Rocking the Rockies in summer with Mum and Sis - Part 3

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If you are going to stay in or near Revelstoke, I can not recommend the Three Valley Gap Chateau. Not only is the location amazing, the facilities, although some may say outdated but I say are characteristic, the restaurant has fairly good food and is affordable, a great view of the train line, lake and mountains and is very much a great spot to take the family. Right next door to it is a fabulous attraction, 'Ghost Town' which takes you back through the history of the late 1800's and early 1900's. They also have helicopter rides available and you can hire Kayaks or canoes to paddle on the lake. It is only 12km from Revelstoke as well and 14km from the Enchanted Forest and Suspension Bridge that overlooks a pretty awesome waterfall (which Doug showed me when I went with him to Mara Lake in April).



After walking around and admiring the gardens out the window, the games room that had a large checkers board, table tennis tables, eight ball table and heated swimming pool we enjoyed an affordable and tasty tea from the restaurant. While there, we were able to see the Canada Pacific ride pass along the rail road tracks, which is pretty cool to see passing through man made tunnels through the mountains. It was a great way to relax and unwind before the big drive to Kelowna the next day.



KELOWNA - SUMMER HILL WINERY, LOG BARN, STARLIGHT DRIVE IN

The two hour drive up to Kelowna I have told you about before. Driving through Sicamous, along Mara Lake and then on to Vernon and Okanagan Lakes before heading into Kelowna. I thought it would be good to do some wine tasting since this was a region, quite well know for it in Canada. I had no idea that this was one of, if not the most visited wineries in Canada with anywhere from 1000 to 3000 people per day popping in to taste their amazing wines, enjoy the spectacular views and enjoy some amazing and well priced food from their restaurant. I had only taken mum and sis there after I was told it had nice views and would be a good place to have a free wine sample.



When we got there, the car park was full and we were lucky to even get a park. We strolled down the hill towards a beautiful wine Cellar Door. Around the main entrance was a big mold of a wine bottle that was pouring into a wine glass and a small area where people could admire the view of the Okanagan Lake. We ventured in and hoped to try a free sample of their wines. I didn't read this but mum had said it was a free sample testing only if you bought something. Either way, we felt obliged to purchase a bottle of something depending on whether we enjoyed what we tasted. Whether it was red or white or even sparkling, the wine we had was amazing. It was smooth and tasty and the more it mellowed in your mouth, the more taste sensations you experienced. We even had a small sample of ice wine, which I had tasted in St Goar in Germany. Although sweet, it was very tasty indeed! One of the bottles I could recommend, which was a Shiraz by memory, was the 2010 Syrah. I was also lucky that Harry (an English bloke who had moved over to work in the wine industry and on the sky slopes in winter - no, his last name wasn't Potter) also gave me a taste of the 2011 Spadefoot Toad Syrah to compare the difference from a harvest from year to year. Both drops were amazing and if I had the money, I would have definitely bought a bottle or two to take home and share with a couple of the Willunga staff who I know don't mind a good drop. I also tasted their 2012 Pinot Noir and the 2013 Merlot which were also quite smooth and went down quite nicely. The bottle we decided on, since my sis didn't like red was a white, the 2014 Viognier, that was made up of viognier grapes from two vineyards. If I drink white, usually I would have the Marlborough Winery in New Zealand, but this white was really good and thoroughly recommend it.



We enjoyed a really nice lunch of some organic pizzas and then had a quick chance to walk through the Okanagan Lake and show off the Waterfront Park, which I had visited only a month or so ago. Unfortunately I didn't get time hike Mt Knox which I had hoped to do, but it was a nice quick visit to Kelowna before we headed back towards the Three Valley Gap. On the way home, we stopped at a small little shop called the Log Barn. This was a cool little shop with all kinds of fresh produce, fudges, meats, cheeses and a number of small tourist gifts. Surrounding the shop was a number of sculptures, mainly of dinosaurs but they had a few other things as well which you could walk past and admire and had a small little goat farm. This goat farm was home to the largest goat walk in the world, where the goats would walk up along a bridge to eat food. It is definitely worth a quick stop and maybe even a nice place to get some food to have a picnic somewhere.



