsite two years ago.

At Lytton, Mitzi and I turned onto Highway 12, a route I'd not taken but which I knew had one very winding, steep single lane section, the result of a rock slide a few years ago.  It also had several places where the risk of slides was sufficient that no stopping was allowed. There are tall bare or sparsely treed slopes rising on one side of the road, and dropping to the river valley below on the other.  In winter, it isn't a road the average driver in the average car wants to take, but in summer I was willing and eager to experience it.  It was definitely worth it! The views across the valley were amazing, the road had virtually no traffic, and the feeling was of being on top of the world.

A small slide had just occured  which crews were clearing up, resulting in a delay of perhaps twenty minutes while machinery was blocking the road.  Even the delay was fantastic - the young flagger, perhaps around twenty,  was excitedly looking up at the slope beside us, and then motioned for me to roll down my window.  "There's a cougar up there, chasing a family of mountain sheep!" he said, and invited me to get out for a look.  The cougar - and the mountain sheep - had disappeared behind one of the craggy rocks by then, though we saw a couple more mountain sheep while we waited.  And while we waited, he entertained me with stories from his First Nations heritage, of the animals and birds in that area, the changes his band was seeing, the environmental impact of climate change.  It was the shortest twenty minute traffic delay I've ever known.  (On the return trip, I saw lots of mountain sheep and got some great photos of them which will be in tomorrow's post).

I continued on my way, enjoying every moment of the drive, stopping very briefly where permitted to take a photo or two or three.  I took the photo below as I was leaving Lillooet on the return trip, but now is a good time to show you the road I traveled - the fine white line cutting through the bare mountain side:

We arrived safely at Del and Mark's, and set up the x-pen in the shade for Ms. Mitzi.  Del brought King, Lady May and Mollydawg out one by one to meet her.  Mollydawg was most inquisitive and the most excited about having a visitor come to visit her - HER - and really wanted to say hello.

Mitzi was not interested in being social and retreated to her crate, so we let her sulk rest while I photographed the dogs and chatted with their humans.

King was easy to photograph, and my only difficulty is deciding which of about twelve favourite shots to post.

King is my favourite Turtle Gardens Rescue dog (but don't tell the others),  the sweetest, most benevolent leader of any pack I've ever met.  I love him to bits, and it is clear Del does too.  And King adores Del:

Princess Mollydawg was confined to the deck for awhile, but posed nicely while trying to tell us she REALLY wanted to go meet that little fluffy thing I brought with me.

Lady May was willing to sit for a few photos, but she was far more interested in chasing the ball, ball, ball, ball.

BALL BALL BALL BALL BALL!

After a delicious lunch, we decided to try for a photo of all three.  An exercise in futility, thanks to the irrepressible Princess Mollydawg.  It went something like this:

Everyone say CHEESE!

Mollydawg:  Cheese?  Did someone say cheese?  Where? Over there?

King:  Molly, you get back here!

Molly:  Pssst,  King, there's a cat behind you!

King:  Wha.....where?
Mollydawg:  BWHAHAHAHA!  Made ya look!

King:  I'm gonna tell Mom
Mollydawg:  Pffttttt!

Mollydawg:  I hate this!

Itchy back!

You suck, Auntie Jean!

Oops, sorry mom.  Sorry. 

Oh boy! Bribes - er, treats - that's more like it! 

Lady May:  Not sure why she's getting any.
She was the one who kept wrecking the shot! 

That's the best we can do - -
even for treats.

Time for a rest!

Can we go back to the campsite now?

And so we said our goodbyes and headed back to camp......and that return trip is another story in itself.  See you tomorrow!

Thanks for a great day, Del, Mark, King, Mollydawg and Lady May!