Day 15 Vancouver for flight home

So here it is, our last morning in this beautiful part of Canada.  We woke at 8 to a lovely view if the lake.  After a quick shower we made sure everything was packed into the cases. We shared a cinnamon bun we'd got at the Blue Moose cafe yesterday sat on the balcony.  

With the car loaded we set of back towatds the main highway.  We didn't join it straight away, instead we did the very quick detour to bridal veil falls.  The was a 10 minute uphill walk through the forest to the base of a very pretty fall. There were a couple of coaches pulled into the car Park and the viewing area was quite busy when we arrived but it soon emptied and we had a few minutes to ourselves.   

Back to the highway and we turned on the audio tour to guide us back to the Vancouver.  The weather this morning whilst not cold was cloudy and rain soon moved in.

We stopped in an area on the outskirts of the city called Langley where I had spotted a Michael's craft shop.  We spent a while wandering the aisles and I didn't spent to much! Just some glow in the dark vinyl and some glitter mixes.  I was very restrained! 

We drove to another nearby shopping area where we found a restaurant called Mr Mikes where we had a couple of lemonades and we shared a meal of ribs and chicken pieces.

We still had an hour or so to waste so next stop was the electronics shop Best Buy, followed by a wander round Walmart.  The weather had definitely taken a turn and we saw quite a bit of rain and heavy cloud as we continued. 

With a final top up of fuel for the car we entered the airport and quickly found the car rental return.  Although a little thirst due to the big engine, Keith has thoroughly enjoyed driving the Dodge Durango.  Final mileage read 3800 km, it was 648 km when picked it up, making 3152 km covered (1985.5 miles).

We walked across to the terminal and dropped our bags, we had checked in online last night.  We were quickly through security, although I was pulled aside for a random check.  We grabbed a coffee and cake from Starbucks and settled down to wait for our 7.55pm flight.  

What a wonderful 2 weeks it has been, highly recommended it to anyone if you get the chance. It is a lot of driving, so if you prefer a shorter trip the unmissable section would have to be between Banff and Jasper.  Incredible scenery at every turn and the locals are very friendly and welcoming.

Day 14 Harrison Lake Nr Vancouver

What a shame to leave such a lovely accommodation and view this morning. With hindsight we should have grabbed something we could have eaten on the patio this morning for breakfast! Nevermind, I spent a while sat enjoying the view while having a quick chat with Mum.  

View from lounge

Drive down the hill

We packed the car up and headed out about 10 o'clock.  We had breakfast as A&W, similar to Tim Hortons/McD.  

We were going to use the local car wash this morning  but first spotted a Walmart so went for a quick wander.  Then we headed across the road to the Sonic car wash! Whoop whoop, holiday vibes!!  Seriously the car was dirty inside and out, our shoes had brought in a lot of grits and stones over the last couple of weeks and the front of the car was covered in bug splats.  The self clean garage had 10bspots to pull into with a jet sprayer(with options for pre soak, rinse or clear coat), a foam brush and a wheel brush. After struggling to get the machine to accept any of our payment cards Keith ended up at the cashier desk inside to pay.

Once clean on the outside we moved outside to one of the many covered vacuum areas, each with two hoses (one for each side of the car), and we set about cleaning up the carpets.  Such a great efficient operation! 

We got on the road. Our audio tour didn't cover the first part of our trip today.  We were surprised by the often changing scenery.  We drove up high mountains to over 5500ft and down again to rivers, passed dry slopes, that reminded us of California, to lush pine covered slopes and snow capped mountains, to farms for both livestock and arable.  It really was a varied landscape.  
 

Once we got to Merritt we rejoined the audio tour and decided to follow his suggestion to stop at the small town of Hope to visit a recommended cafe, the Blue Moose, and to see the wood carvings by the green.  We also made note to visit a waterfall tomorrow morning not far from our overnight stop.  We ordered a couple of pasties and a coffee each sitting in the cool of the cafe. The temperature this afternoon had hit 30 degrees which we hadn't really noticed in the air conditioned car but soon did when we got out.

The town was also used as one of the sets for Rambo, First Blood, not that they don't remind you at every opportunity!!

