Okanagan Valley

Plan A was to head to Jasper, Lake Louise and Banff.  That was a bust since the Provincial Park Campgrounds were full.  Plan B was almost a bust.  Campgrounds up and down the Okanagan Valley were booked.  We finally found a wonderful campground in Oliver, BC (only 14 miles to the U.S. Border) and were even happier about the number of vineyards nearby.  

The final leg down Hwy 97 to Okanagan provided us with more spectacular views on our way back to the good ol' USA...

 

Okanagan Lake stretches almost 60 miles with vineyards, beaches, restaurants, and B&B's up and down the coastline.

 

The Okanagan Valley has Canada's largest and oldest vineyards.   It is part of the Sonoran Desert (stretching from Mexico) with about 12 inches of precipitation yearly, hot summers and mild winters which makes it a perfect climate for grapes.

 

Hester Creek Vineyards and some great wines was first on the list.

Almost every vineyard has beautiful gardens and decorations.

 

We visited Sumac Ridge Vineyard about 12 years ago and picked up a case of their un-oaked Chardonnay.   Still as good as we remembered.

 

 
 I could fill the page with photos of the wineries that we visited, but onto other things.

Okanagan Lake narrows into a canal about half way down the lake.  Residents and visitors take advantage of the crystal clear waters and warm weather by floating between the lakes.  In the summer there is a competition where people "decorate" their floats.  Fun.

 

Our Sami is now enjoying the peace and quiet and the luxury of grass outside her door.  The driving has been difficult for her at times...  I keep promising her we are going to be home soon.

A rainy Friday and the only thing to do is visit wineries - we figured someone has to do it.  Our last day in the Okanagan Valley and we found one winery that kind of stuck out from the rest and we voted it the best of all. 

 

Old covered wagon at the entrance to Rustico Farms & Cellars

 

 

Figured this was the owner's mode of transportation - looks like an old lawn mower engine on his motorized horse tied up to the rail.

 

His home was a thatched roof log cabin and his laundry was out to dry - hard to do on a rainy day.

 

The entrance to the tasting room  -  inside was like an old saloon. 

 

 

The owner (Bruce) looked like he walked out of an old western movie and has the personality of an old saloon bartender.   Wine was poured into shot glasses for the tasting.  We voted their wines probably the best of the vineyards we visited this trip.  A couple cases of wine later and the last picture together of our journey... in the morning starts the trip home.

 

 

Our trip has been a wonderful adventure and a great experience especially with magnificent friends.  In the next several days, we enter the U.S. and head back home to fix a few odd and ends on the coach and finish some remodeling on the house.

 

This is the end of this chapter of our blog - until the road less traveled calls again. 

 

"Wine is constant proof that God loves us and loves to see us happy." 

                                                                Ben Franklin

 

 

Yellowhead Highway 16

We looked at the map and saw the big Maple Leaf on the symbol for the Yellowhead Highway 16 and got excited that we would be on an "interstate".  Wrong.  But we are off the Cassiar which was a bit of a nail-biter.   The Yellowhead is better - a little more traffic - we may see 10 cars in 50 miles instead of 1. 

 

This rest area had a cairn with the central stone from the Norman walls of Tintagel Castle, reputed birthplace of King Arthur.

We stopped at Shady Rest RV Park and actually had grass and large pull-through sites.  Flowers everywhere and internet.  We knew civilization was just around the corner.

 

Oh, and we were right...   Prince George has a Costco.  Boy, who knew a store would make Linda and Cheryl so happy. 

 

Plans to stop at Jasper and Banff have been squelched again.  We have been calling all the campgrounds in the area - all are full.  So we are working on Plan B.  Hope our plan works... 

 

 

Meziadin, Stewart, Hyder

Leaving Dease Lake, we noticed Powerline construction along the road.  In the Summer of 2012, a project was started to bring power up the Cassiar Highway corridor  to local communities in northwest British Columbia currently relying on diesel generators.  Maybe they will also have internet and power in the campgrounds in the next few years.

Dry-camping at Meziadin Lake Provincial Park and fighting gnats.  Gene decided they were vampire gnats...  Yes, we were being eaten alive.  The park was beautiful - on a lake with mountains down to the shoreline.

 

Our motorhomes from a lower row.  Tiered campsites gave everyone a beautiful view.

 

Cloudy and rainy day on the Meziadin Lake.

 

Campsites and boats along lake.

Not far from the campground were the towns (???) of Stewart, British Columbia and Hyder, Alaska.  Grizzlies catching salmon in the rivers and glacier-watching are the main tourist attractions.   Unfortunately, our day was also graced with rain, but that didn't stop us from having a great time and enjoying the views.  Stewart is considered a "modern" community since it has electricity, water, two grocery stores, a hardware store, one bank and one gas station (no internet, no cell phone or WIFI). 

