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!