AH CANADA,
Eh?! July/August 2018
There were happy memories of our family's visit to
Victoria and Vancouver, B.C. , several years ago. Now the long awaited return
to British Columbia was here but this time we were to explore parts of The
Fraser Valley and Hedley (near wine country), the southern part of the
province.
Passing through customs into B.C. was mostly a
breeze, having to discard an avocado, newly purchased blueberries and an
artichoke (no produce allowed from the U.S).
Okay, no big loss knowing we were arriving in a top producing blueberry
and corn growing region. Suddenly we
were converting kilometers and meters. The dollar in Canada was softer than the
U.S. dollar giving us more buying power.
Diesel was noticeably higher in Canada (roughly $5.00/gallon vs. U.S.
$3.35). Passing by corn drive-thru
huts, I knew this would be an interesting stay.
If you're needing to have a piece of corn-on-the-cob, you didn't have to
go far to find a drive-thru.
It was a short three hour drive to the RV park,
outside the town of Boston Bar. I was
skeptical as we pulled in to the park after passing through the tiny town of
Boston Bar. We barely had phone service in this mountainous rural area. However, we were soon greeted by the very
friendly owners putting our minds at
ease! The day we arrived the idea was
to rest and plan our stay. Our
adventurous ways wouldn't let us rest, so off we went to explore our first day
in beautiful British Columbia. It was
extremely warm and the mercury was expected to reach well over 100 degrees (38
c) over the next ten days.
First Day in Boston Bar, B.C.
This area was rugged and mountainous but very
beautiful. A road led us to the
Nehatlatch River where the silt water was green and the pine trees were
extremely tall. It was not an easy drive down the poorly maintained and
primitive forest roads but the views were worth it. We passed a white water rafting resort on the
way to the (whitewater class 3/4) river which peaked Perry's curiosity. Later, that would be his adventure! Our introduction to B.C. was a good one and
the next day we were going to the neighboring town of Lytton to check out the
Farmers Market.
Lytton
It was a very hot day (upper
90's) and the air quality was quickly
deteriorating due to surrounding wildfires.
We needed to make a currency exchange and didn't have to walk far to
find a bank. The Visitors' Center
offered many brochures of things to do within an hour drive of Boston Bar. All the driving fell on Perry since the
mountain roads in The Fraser Valley were windy with disturbing drop-offs, but
nothing bothers him, thankfully!
Lytton is a small and somewhat
struggling town on a Indian Reservation.
The natives here are referred to as Aborigines. A few small purchases were made at a local
farmer's market enough to get us by until we could get to a grocery store. This
wouldn't happen for a few more days on a trip to Lillooet, a much larger
town. Many of the street signs were in
the "Bands" native tongue and
some locals dressed in traditional dress.
This tiny town was bigger than Boston Bar and there was a strong
possibility we'd be seeing Lytton again.
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| Town of Lytton-Street signs in Native language |
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| Lytton's VERY small farmer's market |
Lillooet
There were warning signs to watch for mountain goats down a steep and
winding road.
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| The crazy drive down to Lillooet |
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| "excuse me, you're on my road"! |
The 1,000 foot drop-off to
the Nehatlach River led us to the town of Lillooet. I was amazed at the homes speckled against
the mountains, imagining how difficult reaching these homes during the winter
time would be. The "large"
town of Lillooet has a population of approximately 2, 400 and big enough for us
to find a decent grocery store purchasing fresh blueberries and local
butter. We enjoyed cooling off at the
large, glacier made Seton Lake surrounded by mountains so large they mimicked
the Alps. We took in a light lunch at a
local winery after the lake "cool down" . The trip back up the steep, winding mountain
towards Boston Bar gave us a brief encounter with some mountain goats along the
side of the road.
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| Beautiful glacier made Seton Lake |
Hope,
smoke, is there "hope" for fresh air?
The cute town of Hope was highly recommended by many
locals as a place to see. The short hour drive to Hope was scenic and the
mountains were majestic. The blue sky
soon was taken over by smoke from the Canada and U.S. fires. With no winds, once again the smoke from the
many fires was beginning to settle in all the valleys that were surrounded by
mountains. Hopes' local streets donned
hanging baskets with colorful flowers on every block and interesting carved
wooden sculptures. A short hike to a
waterfall was good for exercise and that was it. It was uphill with fallen trees and no falls
to speak of but there was more hiking to be done at a later time in the
beautiful Fraser Valley.
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| Taking a dip in the Fraser River |
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| Hiking to the falls.....that was it? Good hike! |
Stunning Stein Valley, crossing the river and special hikers!
