The
next seven days we will visit 3 more destinations in the southern part of
British Columbia before heading back in the states. We will circle to WHISTLER then east to CACHE
CREEK, southeast to KELOWNA, and lastly turning west to HOPE near the border.
Whistler (Sept 16 - 18)
We spent three nights (two days) visiting
Whistler. Whistler was the site of the
2010 Winter Olympics. So there was a lot
more added to this place since our last visit in the summer of 2007. Whistler Village has numerous upscale
apartment buildings, hotels, restaurants and shops.
We
stayed at RIVERSIDE RESORT. This is a
fairly nice place in the woods. You can
stay at the main lodge, a comfortable cabin or a campsite. The campsites are spacious. The free WiFi has a good signal, but there is
no cable TV. You can get one channel on
the antenna.
Unfortunately, it rained the whole time during our
visit and it was cold. The sun peeked
out a few times for a time and at that time we went to Whistler Village looking
for places to eat and checked out the shops.
We found some nice galleries and visited the new Audain Art Museum.
Audain
Art Museum
This
is a brand new art gallery that just opened.
Its design is interesting as it is elevated above the ground because it
was built on a floodplain. The Audain
family built this museum to house its collection of British Columbian art. There are several pieces by Emily Carr whom
you met in Victoria where I posted a picture of a statue of her at the Empress
Hotel. There is also some interesting
modern art work. We enjoyed strolling
through this museum – art gallery.
Emily Carr - "The Path" (1935) and "Cape Mudgen Totem Poles" (1909-1912)
Nike Athletic leather footware - Brian Jundgen (2002)
This is an interesting piece.
The reflection on the floor is different from what you see on the glass.
We really wanted to take the tram up to the top of
Whistler Mountain like we did in 2007.
But the mountain top was covered in fog and rain. It would be a waste of time and $$ to go up
there when there is no view and is cold and wet. So we will save it for our next visit. The below picture was taken on our 2007 summer trip to Whistler. It was a clear day on top of Mount Whistler. There were beautiful views all around.
Cache Creek (Sept 19)
After a long haul over the mountain and forests in the
rain we drove into sage brush terrain and made an overnight stop in Cache Creek. It is a long drive (240+miles) to Kelowna so
we made a half way stop here.
We stayed at BROOKSIDE CAMPSITE. A small RV park with pull-thru sites under
trees with fall colors. We had a good
WiFi signal, but no cable TV and no TV with the antenna.
Across from our site was a pen with 2 Llamas.
Actually I think they were Alpacas. We had a nice visit with them.
Kelowna (Sept 20 - 21)
From Cache Creek we drove over some more mountains and
forests into the Okanagan Valley.
British Columbia’s wine country. Kelowna is the center of a fruit and vineyard region around Lake Okanagan, from which one-third of all apples harvested in Canada are shipped.
This
is where “icewine” is made. Icewine is
one of the most strictly regulated wine products in the world with nearly every
aspect of the process being heavily governed.
Grapes are left on the vine until the temperature falls below -8 degree Celsius
for 24 hours. At below -8 C the water in
the grapes are frozen, but the sugars are not.
When the grapes are pressed only the sweetest liquid emerges. To be designated as an icewine, the grapes
must be picked while they are frozen on the vine and pressed outside in the
same cold temperatures. Icewine must be
produced in the same area that the grapes are grown and must take the shortest
route from the vineyard to the winery.
Though
it originated in Germany, Canada produces more icewine than any other country
in the world.
We actually stayed in Vernon, just outside of Kelowna, at Swan
Lake RV Resort. We stayed here for two
nights. This is a fancy RV park where all the sites are privately owned. Each site is spacious and landscaped. We stayed in a site that was for sale for CAN$79,000
(which is about $60,000 US).
We had only one day to explore the area. No time to visit the wineries on this trip. But we did spend the day in Kelowna doing a self-guided
walking tour of the ‘cultural district’.
We started out at the Kelowna Art Gallery, found a great place to have
lunch at the waterfront and walked the waterfront to Stuart Park, then walked
up a few blocks and visited a Kasugai Garden, a small neighborhood garden. We visited some art studios in the Centre for
the Arts and the Old Cannery Building.
It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed exploring the cultural district.
"Rhapsody" is the sculpture at the entrance of the Waterfront Park
We had a delicious meal while we relaxed out on the patio.
Stuart Park, named after Kelowna's former mayor. Public art "Bear" by Brower Hatcher.
Kasugai Garden tucked in behind City Hall.
A symbol of friendship with Kelowna's Sister City, Kasugai, Japan.
It was completed in 1987.
Kelowna also cans and ships other fruits such as peaches and pears.
These statues and mosaic work line the "Artwalk" walkway.
The Artwalk opens up to the Center for the Arts. This center is built around and over the old Growers Supply agricultural warehouse. You can see beams, walls and flooring from the original building. It houses a 326-seat theater, artist studios, art gallery, dance studio, rentable space, bistro, etc, etc.
"Pianos in Parks", sponsored by Disney, was started last year. Apparently these painted pianos are all over Kelowna. We found three of them.
Hope (Sept 22)
Our last stop in British Columbia was Hope. This was just an overnight stop to break up
the miles from Kelowna and Gig Harbor in Washington.
We’ve been to Hope a few times before. This was a destination stop to visit the
wonderful Minter Gardens in nearby Rosedale.
These gardens compare to Butchart Gardens, but on a smaller scale. Sadly, these gardens closed down a several years
ago. It was run by a family that
retired. This was a truly magical place and we still HOPE someone buys the property and opens up the gardens again. So this city is now a stopover
for us before we cross over into the US. The below picture was taken during our last visit To Minter Gardens in 2009.
We stayed at WILDROSE CAMPGROUND and RV PARK. The place we usually stay at when visiting
Hope. It’s a small RV park with about 70
sites. It is a comfortable place to stay
with free WiFi (good signal) and cable TV (about 25 channels).
On day 47 we headed across the Canada / US border into
Washington State. Our next stop will be
Gig Harbor where we will pick up our mail and visit with our friends, the
Melchiors, again.
