"Noah was a brave man to sail in a wooden boat with two termites." - Anonymous

Monday, August 3, 2009

Holiday Recap

We're back. And we had a blast. We saw so much of the British Columbia interior, much of it we hadn't spent much time in since we were children. It was so fun to see it with our boys. What a beautiful part of the country. The weather was fantastic, it was not crowded for most of our stay (surprisingly), and our accomodations were first-class.


We started out from Lethbridge, after our nephew's christening. A view of the southern Alberta windfarms from the highway near Pincher Creek is getting to be a familiar sight. We headed north to spend the night at a cabin in Windermere.



A long drive ahead of us, setting out from Windermere, passing through Golden, Rogers Pass (the disputed highest altitude spot on Highway 1), and Revelstoke (including numerous municipalities that consist of a church and a house or two, and possibly evidence of a once busy mining or forestry industry). Driving near railway for much of the trip, this was our only train sighting! This one was spotted across the lake (river widening?) from Three Valley Gap.



Continuing through Sicamous, past the Shuswap Lake region, and though Vernon, we arrived in Kelowna and took possession of our condo. This is the view from our balcony. 17th floor! Whoot! Beautiful. It's always great when you can experience something for one week that you could never afford to live.


We played on the beach.

We swam in the pool.

We visited a lavender farm.

We tasted (and bought) wine from Summerhill, Cedar Creek and See Ya Later Ranch.

We went cherry picking.

We ran through sprays of water.

And then it was over. Almost.

Subjecting the boys to the longest road trip they'd ever been on, we travelled south along the lake and valley through Peachland, Pentiction, OK Falls, Oliver and Osoyoos. Then east over the major passes through Grand Forks, Christina Lake, Castlegar, and Creston. Back north through Cranbrook to the family cabin in Fairmont. One night there to catch our collective breaths, then back home.

In all, over 1600km was driven. And I learned that my boys are way more resilient in the car than I thought they would ever be.

5 comments:

tracey.becker1@gmail.com said...

Whoooo! That is a long trip. But it looks beautiful and fun. Glad you're home safely.

Kami said...

Wow! What a road trip! Looks like you saw some beautiful scenery!! I leave for vacation in 2 weeks...can't wait to see how my little girl does on a 5 hour roadtrip. Hopefully at least half as well as your boys did on their much longer trip!

R Royal Family said...

You are one brave mama. I can barelt handle a trip to the grocery store ;-) It looks like it was a great holiday. Great pictures!

TheFitHousewife said...

OMG...we were in the same building! Our condo was 1603. That is too funny. Wasn't that view amazing! We played at the same beach and pool! The water park also looks very familiar.

How old are you kids? Was the car trip uneventful?

Kamis Khlopchyk said...

I have been wanting to visit the Okanagan, it's on our list. It's quite a drive for us from Regina but we will do it one day soon. Beautiful pictures!