Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
The road to Kelowna.
This was our longest drive so far - about 5:30 hours. South east and then due east along the US border. Every time we came to a left turn into the USA we chanted "Don't turn left! Don't turn left!" until we were passed it and could breath a sigh of relief. See Bob and Sharon for what happens when you accidentally turn up at the US border.
Canada is a big country and has several different climate zones - we passed through three of them on our way to Kelowna. In Nelson it was lush and green with dense trees all the way to the top of the mountains. Near the border, as the road dropped down from a pass between two valleys, the trees thinned out and were replaced by tall golden grass. Almost in an instant the colour scheme changed from greens to browns, goldens and yellows. It was very pretty - just like I had imagined Montana would look like from all the black and white Westerns I had seen as a boy.
Further on we turned north at Osyoos and entered the fruit basket and wine country. This is the driest area in BC and we intended to stop in a village called Oliver to take a winery tour and have lunch. Unfortunately, just as we were approaching Oliver, the heavens opened and getting out of the car suddenly wasn't an option.
We pressed on until we were desperate for a coffee. The last chance was a village called Okanagan Falls. It was a one horse town whose horse had died recently. Only one cafe so we went in. The few locals who were there turned as one to look us up and down. Granny Clampit (for those of you old enough to remember the Beverly Hill Billies) moseyed over and asked for our order. We order coffee and asked what cakes they had. Granny replied that she had brown cake and yella cake. We decided to stick with the coffee. In the back office a banjo was playing the theme from "Deliverance". In the four minutes that it took to drink our coffee we found out that Grannie's mother had come from Inverness, emigrating to Canada as a young woman. She had met a young man, had Grannie then slit her throat. She was no good. However, Grannie wanted a copy of her mother's birth certificate. I suggested that she email the Inverness Archive Centre who could probably provide her with a copy. We paid our 4 dollars and left gratefully.
We re-entered the 21st century at Kelowna.
- comments