Vacation

Nicol and I just returned from a week's vacation in beautiful British Columbia, the province in Canada west of Alberta. It's one of the most stunning places I have ever been. We left Calgary on Monday afternoon, after loading up on snacks at Planet Organic. Our first stop was Lake Louise, which is fed by an inland glacier. In the summertime, after the ice has melted, it's a bluish green color. Right now, it's still iced over, although you could see a little bit of thaw.

From there, it was on to BC...about nine we decided to call it good for the day, so we rented a cute little A frame cabin in Sicamous. The next morning, we hit the road again, off to Penticton, where Nicol's cousin, Dale, lives, with several stops along the way. The wildlife you see while traveling through BC is so abundant....bears, elk, lots of deer, big horn sheep, bald eagles, marmots (a relative of the gopher). After arriving in Penticton, we had a great dinner that night with Dale and his wife, Rhonda, and drank way too much wine.

The next day, Dale took us on a tour of wine country. The Okanagan valley is famous for its orchards and vineyards. I'm not sure what the significance of the large breasted mermaid is, but it's a beautiful sculpture, nonetheless!

Also at this vineyard, Red Rooster, is a sculpture called "Frank the Baggage Handler." Frank was originally in the city of Penticton, but it seems that some of the locals were offended by the visibility of his "private parts" and proceeded to lop them off on several occasions. So after the involuntary castration, Frank was moved to Red Rooster vineyards, where he is happily residing.

Hillside Estates:

Our next destination was Nelson, BC, which is about a three hour drive from Spokane, Washington. Nelson was a haven for the American draft dodgers during the Vietnam war. Not only is it a liberal village, but equally stunning in its physical beauty. We had an appointment with a real estate agent, and looked at several houses in the area. Hopefully that area will be our Canada home in the near future.

Next was Nakusp, BC. Nicol's cousin, Rose, lives here. They own a 140 acre farm, that is a slice of heaven.

We experienced our first mudslide. On Saturday, after another meeting with the real estate agent in Winlaw, we were on our return trip to Nakusp. The previous couple of days were the warmest of the season for that area, so the snow melt was at full force, which in turn caused the mudslide. They were able to clear it after we had been there for an hour and a half. It really makes you appreciate the power of nature.

Also, in Revelstoke, which is on the major highway back to Calgary, there was a very large mudslide and the road was closed until Monday; and another mudslide knocked the power out in Nakusp. So that night, we built a fire in the pit outside and roasted hot dogs. It was really quite fun.

Sunday we headed home; but since the closing at Revelstoke, we had to go the long way back. Instead of a six hour drive, it was a twelve hour drive. Because of the mountains, there are only two highways...it limits a person's choice of travel!

I had a great time on this vacation, and so did Nicol. She got to see her family, and spend some time relaxing. The beauty and attitude of the people was refreshing. Now it's back to Calgary, where the trees are barely blooming......