The Last Leg of our Journey

We started our day in Golden, a beautiful area of BC.  It is located in the Rocky Mountain Trench - a valley between two mountain ranges.  So the mountains are a little farther away, which means that your visibility of them is better.

It was a clear day when we started out, and got cloudy through the day, this was the clearest part of the day.

 Note the fresh snow on this mountain.

 

There are many tunnels in the area of Rogers Pass.  It is a very treacherous road in the winter as they get a lot of snow, and avalanches are very common.  The tunnels are located in known avalanche paths and allow the avalanches to pass right over the highway without impeding traffic.

At the summit of Rogers Pass, we could no longer see the tops of the mountains.  Fresh snow is apparent and, in fact, there has been lots of snow on the highway passes since we came home.

 

 This is Three Valley Gap in the Monashees, coming out of the larger more rugged Rockies.  On the far shore are railway tunnels to protect the tracks from avalanches.

 

 

 This is Mara Lake, in the Shuswap Lakes area of B. C.  This area is very popular for renting houseboats for summer vacations.  The lakes are beautiful, and very clear.  It is just north of the Okanagan.

 

 This is the beginning of the Okanagan Valley near Vernon, BC.   My Father used to call these the old worn out mountains.  They are much lower and have trees to the top.  This area is dry and counts on irrigation to grow things, but it is renowned for orchards and vineyards!

 

 The welcome sign of our home town, Peachland

 

 Another welcome sign.

Here we are parked in front of our Home, Sweet Home.  We unloaded as much as we could and then started settling in again. 

 

We traveled a long way, and saw a lot of this country and the northern States.  We also missed a lot, I know, so there are areas we must go back to.  We were treated very well by our fellow Canadians and by our American neighbours; they are great hosts.  We feel so lucky to be able to do this trip, and wish to thank all our friends, family and new acquaintances who hosted us and helped us along the way.  Wow, we are blessed.

 

We have calculated the length of the trip.

 

The RV drove 14,700 km.  or 9,100 miles.

The CRV that we pulled along behind, traveled an extra 6,000 km. or 3,700 miles.

We probably spent about $500 on repairs and maintenance of both vehicles, so that isn't bad at all.  We spent a fair bit on gas alright, but that was expected. 

 

So, we are home!  I think we will stay put for a while.  I don't know when the traveling bug will hit, but we will be home at least until after Christmas. 

 

So thanks again to everyone.  Hope you enjoyed the blog!  I did enjoy doing it.



Westward Bound

The Legislative Building, in Regina

We visited many friends and family in Regina.  I thought I would show you a little of the area around the Parlement Building.  Wascana Park and area is quite lovely. The trees in this part of Saskatchewan are all planted,the area is grassland, so only a few shrubs are found naturally, so the park is quite spectacular from that perspective.  They have a lake, man made, and many trees flower gardens.  Walkways around the park and around the lake. 

Queen Elizabeth, on her favorite horse, that happened to be from East End, Sask.

I found this guy in the Museum of Natural History in Regina.  I still have not seen a live Moose!  Some day.

We then left Regina, and drove to Maple Creek to visit, and then to Medicine Hat. The drive to Medicine Hat on the 29th was not comfortable, as the wind was gusting and very strong.  We were glad it was only 80 kms.  We then stayed at my cousins place for a couple of days, as the next day proved to have even higher winds, gusts of 115 km/hr.  We said nuts to that!  My cousins have a large, level, lot, with power, and lots of sheltering trees, so it was a great place to camp to wait out the wind.  Thanks, Lloyd and Sandy.

This is my little cousin Walker, helping me blow out my Birthday Candles.  He had to practice, because his birthday is coming as well!  And I was glad of the help.  Ha ha. 

Today we started out fairly early and there was no wind!  Yeah!  I have included some pictures of the prairie for those of you who have not traveled across the great plains.  It is sometimes completely flat, sometimes rolling.  If you keep your eyes open, you see antelope, hawks, deer, coyotes etc., as we did.  You can see forever!  I was born in this kind of area, so I find it quite interesting and even beautiful, in its own way. 

The above pictures are two reasons why Alberta is a 'have province', oil and beef cattle.

The foothills just outside Calgary

And the Rockies!  It was cloudy, but we got to see the tops of the mountains on the way by.  That is unusual for me.  It usually is very low clouds when I go through the Rockies.  I was very pleased to see the tops!  We did get the odd snow flurry, so we are glad we are nearly home.

It's not easy building roads here!

These two pictures were taken by our campsite in Golden, B. C.  The train is just across the Kicking Horse River, right behind our campsite.  So I am sure we will hear them in the night.  But otherwise it is a beautiful spot. 

 

So today was a day of contrasts.  From the Flatlands, to the foothills, to the Rockie Mountains. 

We have one more day on this wonderful journey.  Some of Canada's most beautiful vistas await us as we climb Rogers Pass with its glaciers and descend into the Shuswap Lakes and on to to the Okanagan.