Dee Lake

Day 220 – Finally some nice cheese

First thing in the morning we all piled into the Beast one last time to ferry Marg and Jeff to the airport.  We went in with them and spectated as they (and all the other poor passengers) dealt with American Airlines idiotic self check-in machines.  We then said a quick goodbye and watched them disappear through customs pre-clearance.

After a quick breakfast back at the hotel we hit the road back toward Vancouver.  As we didn’t need to be back until Sunday afternoon and it was only Friday morning we’d picked a place to stay for a couple of nights halfway back.  Forgetting that it was an hour earlier in BC than it was in Alberta we made a call to try and get a reservation, the woman sounded a little peeved (because of the early hour we later realised) but we did manage to secure ourselves a ‘rustic cabin’ for a couple of nights.

After a few hours on the Trans-Canadian we turned south down the Okanagan Valley, and much to Elliott’s delight passed a sign advertising a cheese factory (he’d had a hankering for nice cheese for about a week), so in Armstrong we made a stop.  Inside the shop we discovered a bus load of middle aged ladies from all over Canada.  They seemed to be spending more time batting their eyelids at the poor guy serving the samples, but when they cleared we set to work sampling every cheese in the place.  We eventually agreed on four, a nice creamy Traminer, a Mediterranean herb, a jalapeño and one other I can’t recall.

Next stop was Kelowna for supplies (beer and wine mostly, but also enough food to see us through a couple of days, not to mentions crackers for our cheese!), before we headed up into the hills towards Dee Lake.  As we hit the gravel we wondered whether the Beast was allowed off the bitumen, but decided seen as it was a 4WD it was only appropriate.  Finally we arrived to find a quaint little ‘resort’ nestled amongst evergreen forest on the banks of a beautiful little lake. 

Our cabin was indeed ‘rustic’, but it had everything we needed, two double beds, a table and chairs, a really comfy lounge chair, sink, gas stove, fireplace and heaps of firewood.  Naturally Elliott and I set straight to work building a fire, Elliott seemed to especially enjoy chopping wood (for me it brought back memories of my grandparents’ farm).  After dinner we tried to sit around the fire making s’mores and playing cards, but the ferocity of the mosquitoes eventually droves us inside.  So instead we sat in front of the fire inside and played cards!

Day 221 – Paradise is probably warmer with less mosquitoes.

This morning we capitalised on the opportunity to sleep, then stocked up on mosquito repellent and ice and headed down to one of the little docks on the lake.  While the sun was out it was beautiful, but when it went behind a cloud we had to temporarily rug up.  I tried going for a dip in the lake, but only lasted a couple of minutes before the cold forced me back onto the dock to warm up in the sun.  Otherwise we did very little all day, it was wonderful!

Day 222 – Back to reality (for some)

In the morning we packed up and said farewell to our little cabin.  Except for some lunch at Subway in Hope and some terrible Sunday afternoon traffic getting back into Vancouver, the trip home was pretty unremarkable.  We did however drive past the spot where we had run out of petrol six years earlier and had met Pat and his Weimaraner, unbelievably Kat had never heard the story (one of our favourites), so we were kept amused telling that for a little while. 

Getting back to Elliott and Kat’s apartment in Vancouver felt like returning home.  It’s funny how quickly we can adopt that notion nowadays!

Banff

Day 217 – Chasing squirrels

This being the first day in a while where we weren’t on a tight schedule we all (except Jeff of course) took the opportunity to sleep in.  While everyone was deciding what we were going to do with our day I went for a run around nearby Table Mountain.  Half of me was hoping to spot a bear as I ran through the woods, the other half was hoping not to!  In the end, I only spotted some birds and a few ground squirrels.

Around about lunchtime we headed out to explore the town.  It’s quite a scenic place, if perhaps a little imitation Swiss mountain village. 

  
Everywhere you look there is a mountain backdrop.

In the afternoon we took advantage of the hot pools at the resort, sampling both the warm and cool pools before having a sauna. 

On our way back from picking up Ben from his hotel (he was in Banff with work) we spotted some caribou wandering along the street as well as a field full of ground squirrels.  When we got back and told Marg and Erin about this they got quite excited so we went for a walk to do some wildlife spotting (which mostly consisted of Erin and Marg chasing small mammals around an open grassy area!).

There’s that backdrop again.

 
Elliott and Kat had a hankering for a BBQ, so they cooked us one up for dinner, then we hit the bar at the nearby backpackers hostel (though Erin and I were a bit over the backpacker scene!):

And now for the silly faces part of the night:

    

Day 218 – Bare bear bums

Today we headed to Lake Louise, an excursion that Marg had been eagerly anticipating.  On the way there we avoided the Trans-Canadian and instead went along the Bow Valley Parkway, hoping we might catch a glimpse of some wildlife.  We were rewarded not far into the drive when we spotted a caribou with a nice big rack (of antlers!) grazing by the side of the road.

About halfway to Lake Louise we made a stop at Johnson Canyon for a bit of exercise and some more waterfall viewing.  Unfortunately we’d been spoiled by the offerings at Wells Gray and today’s waterfalls looked a little tame.  We were also a little put off by the huge numbers of people on the walking trail, many of whom looked equipped for multi-day adventures, despite the trail being basically wheelchair accessible!  In fact the highlight of the walk was probably watching the tiny ground squirrels.

At Lake Louise we ummed and ahhed about whether to pick up some lunch in the pricey hotel, eventually settling on a snack from the hotel bar overlooking the lake.

It was difficult to capture it in photos, but the lake was quite a brilliant blue colour which was supposed to be even brighter about a month from now.

