Dateline May 11, 2011, Vancouver to Prince George: Wine, Golf, and Pine Forests
The ferry from Vancouver Island wound through the San Juan Islands and was spectacular. Landing in Vancouver, we drove around and saw some of the sights. Rain pushed us on toward Hope, British Columbia, for the evening.
The RV park sat in a beautiful valley surrounded by white-capped mountains.
From there we drove to Osoyoos, just north of Washington state and the start of the Okanagan Valley, one of Canada's best-known wine regions. The valley may be among the ten most beautiful places we have ever seen. It is high desert, and it gets more so as you head north. We visited local wineries and, of course, added to the wine cellar in the RV.
The next morning we drove to Kelowna and found a remarkable campsite right on the shore of Lake Okanagan. We were in the first row on the lake, looking out over the waterfront, where we enjoyed a great steak dinner on the grill and some of the wine we had bought the day before. We decided life does not get much better.
We spent the day in Kelowna walking through many of the town's parks, then drove to Apex Lookout on Knox Mountain, which overlooks the lake and the city. The hikes to the viewing points were fun, and the views were marvelous: the lake below, Kelowna spread along the shore, and snow-capped mountains in the distance.
We stopped at Quail Ridge Winery, a beautiful setting above the lake owned by someone who, as our friend Nick puts it, must already have had the first billion dollars to make his millions in the wine business.
The next morning we left for Kamloops to play golf. The drive along the lake was beautiful, and the day was sunny and warm.
We had picked Tobiano Golf Club, about twenty miles north of Kamloops. The course is rated among the top ten public courses in Canada. It was a good track in wonderful shape, and the views were hard to beat. Janice shot 82, John 91; not bad for our first eighteen holes in a long time.
After golf we continued down the road toward Cache Creek. The drive was beautiful.
We learned why "toilet" is sometimes replaced with the word "pit."
We continued north on the Okanagan and Trans-Canada Highway (97/1) to Cache Creek and stayed overnight just outside Cache Creek at a very nice spot right in the desert. It was seventy-seven degrees when we arrived at six in the evening, a lovely night to grill and enjoy more wine.
Today we drove all the way to Prince George on the Cariboo Highway (97). The country was full of pine trees and farms, a huge agriculture and logging area. We are going to dry camp in the Walmart parking lot because it is pouring rain. As we learned in Seattle, when the rain is heavy there is no sense in going to a campsite.
Tomorrow we shall see what is up, depending on the weather. We are excited about Sunday, when we will meet the Walkabout Canada-Alaska Roadtrek group in Dawson Creek.
