#immersive walk

Beautiful isn't it?

I used to come here a lot when I first moved to Kelowna. Sit and stare out over the lake. Feel each of the wooden boards against my back and thighs. I could come here and just feel a little more real for a span of time. Solid.

Do me a favour would you? If you're comfortable, close your eyes. Listen. Breathe in. Breathe out. Notice your heart rate. Orientate yourself within the noises you here.

Open your eyes. Can you still feel where those noises are coming from?

Now humour me and close your eyes one more time.

Breathe in. Breathe out. How's your heart rate now?

Open your eyes.

Are you able to make this contradiction work? Find a harmony in the tension? Or are you thinking about your next deadline? What you have to do once you get home? What you could be doing instead of sitting here with me?

Stand up if you will and turn around. Does the change in view help at all?

Alright, close your eyes once more. Breathe in. Breathe out. Re-orientate yourself with the sounds around you. Open your eyes.

Are you up to maybe stretch your legs with me? It isn't often I get the pleasure of having a companion such as yourself for my time here.

Come around the left side of the bench and down back towards the road. Take a right here.

I love this wooden Boardwalk. The sound as my footsteps echo back up at me from the water.

Sorry about that little experiment back there. People interest me. Their reactions to things. I mean that combination isn't even all that far fetched. Walk 10 minutes and you're right back in the thick of things. We don't even flinch at the sound of the pulp mill droning on in the background 24 hours a day 7 days a week anymore. It's all just part of the nature of the place.

The ducks, the water, the pulp mill.

My Dad used to take me out to a place called fort white back home. It's like the rotary marshes here, but larger and the wooden Boardwalk was floating directly on the water, no railing. I used to dread coming to that Boardwalk as I was always afraid of losing my balance and falling in. My Dad would comically flail his arms and act like he was going to, and I'd laugh, but I'd really be on the verge of tears just trying to keep it together long enough to make it to the other side.

Pause here will you?

It amazes me the ability for nature to adapt. The fact there are whole ecosystems living within and alongside our own. Go ahead and lean over the railing if you'd like, look down and see if you can see anything beneath the water. I'm going to hang back, water makes me nervous.

Let's carry on shall we?

Looks like they've replaced a new board since I was last here. It's colouring bothers me more than the site of the delta just over there. So different. Out of place. Funny.

Take a right here.

I always enjoy walking along here most right after a good rain. Every smell assaults you in the most surprising and pleasant ways. It's damp, and dirty, and yet it still has this sweet smell underneath it all, freshly chopped wood carried over from the pulp mill. One can never really forget it's there, and for all its industrial imagery, it has really become a sensory part of this area.

We'll keep along the left hand side here. I like to walk past the benches. Placed in honour of various people who have walked these places before me. Heard and smelled all of this before I knew it existed. I like to think they appreciate giving someone a luxury with which to look upon the view they once enjoyed.

Let's head down to the beach. Watch your step on the way down, the stairs get slippery. Come around to the water.  Sit. Take your shoes off if you want. I love to feel the sand beneath my toes as often as I can.