BC Here we Come

October 10
Lake Louise to Kelowna

The clouds moved in, and the skies opened up, so it was an all out rainy scenario as we prepared to leave Alberta and head to British Columbia.  It is too bad that Jutta didn’t get a chance to see some of the beautiful scenery along the route, but we were happy to be heading towards forecasted clearer skies in Kelowna.  The climb up to the border was short from Lake Louise as we crossed from Banff National Park into Yoho National Park on the BC side.  From there it was virtually downhill all the way to Golden, and Jutta once again said, “You guys cycled up all of this?”  This trip has been an eye opener for me in many ways, but none more than when we are coasting down endless hills/mountains, thinking about the grunt that it was cycling up six years ago with Sid.

Jutta touched base with Sam, and she was on the way with Vytas, scheduled to arrive at their Air B&B around the same time as we would pull into Canyon Farms RV, SE of downtown Kelowna, up in the hills overlooking town.
Canyon Farms is a small, gorgeous, private park, with only maybe a dozen sites, fully serviced in a terrific setting, close to golf (Gallaghers Canyon, Harvest GC), hiking trails, and easy access to town and major routes to get to the wineries.  I must say our Airstream “Plan B” is puny by comparison to some of the rigs here at Canyon.  These are some serious RV’s and trailers………some are twice the size of ours………but none nearly as cool.  Our hostess Leslie dropped by to say hello and run over the new Covid rules (no washrooms, laundry, or showers) and fill us inn on what else was available.  She obviously has a green thumb, and has a flock of chickens laying eggs to beat the band………..we were offered fresh eggs, and a variety of greens and tomatoes fresh from her garden………couldn’t pass that up, so we put in our order for the following day.  Our picnic table at the site was complimented by a vase of freshly cut flowers, beautiful, and we couldn’t have felt more welcome.  We look forward to spending a week here, and for the first time this trip, not have to get up tomorrow and hit the road to a new location. 

Sam and Vytas dropped by a short time later and we had our first chance to meet the new addition to their family, “Fernie”………he is an Eurasier……..not eraser……look it up…….cool dog, but just 8 months old and still has a lot of the puppy in him, but great personality, and shit is he cute.  We didn’t have a lot of time to spare, as there were reservations at 50th Parallel Winery that evening for dinner, so we got gussied up, and off we went.  What a beautiful setting above the shore of Okanagan Lake.  Terrific menu, great service………..none of the red wine really turned my crank, so we selected a chardonnay which turned out to be great……..ordered the sable fish, so all was in order.  Great night with the kids…….lots of laughs……..but even though it was early, we still had a drive back to camp and called it a night.    

Hiking, drinking, and dining, scheduled for tomorrow.