Hyder is only 2.3 miles from Stewart and the road through town goes nowhere.   There is no U.S. Border Guards for Hyder but you have to have a passport to get back into Canada.   Hyder is the only city in the US that uses the Canadian Dollar instead of U.S. Money (no U.S. banks).  Only the Post Office in Hyder takes U.S. funds.

 

The Salmon River fed by glaciers, rain and snows.  This area is listed in the Guiness World Book of Records as having the largest snowfall of 1104 inches or 92 feet in 1972.

 

 

Driving along Bear Creek Canyon with fog and clouds.

 

Bear Glacier is within a couple hundred yards of the highway.  You can see the glacier calving even in the summer.

 

Old Shop in Hyder, Alaska

 

Water Falls from the mountains.  Lush plants and trees thrive in the moist moderate climate.

 

10,000 people in 1917 to just around 800 today.

Cassiar Hwy to Dease Lake

After driving a typical Canadian two-lane black top road with lots of trees and pot-holes from Whitehorse, Yukon to Watson Lake, Yukon, we finally started heading SOUTH onto the Cassiar Highway to Dease Lake.  

First you have to understand the Cassiar Highway - 476 miles of narrow semi-paved roads, limited services, always under repair, no centerline or side markings or shoulders and one lane wooden bridges.  We were without phone service for days and felt lucky to find a campground with some semblance of WIFI.  The villages have electricity provided only by generators.  But the scenery along this highway is well worth the lack of services.

Many small lakes, rivers and ponds along the highway.  This particular stretch at Blue Lake shows a 2010 burn.  Lightning burned more than 74,000 acres.

 

Narrow roads with shoulders that would drop off up to 10 feet. 

 

 

If you were very lucky, you didn't meet one of these at a bridge or curve, but you did slow down to almost stopping to let them barrel down the road.

 

Surprise, A stretch of highway with lines and dividers.

 

Simmons Lake lunch stop along the highway. 

 

Lunch was great and so was the view.

A little maintenance to straighten the tow hitch - too many bumps and rough roads.

 

A stop at Jade City (tourist trap).  The Cassiar Mountains supplies 92% of the world's jade.  But they sure like their product.  Prices were about 4 times higher than the norm in the "lower 48". 

 

 

A special site - momma bear and her 2 cubs crossing the highway.  We had to stop so they could cross safely.

 

This metal bridge was about 1 1/2 car widths.  Glad there were no trucks coming our way.

 

More Cassiar Mountain views and rough roads.

 

 

 

The wooden bridges were very unique.  We have never seen anything like this and we have yet to talk to someone that knows why they use wood instead of concrete or other materials.

 

Yes, that is a single lane bridge

 

Skagway

While in Whitehorse, we decided to take a day trip to Skagway (80 miles south).  The weather was beautiful and the drive was a feast for the eyes. 

 

This part of the trip was called "Tormented Valley" because of the rocks and small firs.  Thousands of gold seekers had to traverse this terrain - many died looking for their fortune.

 

 

Small, twisted, stunted alpine firs (called mopheads) that are shaped by heavy snows and icy winds grow next to crystal clear, rocky, mountain lakes.   

 

 

Tutshi (pronounced too shy) Lake

 

The winds were almost non-existent and we ended up getting some beautiful reflections of the mountains in the lakes.

 

 

Blue skies and waters with deep green firs. 

 

 

 

 Emerald Lake

 

The rainbow like colors results from blue-green lightwaves reflecting off the white sediment of decomposed shell and clay called "marl".

 

 

Main Street in "tourist Town" Skagway. 300 cruise ships dock here every year.

 

 

 

Back to Whitehorse

The Alaska Highway is one-way in and one-way out.  When we came into Whitehorse over a month ago, it was raining and cold.  We stopped for a few days on our return trip to 80 degrees and sunshine.  We took advantage of the great weather.

 

A shot of the main street Downtown Whitehorse, capital of the Yukon.

 

 

S.S. Klondike, the largest Sternwheeler on the upper Yukon River.  Built in 1929 as an ore hauler.  She sank in 1936, was re-launched in 1937 and continued to haul passengers until 1955.  She was designated a National Historic Site in 1967. 

 

 

We all voted this was a good cargo haul.

 

 

First class seating.  Second class sat on benches in the back.

 We visited the Whitehorse Rapids Fishway which is the longest fish-ladder in the world.  Built to allow salmon and other fish that swim upstream to spawn to bypass the dam that was built.  One of the workers told us up to 3,000 salmon pass through each year.  Did you know that salmon spawn only once then die.   One salmon can lay over 5,000 eggs. 

 



 

A pathway down to the fish-ladder was decorated with hundreds of painted fish.