The trip south on Highway 23 from Revelstoke also had
two free ferry rides! The first one is the Shelter Bay Ferry, at the north end
of Arrow Lake. There is a Provincial Park just at the ferry dock, but it is
like a wayside campground with small sites close together. We got there at 5,
just as the ferry left. We decided to wait and take the 6pm ferry.
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| Beginning to board the ferry |
It was a
calm ride across.
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| There was lots of room on the ferry |
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| View down the lake |
When we got to the other side, we saw a pebbled beach covered
in small inukshuks.
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| Look closely to the left of the ferry, on the beach |
We kept driving south
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| Driving south to Nakusp |
and finally
reached Nakusp
Municipal Campground.
We
didn't get in until almost dark, and there were no hookups available, so we
went to the overflow area. It was a beautiful private and large field, which we
had to ourselves.
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| Very quiet and private in a huge field |
The next morning after John had gone for an early walk, we
moved to a lovely large site with electricity and water.
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| Among the trees, but still private and quiet |
After settling in, we
went for a walk along the waterfront path. It is beautifully landscaped and
kept.
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| Beach to the north end of town |
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| Koi in the small pond under the bridge |
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| A quiet oasis near the north end of the path |
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| View down the lake from the path |
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| Serenity by the path |
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| The town is at the top of a hill above the beach. There are several sets of steps |
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| A beautiful arbour along the walk |
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| The Marina at the south end also has beach access |
A local landscaper is responsible for the upkeep of the gardens.
On our
walk around town,
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| Main street of "The Kusp" |
we found an incredible chocolate store with everything homemade chocolate!
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| Everything Chocolate! |
Later we decided to take
a drive down to the McDonald Creek Provincial Park. It is really pretty,
with only a new section that has electricity. Unfortunately though, it is a
large field with just split rail fences between sites. The other sites are
lovely, but generally smaller.
Then we decided to drive up to the Nakusp Hot
Springs. We thought it was just outside town. However, the turnoff is just
outside, but the hot springs are up and around the mountain, nestled in the
woods We decided it was definitely worth a trip! There is a campground, but we
decided we would not want to be towing up the twisting road up the mountain!
Next
day, more rain, but we went out to the Farmers Market anyway. Except we had
been given the wrong information, it was over at 1pm, not 4pm, so most of the
vendors had left. We decided this was the right time to dip in the Hot Springs.
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| A piece of heaven... |
It is a huge round pool, with a wall dividing the very hot smaller section from
the larger and slightly cooler section. They provide lots of pool noodles, so
practically everyone in the larger section was floating around. It was really
neat to be floating around with the mist all around and a light rain falling.
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| In the mist with a light rain falling! |
More
rain the next day, so we decided to drive southeast on Highway 6 to New Denver.
We stopped to look at Summit Lake Provincial Park Campground. It had closed
that morning, and workers were starting to clean up sites and put tables away.
The sites are beautiful, large and level,
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| Beautiful large sites |
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| Private entrance to pebble beach |
with lots backing onto the lake.
In
New Denver, we shared a sandwich at an eclectic little store, “Sandrandipity”,
showcasing local artisans and with a café.
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| 'Sandrandipity' |
It was only a drizzle by then, so we
walked around town,
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| The story of New Denver |
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| A beautiful home down by the lake |
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| This was a bank. and is the Visitor Centre now |
and along the waterfront.
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| The glacier across the lake |
We were told there was a bear in
town, so we got in the truck, and drove around. There it was, right behind the RCMP
station, leaning up against a tree.
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| He just watched us as we watched him! |
We sat and took pictures for about 15
minutes, while it stretched, looked around and munched on the grass, but paid scant attention to us.
The
next day, it was time to move on. We continued south then west down Hwy 6. The
highway is often like driving through a canyon.
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| A beautiful drive |
It follows Arrow Lake with mountains
to the west, right down to the western shore.
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| not sunny, but interesting... |
The second ferry is from Fauquier
to Needles. This is a smaller, cable ferry, and still free. While we were
waiting for the ferry, a van pulled in behind us. A woman got out and put up a
portable cage. While we watched she brought out six of the most adorable, rolly,
poly, 10-week old Duck Tolling Retriever puppies.
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| Curious, adorable... No we did not get one! |
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| Some red-nosed, some black! |
They were the hit of the
ferry line-up.
Once on the other side
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| Lots of room on this ferry too! |
it was an easy drive on
an excellent road, through a wide valley, domed hills
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| The day turned out to be sunny and beautiful |
on a winding road to
Vernon and on to Kelowna.
