He had told us about the short term contract he was completing there... constructing the popular "Field of Screams" haunted corn maze in time for the Halloween season!
The O'Keefe Ranch was one of the earliest cattle empires begun in the Okanagan region of British Columbia. It began in 1867 when Cornelius O'Keefe and Thomas Greenhow drove a herd of cattle from Oregon to the north end of Okanagan Lake. By 1908, his cattle were grazing over 15,000 acres.
The property is now owned by the city of Vernon and operated as a tourist attraction on a non-profit basis. ($45 a night to use the RV Park... non profit??)
O'Keefe Ranch.
Dave had been supervising and building the Halloween attractions.
Still lots of work to be done!
Through the corn maze.
Part of the ranch.
Visiting with the burros!
Pretty pheasant.
This big fellow was giving us a show.
A face only a mother could love!
The O'Keefe Ranch House... built in stages between 1886 and 1910.
A nice stop along the way. We said goodbye to Lorraine and David. Lots in common with them, and we have a similar camping style. Hopefully we'll meet again someday. Thanks for your hospitality!
We headed northwest towards the city of Kamloops (pop 91,000).
Scenery along the way.
Nice roads the whole way.
The Thompson River.
We skirted through Kamloops and didn't even stop!
There's a beautiful overlook between Kamloops and Savona.
Hi Sherman!
Ruth, and the view of Kamloops Lake.
Blog readers Alison and Richard invited us for a visit to Savona. Alison only started reading this blog during our recent trip up north! She and Richard are originally from Ireland, and moved to Canada about 10 years ago. They spent their first five years in Saskatchewan, but found it too cold in the winter!
Hmm. Sherman's roof needs to be washed!
We made a nice meal together and had lots of good conversation... lots of visiting going on lately! Thanks for the invite guys!
Alison, Roxy the dog, Richard, Ruth, and Kevin.
And the visiting isn't over yet... we're actually running out of time to visit all of the people we want to see in southwest British Columbia.
Next stop is Hope, B.C.!
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50% discount on this Pumpkin Carving Kit using coupon code JSSHMWKL.
And in Canada...
Wow, non-profit?
ReplyDeleteYep, but all that means is that any money they make goes right back into the running of the place and the upkeep of it and making improvements. The problem is that with prices like that in their very basic looking "park" which had nobody there they maybe don't make as much money as they could if they lowered the price and kept the few sites they have, full.
DeleteYou are so close to us ..only 25 kilometres to Tunkwa provincial park from Savona..too bad
ReplyDeleteAs we were driving past the sign on the highway letting us know that the turnoff was coming up, I said to Kevin that I thought it was your park. We had asked Greg and Lorraine when we were at Twin Lakes what the name of your park was but then I forgot again, although I was pretty sure that was the one. Our problem at that point was that we are getting short on time and had already lined up a place to stay for the night and it meant 50kms of extra driving. We maybe should have planned our day better and just stopped by even for a short visit in the afternoon. It would have been nice to have met you both. Sorry about that. :-(
DeleteNon-profit just means that they spend all the income. ;-)
ReplyDeleteYeah, we realize that, but we still think charging $45 for the "RV parking" that they were offering was a little much. I guess they need lots of money to keep the place running.
DeleteHey, all that hydroelectric power is expensive! ;)
DeleteI think they simply discovered it's a lot less work to keep the park half full at $45 than full at $22.50.
You just might be right Doug! And who knows maybe in the summertime the sites are always full.
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