Only minutes from the Log Barn was the Starlight Drive In. I had seen it on the way and thought I would like to have a quick look at one of the rare drive ins of our time. The place where people packed the car parks and smuggled people in the boots of their cars in the 60's and 70's is now something the new generation can only see if they watch 'Grease'. We was lucky that the owner was opening up for the night and he gave us permission to drive around and have a look at his small but cute little set up. The screen he said was the biggest outdoor screen in the world. This lead to a bit of a debate in the car whether this was indeed the case, but the screen was quite large in person let me tell you that. If it wasn't so far from where we were staying I would have gone and taken the car and watched a movie there. And how is this for value. Two movies was $10 and a large popcorn that you would pay $12 for at the cinema was only $4. I remember that the Minions was playing that particular night but can't remember the other movie. Even though the movie started at 9pm, people would come in as early as 7pm to get the best view on any of the three levels of parking that was offered. It was funny that two seemingly small attractions on the side of the road had really caught my interest and if I do happen to head that way again before I leave, I think I'll head down, get some snacks from the log barn and then watch a movie at the drive in.



On the way home, I had been told by someone about taking mum and sis to D Dutchman Dairy in Sicamous as it was quite well known for its ice cream. While the ice cream was quite nice, you can go and visit the baby cows that are kept in stables and view a very small enclosure containing Alpaca's and Peacocks by memory. We also stopped by 'The Last Spike', which I have spoken about before. This time I noticed that the last spike was actually spray painted gold. Now whether or not it was indeed the true last spike or just one that was randomly selected and painted for tourist reasons I'm not sure, but it was good to visit the historical site once again.



THE GHOST TOWN AND THE ENCHANTED FOREST

The next morning would be the last of our Rocky Mountain adventure and continuing on with the small unique attractions, we decided to visit the Ghost Town that is located on the same site as the Three Valley Gap Hotel. We had only intended to quickly walk through it and move on, but we couldn't help but get sucked in and taken back on a time warp to the historical past. From the basic deli like shops which acted like supermarkets in those days, to the mining industry, school life, to how different types of people lived in those days, it had it all. It even had different businesses like the barber, the local jail and the saloon which looked pretty cool as well. One part that was very interesting was the progression of automobiles from when they were first made to about the 1940's. We also got a tour through the carriages of old trains including the first class carriages that were used to travel back in those days before planes were even an idea. This place you could spend two or three hours at and I think it is a great place to take the kids to show them what the world was like over a hundred years ago. It actually made you realise how much you take the world we have today for granted, particularly when you see the one room houses with a fire, a pot to do your toiletries in, the old scrub board for washing clothes after they had been soaked in the big tub of hot water or in the river. They even showed the progression in the bath tubs people used and how they washed themselves.



We moved on to go investigate the Enchanted Forest! Now this does sounds more like a place for a young family to go visit. And maybe you are right when you actually go in and walk through it. This place is actually an art exhibition of a local artist, who started making art sculptures from different bits and pieces. It just so happened people drove past and stopped to admire her work and the Enchanted Forest took off from there. Even for parents who have new young children, you can brush up on all your nursery rhymes (some I had never heard) and reminisce your childhood days. It is about a forty minute walk that takes you on a journey of art work for different fairy tales and nursery rhymes that kids can wonder through and play inside and around. There is also a nature walk as well, which looks at the different plant life and tree species in the forest. If you go far enough you can even hop in a row boat and go for a good old-fashioned romantic paddle in a large pond or dam which can also be a nice place to just sit in the boat and have a picnic. If you are a bit more into adventure, well the Trek Adventure Park is right next door and I must say the high ropes and zip line there did look pretty cool, but that would have to wait for another day.



While the adventure was quite fun and we had experienced quite a bit in the time we were out, I have to say I was glad to return back to Calgary. The driving days were long and there were times where differences of opinions were shared between the three of us, but it was good to experience the parts of Canada I had fallen in love with and show them to my family. There were many different tourist destinations and experiences we could have done, but time was always a big factor in how the trip unfolded. I just hope that mum and sis enjoyed the trip and that they could see why the Rockies are so easy to fall in love with.

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Photos

Little Boy Blue
The Nursery Rhyme that was on my wall as a kid