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| the road into Kelowna |
We decided to stay west of Kelowna in Okanogan Lake
Provincial Park for a couple of nights, before we had to be in Penticton for
our appointment. We found a beautiful site in the South Campground, on the second level, where we could
just see the lake through the trees. We walked down to the beach, and along the shore
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| The exposed roots have grown bark for protection |
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| View across Lake Okanagan |
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| The swimming area to the north between the campgrounds |
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| High clay bluffs, up to the highway |
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| A beautiful white sand beach along the shore |
to the North Campground.
Our
day in Kelowna was spent catching up on the Internet, and visiting Okanogan
Distillery to get our favourite Raspberry Liqueur. It is decadent and we were
looking forward to tasting it again. We also decided it was haircut time as we
had an extra hour. On the way back, we stopped at "TBones”, an excellent butcher
with a grocery store next door.
The
next day we were at Midtown RV by 8:30. We hung around and talked to the mechanic,
explaining our concerns, most of them relatively minor. While they worked, we
went for a walk, drank lattes, had lunch and checked the Internet. By the time the work was done, it
was too late to move on, so,we Midtown-Camped for the night.
The
next day after the bill was paid, and we moved to Wrights RV Campground for a
couple of days, so we could see more of the Penticton area. This is a large park, on the
shore of Skaha Lake.
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| View south on Skaha Lake from the Campground beach |
Some sections were closed as it is really the end of the
season for them.
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| View from the front of our site, when we first arrived |
We chose a site with full hookups, cable tv and Internet. We took a drive along the east side of Lake Okanangan to find some of the orchards, vineyards,
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| Vineyards |
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| Apple orchards |
and wineries. It was too late to visit them, but we did climb up Munson's mountain to get a view of the area.
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| A great job revitalizing the area |
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| Looking back at Penticton |
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| John climbed to the top, I relaxed on the bench. |
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| View from my bench to the south |
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| I did walk over halfway up though |
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| A place to rest and enjoy the view of Penticton |
It
rained the next day, so we just hung out at the RV. Early afternoon, we saw
another Airstream pull in. John went up to talk to them, to discover that it
was the BC Chapter of the Wally Bynam Club who were
on a Winery Rally. Soon a whole row of Airstreams was parked in our row!
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| The Airstream Rally |
They invited
us to join them for Happy Hour. What a great friendly group they were! We felt
as if we had known them for ages. We were invited to join them for their activities
and enjoyed dinner at a Chinese Buffet. We joined their Chapter as Affiliate Members, so we can keep in touch. Lunch
the next day was hosted by Midtown RV. Everyone was doing their own thing for
the afternoon, so we decided to drive to Summerland, a small town just north of
Penticton.
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| Main Street, a pretty town... |
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| with decorations everywhere... |
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| for Harvest Days! |
But we were back in time for Happy Hour. We enjoyed breakfast at the
Pasta House in downtown Penticton, then a tour of some of the wineries on the
shore of Lake Okanagan.
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| Tasting and learning about the wines |
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| Each winery was unique, |
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| most had many varieties of grapes nearby |
We were sorry to part ways the next day, as we were
going west to Fort Langley, and they were going North to Kelowna. We waved them
off then headed to Fort Langley to the Fort Camping campground.
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| They are removing some of the sharp curves along highway 3 |
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| Another gorgeous day, and interesting drive |
To our delight
this is an interesting, easily walkable historic town.
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| The Community Hall |
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| One of the many beautiful old homes |
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| A quiet tree-lined street |
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| The Pub by the river |
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| An morning walk over the Fraser River into town |
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| One of the newer buildings- a mixture of residential and commercial |
We found a couple of excellent
cafes, and wandered around the town along the tree-lined streets. We spent an
interesting afternoon at Fort Langley. The Fort was built in 1827 as a Hudson’s
Bay Company fur trading post. On the banks of the Fraser River, it was part of
the British trade route at the centre of the a large population of Aboriginal
people. To win the trade of coastal furs from the US, the HBC Governor drove
the price way down, losing money for the HBC but winning the monopoly of the fur
trade. Relations were cemented with the encouragement of marriages between HBC
employees and Aboriginal women, and the employment of Aboriginals in the Fort. In
1858, with the discovery of gold on the Fraser River, Fort Langley became the
centre of the gold rush as 30,000 miners arrived.
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| Panning for gold... |
As BC grew, the Fort’s
importance declined. In 1923, it became a national Historic site, and later its
one remaining building opened to the public.
I have a beautiful one for the
new abode, whenever we settle.
One
evening we took the sky train into Vancouver and had a great visit with one of
John’s Queen’s classmates at a local Brew Pub.
Once
again, time to move on, this time to Vancouver Island. We packed up, hitched
and drove to the Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal.
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| Turning south towards the Ferry |
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| I love the Bridges! |
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| High Bush Blueberries |
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| The Ferry - waiting to pay... |
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| and Boarding the BC Ferry |
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