Quality Inn Hope

Cooling my heels until I go to Mt Vernon WA for my front tire & oil change on Tuesday. So I thought I would explore this area, maybe as far as Vancouver or not. Kind of looking forward to eating some of the freshest fruit going!
Staying here is also less expensive than Vancouver or trying to get over to the island then reroute back to the mainland for the ride down to Seattle. Besides, I keep saying I don't like riding in big cities.

... Kelowna before I headed out after 11 am since I was going to Hope. How right he was. The temps were around 68 - 70 as I left but into the mountain passes just before Hope the rains fell and the temp plummetted to 49 - 50. In fact the sky reminded me so much of snow that I had to doubletake a look at the temp gauge. Awesome clouds and the mists were curling up from the evergreens in the best example of the water cycle I have witnessed.

When I descended at Hope I was ...

... Halq'emeylem" word means "quieter water at the head" or travel by way of a backwater. Now, I suppose that has something to do with the Chilliwack River. The area is big time agricultural due to its moderate climate and all over British Columbia we saw advertisements for “Chilliwack Corn”. We haven’t purchased any yet, but sure would like to before we leave.

Our campground is very nice and came with an added benefit ...

Wir haben die Sunshine Coast verlassen und sind zurück auf das Festland. Nachdem wir Vancouver passiert haben, machten wir uns auf den Weg Richtung Harrison Hot Springs. Eigentlich wollten wir im Sasquatch Provincial Park übernachten. Leider war jedoch die Strasse dorthin so schlecht und mit Löchern versehen, dass wir umgekehrt sind.

Nun geniessen wir den Abend bei einem kühlen Bier und gutem Fisch.

... bin - sadly made of apparently reinforced concrete - and made a small scrape along the bottom side of the van. Bummer. I wonder what the afternoon will bring. Stay tuned............. This afternoon we travelled to the nearby Coquihalla Canyon for a spot of birding and it was an amazing little site. It was the site where railway tunnels had been forced through steep sided cliff faces adjacent to a white water river. The railway was ...

... to bed down for the night. But we figured out how to do it, sort of, and while we couldn't make a quick get away, the bed (with sheets and pillows and everything) is very comfortable. Our first stop was Lake Kawkawa near Hope. All the name needed was an 'a' after the first 'w' and we would have felt we were back in New Zealand with Maori place names. After our first night as homeless vagabonds, I had a very refreshing dip in the lake (who needs showers?), we ...

... few days. So, I had decided to leave Calgary this morning, last week. For those of you not following the news for Calgary (if you don't live there), they had a record snow dump today. Last night I had the trailer packed up and ready to roll for first thing this morning. I get out of bed at 6 am and look outside. It looks perfect for a drive, no snow on the ground. I go wash up and head downstairs with the last of my stuff and look outside. It's snowing...big ...

... are a lot!). When we got to University Station, we shook hands, I thanked him profusely, and we parted ways. He didn't want to work much more in the film industry and when I said "maybe we'll see each other on set sometime" he said "I'd much rather see you on the road or on a trail", and I thought, so would I. So to Mike, John, Josh, Terry and Connie, and Gary, I've had a sip for you all this evening. Happy trails to you and thanks for enlightening my life. It's been a real pleasure. Cheers.

... local attractions (dog and bone come into it somewhere), she helped us plan the hiking trails to do tomorrow and a route he could take for his run tomorrow morning (apparantly she was a runner too - which helped!). [DCW] We checked in to the hotel and then went to a local pub (the Gold Rush Inn) for a very tasty, filling lunch and to sink a couple of beers. After that we went for a casual meander ...

... we watched the movie "Sideways" a few days prior and went home with a Pinot Noir to boot. A delicious dinner at Earl's to follow, was then ended by a sad goodbye to Pam and Gerry, leaving on flights back home the next morning. We miss you!! We'll be spending quite a bit of time in British Columbia hopefully volunteering at some organic farms and learning a little bit more about country living. Perhaps a trip up to Alaska? Yellowknife? We shall see...