| I decided to explore a different landscape. I thought a drive to Cache Creek on the # 8 from Merritt would be an interesting drive. On the way home we would take # 97C to Merritt then home again. What a day! Photographer Judy Pedersen, joined me on this trip hoping for some new images for her portfolio. The landscape changes were very dramatic in some areas. Here are a few images I took from our day of exploration. I hope you get a chance to see this area.  If you are looking at painting old buildings, I highly recommend this area. There were so many interesting places along the way.  Old church, there were several along the highway.  This is the first grouping of the many hoodoos we saw.  welcome to Deadman's valley.....  Sage and rocks, can't wait to paint!  I climbed up an embankment to capture this oasis among the arid the arid mountains. |  We got to Merritt at about 9:15 and headed on towards Cache Creek. Not far along we made the first stop at this barn.  Wild flowers lined the roadway. At first glance they looked like wild lupins but once I had a closer look they looked more like a delphinium.  The Thompson River flows below. The land slopes down, down and down. I tried to get a photo with the river in it as well....impossible from where we were along the highway.  Looks like desert to me! This area is still semi arid as it gets 1.5 more inches of rain than Osoyous!  Too bad the weather was changing on us. I'm sure with different lighting this bluff would have more drama with color as the rock had a burnt sienna tone to it.  We were so high up on Hwy 97C that we could see the coastal mountains! |