British Columbia continued

 

Okanagan Valley
                                      
 Cedars

After the Rockies we moved on to the Okanagan Valley, which is a fruit and wine agricultural area.  The climate is warm and what a pleasure it was to finally be able to shed the polar fleece, pants,  gloves, and hats. In the valley cherries, apricots, plums, peaches and all vegetables are grown. We visited 3-4 wineries each day for two days near Kelowna and Penticton and sampled a number of wines from different grapes and different combinations of grapes. The people at the wineries were most gracious and enthusiastic. We bought a couple of bottles, but otherwise we stuck to familiar and cheaper Chilean wines for our happy hour. We went swimming several times in the huge Okanagan and Skaha Lakes; the water was cool, but swimmable. The hills in the valley were high and parched yellow; there were some trees, but mostly green scrub. The lakes were beautiful as were the vineyards on the lower hillsides.

Later we drove through Native lands, and up and down mountains to eventually get to Whistler where the last winter Olympics was held. It is quite the village with lots of people and lots of action, not quite our style. Luckily the ultra modern hostel we stayed at was eight kilometers from the village. It had been built to host Olympic teams. We did a lovely hike there into dark woods with huge impressive cedars, and again we hiked to a beautiful deep turquoise lake where Erica and I encouraged each other to take a plunge in the frigid glacial waters.

Then on to Vancouver Island where we lost the clear blue sky and entered fog. We had been looking forward to seeing the full moon for weeks – that was not to be. We drove to the Pacific coast as far as one can go and stayed in Tofino, a funky surfers’ beach town.  We walked on long stretches of sandy beach with huge piles of driftwood. We ate fresh salmon there and another day walked along a trail above the rocky cliffs in Ucluelet. Here the undergrowth and moss on the trees was very thick. We could hear fog horns and clanging buoys drifting through the fog. The gnarled trees suggested strong winds and storms.

Then we returned via the same route and headed north to Mt. Washington, the ski area where Glenda and her husband, Sandy, have a chalet.  They spend weekdays there throughout the winter, but rent the place on the weekends. The runs looked very nice. Lat year was a record snowfall with almost 60 feet of snow, and they had snow all the way up to their second floor windows. It was hard to imagine so much snow. There had been quite a bit of damage done to a number of chalets because of the weight of the snow so workmen were very busy. We did a nice hike there with wet green undergrowth, tall trees, blueberries which are scarce this year, pink and white mountain heather, and wild rhododendrons, but we couldn’t see the mountaintops because of the fog.

We then drove to Victoria and to Glenda’s lovely home, stopping at a small tourist town, Chemainus, where the history of the town is painted on murals on the sides of buildings. They were well done in different styles and a joy to look at. It was and still is a lumber town. We spent a day in downtown Victoria looking at the harbor, the Parliament building, the elegant Empress Hotel, totem poles outside of the museum, and fisherman’s wharf where many people live on houseboats. It’s a lovely city with beautiful lawns and gardens everywhere. Sandy is an accomplished winemaker so we sampled his wines each evening; we were all impressed with the quality. They have a nice garden so we ate fresh garden vegetables. It was a very relaxing way to spend our last days in Canada. Then the four of us continued on to Seattle where we all departed. What a lovely holiday!