We arrived at Harrison Hot Springs at about 4pm. Unfortunately I hadn't received any access confirmation for our accommodation but after a couple of quick phone calls to the owner we had the necessary information and let ourselves in. Another beautiful location right on the lake.  After settling in we drove back to the town where I had booked a dinner reservation at the only real restaurant in town, Black Forest Steak and Schnitzel, obviously serving German food!

We parked the car on the front and walked the short distance to the restaurant. The sun was still shining to give a lovely warm evening. We chose to sit outside and had a lovely meal of schnitzel with potatoes and veg, which we followed by sharing a black forest cake.  All very yummy.

Can still see distant snow-capped mountains 

We walked back along the beach area to the car and returned to our accommodation.  Whilst at dinner we had received notification to book in for our return flights home tomorrow. Very sad. we packed our cases then sat on the balcony enjoying the last of the wine from yesterday.

Keith step count today 6500.  We are winding down! 

Day 13 West Kelowna

 We are continuing on our journey back to Vancouver today.

We started with the included breakfast at the hotel, before packing our bags and checking out. We did pop in to the Liquor store attached to the hotel and grabbed a bottle of Canadian red wine to hopefully enjoy this evening.  Next stop was in town at a supermarket to grab some pain killers as Keith appears to have picked up a cold and thought they might help.

As we had enjoyed the alpine coaster so much yesterday we thought we'd treat ourselves to another go! We retraced our steps and with tickets purchased, we were soon boarding the gondolas again.  At the top I decided to re-ride the track I did yesterday while Keith chose the other track.  Brilliant, could have kept riding but they weren't cheap and we needed to get on the road.

Dirty screens on the gondolas not rain!

View from the top of the coaster

Views from the car park!

We headed back to the main road and put the audio guide on again. We weren't going the whole route with it this time as we were going to a different town fir the night but it was interesting to listen to the stories until we turned off.  The small town where we turned the audio off was called Sicamous, the audio suggested trying the local ice cream shop which sounded like a nice treat.  60 flavours to choose from, Keith had salted caramel and I had butter pecan, both yummy.  We sat outside in the sunshine, it looks like it was a local dairy farm and they had a shed open to go and see some of their baby cows.

Back in the car and we set of south first towards Vernon.   The scenery had changed a lot since we left Revelstoke and rather than mountains we were traveling through valleys between hills, there were lots of farms and small holdings.  The road took us past a number of large lakes with lovely homes along the edges and up high in the hills. Mthere were also a lot of  people out in boats enjoying the lovely summer day. Temperature today was around 22 degrees. We stopped a couple of times at the lakes and eventually made it to Vernon which is a reasonably sized town although they classed it as a city! 

We drove through the city and at the far end followed signs to a picnic area.  We found ourselves at a little beach on Kalamalka Lake. We ate some bakery items we had purchased from the ice cream shop while we watched people on the beach and small boat pier and even some in the water.

The area around here appears to be well known for its large, beautiful lakes and it was easy to see why. 

We got to Kelowna just before 3.30. This is easily the largest place we have seen since leaving Vancouver, and the main road through was quite busy.  Our next AirBnB was high up on the far side of town at up a steep hill.  It was quite well hidden and we missed it first time round but eventually found it up a very narrow, very steep lane.  As we parked up the owner was just coming out and gave us a lovely greeting and showed us the apartment and where the hot tub etc were.  What a stunning view! Out across the lake and looking towards Kelowna itself. Just gorgeous. The apartment is lovely too with the same views from all the windows.

We made a cup of tea and sat out on the patio.  We booked a table at our new favourite, Earls, which was on the waters edge exactly opposite our patio. 

We parked in the local waterside park and walked across to the restaurant.  It was quite busy and noisy at the bar area, but we soon realised it was the final of the ice hockey big game, the Stanley Cup.  Our table was next to the window looking out over the lake, just stunning. We had our usual chicken wings to start,ntgrn Keith had the ribs and chicken and I had steak with crispy prawn sushi. This looked as good as it tasted! 

Back at the apartment we were keen to make use of the jacuzzi, it just had to be done! We sat soaking in the bubbles watching as the sun went down behind the hill we were on casting shadows across the town.  We had a glass of the red wine we'd got this morning and just relaxed. Just idyllic.

What a wonderful way to while away the evening.

Keith's step count today 6800.