This photo probably would have been better looking the other direction with the lake in the background , rather than a wall, oh well…

Our next stop was Moraine Lake, a bit nicer in my opinion because it doesn’t have a monstrous hotel perched on its edge.

After a big night out last night, this evening was rather more sedate - we played Pictionary.  Elliott and I got away to an early lead, which looked unassailable.  Alas this was not the case, Kat and Erin overtook us at the final hurdle.  Ben and Marg on the other hand, lets just say they had fun.

Day 219 – The day Tom Tom and I became friends

This morning we had to tick off our last Banff tourist item, the Banff Gondola,  before heading toward Calgary to drop off Marg and Jeff for their flight to New York.  The entry price was steeper than the line of gondola towers up the mountain, but it also included entry to their small network of trails and interpretative signs at the top of the mountain.

We asked Tom Tom (Elliott’s GPS gizmo) where to stop for lunch on the way to Calgary.  I’ve had the wineries and breweries option turned on all week, but so far Tom Tom has only taken us to fruit wineries (boo) and a vacant factory in Kamloops that was once a microbrewery.  So when Tom Tom pointed us to ‘Grizzly Paw Brewery’ in Canmore I was sceptical.  But this time he was on the money, and sure enough he delivered us to a microbrewery that not only served tasting platters of it’s brews, but also lunch.

Late afternoon we checked into our little hotel suite near Calgary Airport.  Although we hadn’t realised when we booked it, the hotel not only had a pool, but also a waterslide.  Our excitement only mounted after the first go when we realised that the waterslide wasn’t even lame, on the contrary it spat you out into the pool like a cannonball (with some nice friction burns if you weren’t careful).

Before dinner we did a quick drive around downtown Calgary so that we could say we’d seen it, and then settled on a pretty ordinary (but cheap at least) Vietnamese restaurant for dinner.

Wells Gray Provincial Park and the Icefields Parkway

Day 216 – Waterfalls, mountains, glaciers, sheep and a lot of driving

Wells Gray Provincial Park is a huge tract of wilderness in the middle of BC.  Aside from a few roads that penetrate a small way in from various directions, the road we drove up was the only substantial paved incursion into the park.  I have a bit of a waterfall obsession that everyone kindly decided to share for the morning.  Our first stop was Spahat Falls, where a narrow canyon emerges into a broad bowl creating quite a stunning effect.

 

Next stop, a bit further into the park was Dawson Falls.  Quite different from Spahat Falls, here the broad river cascades over a wide drop in the river.  Perhaps the most impressive feature of these falls was the rainbow shining through the spray.

 

The waterfall hat trick was completed by Helmcken Falls.  Supposedly the most impressive of the park’s falls we all agreed that we preferred Dawson Falls.  They were also an impressive sight nonetheless.

On the way back toward the main road Marg spotted some wildflowers by the road and we pulled over so she could get some practice with the macro mode on their new camera.

Our final stop in the park was Green Mountain Viewing Tower where we grabbed a few quick snaps before hitting the road toward Alberta.

Erin practicing to be a grid girl. [E: Because that beast made me look skinny ; p ]

Driving toward and then around the imposing Mount Robson, BC’s highest peak.

After a quick whizz around the town of Jasper we headed south toward Banff along the spectacular Icefields Parkway.

Some Bighorn Sheep kindly grazing within viewing distance of the road.

 

 
Athabasca Glacier as seen from the Columbia Icefield Centre.

 

 

Eventually the Icefields Parkway joins the Trans-Canadian Highway, which as it passes through the national park has regular animal bridges!

Early in the evening we finally reached Banff and checked into the luxurious accommodation that Marg and Jeff had kindly organised for the six of us.  Aside from our three story apartment we also had views over the surrounding countryside from the balcony and access to some lovely hot pools.  While Elliott and Kat cooked us dinner all that was left for us to do was relax.

  
Banff Hidden Ridge Resort.

Clearwater

Day 215 – An introduction to winging it

This morning Jeff took the wheel and we headed off north from Whistler, taking the scenic route toward Kamloops.  Our eventual destination was Banff, but we had a couple of days to cover the distance so we decided to go for the scenic option rather than direct up the Trans-Canadian Highway.

Lake Lillooet, our first rest stop of the day.

On the outskirts of Lillooet we stopped in at a winery, but they’d not yet had their own harvest and were instead selling wine made from grapes from the Okanagan Valley a couple of hundred kilometres away.  It wasn’t bad stuff but it was a little pricey.

For lunch we stopped at a fruit winery in Cache Creek.  Their wine was made from a wide variety of fruits (some of which we’d never even heard of), most of which were grown on their farm.  Varieties included Salmonberry, Raspberry, Apricot and Honey. 

In Kamloops we tried to stop at a microbrewery to round out the hat trick, disappointingly the brewery was gone, so we turned north and headed up the Upper Fraser Valley in search of accommodation for the night.

At first Marg was a little hesitant about winging it, but we convinced her it would be OK for one night.  When we got to the little town of Clearwater we decided that we had travelled far enough for a day and went in search of accommodation.  The first place we looked at was right on the lake, but a bit too pokey for the six of us.  The second place was a bit more rundown, but much roomier, cheaper and also over-looked the beautiful lake, quite a winner in the end.

Standing on our balcony.

It turned out that not much happens in Clearwater on a Sunday afternoon.  We found the one place left open with beer (crisis averted) but ended up having to acquire dinner ingredients from the service station, not great but we got by.

Provisions obtained we headed down to the little beach on the lake.  Jeff and I each had a swim and then Erin, Kat, Elliott and I sat around on the shore for a while.  The temperature was still in the high 20s, quite a pleasant change from the cool coastal weather.

 

 
Out for an evening stroll.