Considered not going for a hike but thought better of it. Decided to go for a short walk to see the southern side the area that I had not covered when I had been hiking previously. 
There was a good breeze so did not wear my hat as I was pretty sure that I would not be out too long and fighting the giant hat in the wind would be a deterrent to the enjoyment of the moment.
Went through the barbed wire fence at the end of the street instead of going around and went up the trail past the old refrigerator units that the grads of the area had painted with many names over the years.A nice trail led up the hill to a large field with little hills scattered around it.
I was not too sure how far I could go as the border was only 2 kilometers away and I may have already gone 1 and a half km. I decided to play it safe and not go too much farther south.
There was what I thought was a sign on a post so I went to it thinking that It might have something to say about the border.
No, it was some kind of an electrical box ,
all shot up and not connected to anything. there was another box just like it only in worse shape on the ground not to far away.
judging by the number of empty shotgun casings laying around someone came out there pretty regular to shoot at the metal Box.
I continued on to look at more butterflys, flowers and tracks.
there lots of tracks. deer, horses, cattle dogs, people and the little tiny ones that I could not identify.
I met an older German? guy walking along the trail . We were doing the same route only in reverse of each other.
Then I spotted a small beetle bug crossing the trail and leaving wonderful little tracks in the dirt that was like talcum powder. The mystery of the lovely tiny tracks was solved.
up on the hill were some flowers that looked like little brides bouquets. an old hole that could have been the start of some prospectors hunt for gold.
I saw some funny tufts of little flower stems.
An old old sage brush tree all twisted and gnarled.
I tramped down the hill across country and was on the first road to go back home when I spotted
a very cool moth on someone's window sill. I had to kind of go into their yard to get close enough. It was very cool. When I got back to edmonton I submitted it for identification and I got this back - Your sighting has been accepted, and your regional coordinator has verified your submission as _Arctia caja_. Your sighting is now represented on the map on the species page: http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species/Arctia-caja The sighting details page is available here: http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/sighting_details/550197 ) It is a garden Tiger moth
As I was considering going down the hill to go home I happened to glance back up the hill and saw two very large dark birds flying around in the distance over the hill that I had walked around this morning.
At first I thought maybe they were vultures. I climbed back up as quickly and quietly as I could. I tried zooming in as much as I could and hoped that I could get a clear shot, clear enough to identify them.
Then they started to come closer to me and they landed across the valley in the rocks so I zoomed in and took a bunch of shots just hoping that they were in focus.
I lost them in the hills.
That was when I noticed the cattle were all gathered into a little heard of about 10 cows at the bottom of the valley. The white face was there. I keep seeing that cow? Steer?
When I got home I immediately put the pictures into the computer and by cropping and enlarging them found out what the very large birds were.
Golden eagles!
a pair of them.
How exciting! and what a great way to end the trip.
A lovely breakfast of fruit salad and bagels with jam.
moving the suitcases and fruit into the car and we were off to Kelowna via Penticton to pickup sandwiches from the best sancwhich shop in the Okanogan valley.
The roads were actually quite busy with tourists, big rvs and motorcycles. we went the back way into Penticton which is very picturesque along the lake. picked up the sandwiches in a blink as Nancy had called ahead so they were all ready when we got there.
Onto the second leg of the journey and it was a lot better as the highway was four lanes, divided two in each direction for quite awhile. Kelowna was busy and we had to cross the lake and go through town to get to the airport. we got there with more than enough time to eat half of our sandwiches and get on the plane.
The flight was smooth and quick and we were at home before we knew it. Maureen picked us up which was very nice. Home sweet home.
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