Nothing was close to the RV park, but the next day we
made the scenic hour drive to a hiking spot at an area called Blue Sky
Country. The trail was a steady three
mile uphill climb in hot temperatures,
passing bear scat. I carried my
bear whistle and walking sticks hoping they'd deter any bears we might
encounter. The fresh bear scat had me on
edge during our hike but thankfully it was even too hot for the bears!
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| Bear spray -just in case! |
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| Stunning mountain views outside Lytton |
The heat was a dry heat and didn't
bother us that day. On the way back, we
stopped at Lytton curious about the ferry in town.
The beautiful Stein Valley was across the
Nehatlach river and the only way to get there was by ferry.
The ferry carried one or two cars at a time secured
by a cable, operated by three local natives.
The river current was swift and I could only pray the cable could carry
our 3 1/2 ton truck.
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| The ferry carrying us across the river |
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| One of the most spectacular places |
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| The Fraser River |
Across the river we
drove once again along the dirt, rocky road to an amazingly beautiful area
called Stein Heritage Park.
The falls
were violently beautiful and this was a place where river rafters began their
journey down the Fraser River.
After
a three hour long hike, we weren't too inclined to do more hiking but we
crossed over the falls and up the mountain a little way to view the rushing
river and ancient petroglyphs.
It was at
this spot we encountered two hikers who just completed an eight day hike
through the rugged mountains.
They were
tired and eager to get back but had to wait for two more in their party.
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| The 8 day "unbathed" hikers |
Once thunder and lightning started, we made our way
back to the truck seeing the four hikers who were waiting for a ride. Perry offered the four young people a ride
into town and appreciatively they took us up on our offer.
Two hikers sat in the bed of the truck while
"Greg" and his girlfriend sat in the backseat. Greg was excited to share their experiences
with us including seeing a Grizzly bear and having the bear spray go off in his
face. They cleaned themselves in the
river and the only hiking markers were rocks.
Unlike the states, hikers don't check in with a ranger so no one knows
if you're lost. They were proud of their
adventures and enthusiastically shared pictures. The backpacks with freeze dried food, tents
and clothes weighed over 60 pounds and at times traveled with them for more
than eight hours. We parted ways in town
and they thanked us for the ride. Poor
hikers desperately needed showers and WE desperately needed to air the truck! Hearing about their hiking adventure made me
wonder if I would have been brave enough to attempt a hike like that in my
youth? Probably not but I admired them!
White Water Rafting, 100+ temperatures, smoke, smoke,
more smoke and a winery!
After
a brief discussion and encouragement from his wife (me), Perry decided to take
the risk of white water rafting. Of
course someone had to stay with
the dog and I would gladly make that sacrifice.
All kidding aside, I had no desire to go. I reminisced of the time Perry and Kaylyn
whitewater rafted in Oregon, toppling their raft and nearly drowning. No thanks, Gracie and I would stay back! Perry had a lot of fun and said he was the
oldest by a couple of decades but was grateful for getting that check on
the bucket list. I'm also grateful he came back in one piece as
I'd be stuck near "Hells Canyon" in B.C. by myself, stranded!!
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| The calm before the storm |
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| The class 3/4 rapids of the Nehatlatch River |
The
last few days of our Fraser Valley trip were fun and memorable. We enjoyed a
tram ride across the river in "Hell's Canyon", and went to "Blue
Lake Resort" (trying to stay cool) in the 103 degree temperature a short
distance away.
Once again, along a very
steep, rocky and narrow road we arrived at the lake. Trying to escape the heat
we watched kids jump in the lake and oddly enough there were thousands of frogs
migrating.
They were fun to watch.
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| The tram ride in "Hell's Canyon" |
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The fast and furious
Fraser River |
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| The tram over the Fraser River |
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| I will miss the trees that surrounded us in our campsite in Boston Bar |
We
enjoyed our stay in Boston Bar with several fun experiences , but…… we were
READY to go to our next destination of Hedley, B.C.
Hedley,
B.C.
Floating
on the Similkameen
It was a
nice feeling knowing the RV park was a little closer to civilization. The friendly owners escorted us to our spot
and once settled, we walked a short distance to the Similkameen River where
several people were floating on inner tubes or rafts trying to stay cool. Excited to join them (and stay cool), we
purchased our floaters in the tiny town of Hedley (pop. 200) . Once inflated, cooler and towels packed, away
we went to the river. We talked with
many friendly people, but one gal warned us to be careful as a baby rattlesnake
popped up in the shallow water where she was.
That was ALL I needed to hear!
Leaving the towels on the shore, we tied our inner tubes together ,
anchoring them to a large rock. This would prevent us from floating down the river. It was comical, especially with Gracie on
Perry's tube and me paranoid about snakes in the water….eek! It helped cool us down but it was more
comical trying to get footing in the rocky river bottom which caused me to fall
and swallow water. More laughs! The next day, with our river/inner tube
experience, we floated in the river
talking to the same gal.
