Life On The Ranch: Christmas and New Year's Eve

It's been a little over two weeks since my last post, and what a two weeks it has been.

The first word that comes to mind when thinking about the last fortnight, is "indulgence". We basically spent two weeks eating and drinking our own body weight.

This is a big post, so I'm going to get straight into it. Here is what happened during week 8 and week 9 at Myra Canyon Ranch.

We had our first Power Cut!

We woke up on the Monday of "Christmas Week" to a severe snowfall warning, which we were both quite excited about.

As the snow started to fall, I got up to make Rich a cup of tea and shortly after I got back into bed our lights suddenly went off. We assumed that they would flicker back on, but sadly that was not to be.

The next seven and a half hours were very interesting. Rich was still working, so we watched our phones rapidly run out of juice as we turned them into WiFi hotspots and had to limit our toilet visits as no power also meant that we had no water!

We had BBQ'd porridge for breakfast and a cheese plate for lunch. I read over half of The Kite Runner and obsessed over the ever falling snow.

Bizarrely, it was one of my favourite days on the ranch to date. Taking a digital detox reminded me just how productive I can be when I'm not wasting my day on social media or endlessly obsessing over travel blogs!

Who needs power when you have this view?! Myra Canyon Ranch, Kelowna, BC, December 2020

SO Many Charcuteries!

In case it is not insanely obvious by now - We. Like. Food.

I never used to be a foodie and I despised cooking. I was also pretty terrible at it. Richard's family, on the other hand, are wonderful in the kitchen and often talk about their next meal whilst at their current one!

It was definitely a bit of an adjustment, but I now have no doubt that I absolutely owe my obsession with food to my boyfriend and I even enjoy the time I spend in the kitchen!

Over the festive period, we took our shared love of eating and drinking to the next level consuming at least four different charcuterie boards.

Not to mention a full Christmas Dinner (cooked almost entirely on the BBQ!), massive sirloin steaks on two separate occasions and more Bailey's hot chocolates than I care to count!

It is safe to say, we are definitely on a detox this week.

Paul's Tomb is still a Mystery to us!

Those who are paying attention will know that we have twice been defeated by Knox Mountain Park.

We needed to go downtown to restock supplies between Christmas and New Year, so we decided that the third time would be a charm and that we'd finally find Paul's Tomb.

Unlike our second visit to the park, we stayed close to the lake and about 30 minutes into the walk stumbled upon a sign that said "Paul's Tomb 1km". We were feeling infinitely more positive that we'd finally make it...

This attempt was the closest we've been for sure. After following the trail, we made it to a beautiful clearing on the lake edge and according to Google Maps we were standing on top of Paul's Tomb - but after several minutes of searching, we still could not find it.

So we headed back to town to buy more beer.

We also made the most of the beautiful trails around the ranch and some wonderful clear days. Moving away from the rains of Vancouver, has been one of the best things we have done for both our mental and physical health.

The Longest NYE EVER!

On New Year's Eve 2016/17, I stood under the Sydney Harbour Bridge and thought my life couldn't possibly get any better. Little was I to know what the following few years would have in store.

One of the things that stood out to me that evening was that we were amongst some of the first people in the world to welcome in 2017. For the past two years we have lived on the West Coast of North America and been some of the last to welcome in the new year.

Last year felt long. This year felt even longer.

Rich was working so we woke up at our normal time. We had breakfast and called my family to see how their celebrations were going. We had a painfully slow morning and I took out some recycling. Rich finally finished work around 2pm and we cracked open a beer each. We watched Death To 2020 (highly recommend). We called my family again and did a new year's toast with them. It was still only 4pm.

We ate another charcuterie board. We watched the London drone display (also highly recommend). We ate some leftover Christmas junk food. We finished the box of wine we had in the house. We played a game of Toy Story Monopoly. Time stood still. The ball finally dropped in Times Square. It was now 9pm.

We finished the beers. We played a bazillion rounds of Battleships. Rich won the majority of them. We skipped dinner, full on beer and junk food. Time went backwards. And then at last. At last.

The clock struck twelve.

The next hour was the quickest of them all. We did a new year's toast and finished the last of the alcohol. We lit ridiculously long sparklers and wrote our own names in the night sky. We took ridiculous, terrible, drunken selfies with my new instant camera.

And then just like that, the longest day ever came to a close and 2020 was over.

And that was our Christmas and New Year's Eve. Time spent together, eating and drinking far too much and trying to offset the indulgence with lots of wonderful winter walks.

We have no idea what 2021 has in store for us, all we know for sure is that we only have another 17 weeks left at the ranch before a new adventure begins.