Rob-n-Hild, oot and aboot eh? Sorry - 2022
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Richmond - Penticton (477 km, driving time 5 hrs 54 min, max elevation 1,343 metres) 
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| Starting with Hild driving and Rob navigating got us off to slow start as we missed a turn-off and got stuck in some traffic. But at least that slowed Hild down a bit (and kept her average just below 80!). After that it went quickly as all the traffic was going the other way, but we did get to cross another nice bridge - and then drive underneath it - as well as drive underneath the big bridge we drove over on our way in to Vancouver 10 days ago! | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Rob managed to have a meeting as Hild drove - nice work from Snus to keep us connected for 40 minutes while driving at 100km/h! And then we were back in Hope - at the same Timmies we ate at on Day 21 on our way to Vancouver. I think we had the same 11's then as well - twelve grain bagel toasted with extra butter! |
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A quick stop at the local supermarket for some frozen peas to put on
Hild's ankle (tip - don't walk sideways down stairs while bending
over smelling flowers) and we were off again down a different road to
last time - the Crowsnest Highway over the Cascade mountains to
Osoyoos at the start of the Okanagan Valley. This entailed a lot of
climbing as we went from about 50 meters to over 1300 m and then up
and down a bit more before finally dropping down to Osoyoos. Max
recorded nearly 4,000m ascending today!
On the south-facing side of the mountains it was green and lush and warm. On the north-facing side there was still snow! |
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| Driving along Skagit River we got to see fast rushing melt water with lots of trees and debris rolling down the mountain along side us. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| We also caught a glimpse of the Copper Mountain Mine near Princeton. Huge operation and big employer in this area. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Some of the landscape here looks a lot like what we remember from road trips with Kristin and Alvaro in Colorado! | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| In Osoyoos we stopped to see the only bit of desert in Canada - a small finger of the Sonoran desert that lies east of the mountain ranges and gets very little rainfall from the moist Pacific air-flow as that falls as rain on the western slopes. It was strange to see sage-brush and cactus just a couple of hours away from rain forests, but it shows how the mountains affect the weather. We had remarked earlier (on our way down from Prince George to Cache Creek and Kamloops) that there was a lot of irrigation equipment in the fields and it seems that most of the agriculture in this are needs irrigation. Most desert animals are nocturnal so we only saw plants plus a desert stink-bug (darkling beetle), but there was lot of interesting things to look at and read. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| As we drove up the Okanagan valley from Osoyoos, it is all fruit orchards and wineries. If you were on a wine-tour here it would take weeks because must have been 30 or 40 we passed and we are not half-way up the valley yet. We have not got into wine-tasting as only Rob drinks (and there are enough beers to try!), but it is nice to see the organized fields with rows and rows of vines or fruit trees. Very pretty - but very wet so no photos! | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| We only have one night here in Penticton as we are off to Revelstoke National Park tomorrow. We have re-stocked the food container at Walmart so we are all set to go bush (or at least as close to bush as we get these days!). | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In response to an eagle-eyed correspondent from the Antarctic, yes Rob has tidied himself up. He had neglected to pack the beard trimmer (which was on its last legs anyway) and after 4 weeks he was in danger of being mistaken for a bearded goat. A trip to Shoppers Drug-Mart in Nanaimo resulted in a replacement and after a couple of hours to charge, it was shearing time. Rob feels much safer now, with less chance of being shot as a trophy and Hild is happier as well. |
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| We are now in Penticton. Mary Jane isn't well and is spending the night at Canadian Tire. She has a rattling heat shield - apparently an easy fix - and she will be back up and running tomorrow morning. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Coming up: Off we up the Okanagan Valley to Revelstoke National Park. | Start | Nerdy | The Largest... | Ornaments | Go To Previous Day | Go To Next Day |
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May/June 2022