"Tiara" was her name with her husband "Brandon" and
a few friends stopped by that night with a bottle of wine. We talked about differences in our government
and compared American/Canadian cultures. Our fun, younger Canadian friends
stayed past midnight. Yes, it's true
that Canadians are very friendly people!
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| Floating on the Similkameen River in Hedley, B.C. |
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| A new "floating" experience for Gracie! |
Keremeos
Stranded in town but not for long!
Each day the smoke got worse, settling in the canyons making it more difficult to breathe. It didn't stop us
from exploring . A short twenty minute drive from Hedley is the town of Keremeos which had over a dozen fruit stands and a grocery store that couldn't be passed
up. While getting diesel in the truck to
head back to Hedley, Perry said
"well, do you want the good news or the bad news?" The bad news was the road back to Hedley was
closed due to a wood chip truck catching fire and spreading to the side of the
highway (wasn't sure what the good news was).
The road wouldn't be open until the next morning meaning finding a
hotel? Earlier we purchased food that
needed refrigeration but thankfully had a cooler bag. The Canadian fire website informed us what
roads were closed giving us hourly
updates. We found a local place to have
dinner and talking to some locals who were also "stuck" suggested, like them, we take a forest road
back to Hedley (the only other way back to our fifth-wheel). Being familiar now with Canada's' forest
roads, we opted to wait it out.
Thankfully, the highway was opened earlier than expected and we didn't
have to worry about finding a place to spend the night (the two hotels were
full anyway). THIS was the good news!
Off the side of the highway, the truck and outlying grass area were
still burning but traffic was able to get through. Our nice RV neighbors hearing about the fire,
were concerned about their American friends returning to the RV park safely.
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| The smoke closing in! |
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| The town's ambulance |
A Day in Penticton!
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Para-sailing a popular sport on the lake
The popular Okanagan Lake is 83 miles long with a
depth of 761 feet |
Gracie
graciously gave us a day to play near Okanagan Lake while she played with other
furry friends. There was a festival in
Penticton that resembled our county fairs.
We spent time enjoying the beautiful scenery of the lake while listening
to live bands. This region is known for
their wines and of course we had to compare them to the California wines. We did souvenir shopping and enjoyed a nice
Italian lunch in the beautiful and friendly city of Penticton.
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| Okanagan Lake |
Church in Princeton, B.C.
Friendly and welcoming congregation!
We talked about checking out the town of Princeton,
which possibly offered more hiking areas.
I really missed going to Church and Perry said he'd drop me off while he
went to the store. The church was very
nice but simple. In the beginning, the
priest wanted to know who was visiting and from where. Like others, I introduced myself and said I
was from California. Everyone in the congregation clapped. My guess is they were shocked I'd be visiting
their remote small church all the way from California. The beautiful service concluded and a nice
man invited me to join them in the church hall for coffee. Perry was waiting for me so I politely
declined but as I was leaving the friendly church, five different people were waiting to talk to
me. They made me feel like I was a
celebrity asking questions like "how did you end up in Princeton, what was it like in California?, how are the fires in California?, "
. The people in the congregation were so
friendly and if time permitted, I would love to have visited longer.
The smoke in Princeton was so thick making breathing
difficult, that hiking was out of the
question! Instead, we picked up burgers
at the local A & W to eat by the
river. It was a quick lunch because
hundreds of yellow jackets were flying around wanting our burgers!
Last few days in B.C.
Our time in beautiful British Columbia was winding
down. One last visit to a local wine region for wine tasting followed
by a nice dinner in the small historic town of Hedley. We will miss B.C. and all the nice people we
met but it was time to head "back home".
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The only restaurant in Hedley
food was great! |
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Leaving the RV park with the
best memories! |
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| Orofino Winery outside Karameos |
After a short drive to the U.S. border and the usual interrogation,
we were told "welcome
home"! It felt good!
Next- The Bavarian town of Leavenworth, Washington. Could the fire conditions get any worse?
Friends, Tom and Nita invited us to park our fifth wheel
in their quiet peaceful home outside Mansfield with the occasional hoot of an
owl and visits from the neighborhood deer.
As we passed miles of wheat fields, I couldn't help reminiscing the first time I was introduced
to the small town/farming community back in the 1980's. Perry's Dad was one of the original farmers
in the community and I remembered this kind man sitting on a bench in overalls
with other farmers watching the few cars go by on main street. Mansfield is a town of no more than 280
people and though I could never live in a town this small, it depicts what
America is all about. The small town
hard working people help make America what it is. 
