Revelstoke, BC to Bellingham, WA, August 19 - 29, 2012

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THE BASICS

After a couple of days in Revelstoke, we proceeded to Kamloops, BC for a couple of days' stay. Then came a choice: go down the Okanagan Valley as so many urged, or down the Fraser River Valley. John chose the latter. We stayed overnight at a nice campground in Boston Bar, then drove the remainder of the valley (with Linda grinding her teeth in terror most of the time) and reached Hope, on flat land. A couple of days in Hope, then on to Vancouver. But wait! First, John wanted to duck over the border to buy some gasoline and visit the charming little Dutch town of Lynden. That wait to get into the U.S. was only 1 1/2 hours. On to Vancouver (it's quick to get into Canada) where our campground was very close to downtown and Stanley Park and a big shopping mall. We spent a delightful day with friends Elsie and Clare. Our next crossing into the U.S. was 2 3/4 hours. Whew. Bellingham has lots of charm.

THE FLUFF

While Linda did laundry (a challenge since of the two dryers, one was "working" although on High, it did not dry clothes thoroughly) and computer work, John did the interesting things. He spent several hours at the Revelstoke Dam, 400+' high, one of the last dams built in the Columbia system for power generation. There was a great display about power generation from water.

We both went to the Railway Museum, and it happened to be a special (i.e. free) weekend with extra festivities. The displays there were excellent. A model railroad layout which travels around the area was especially charming; it even had tiny figures and tables in the cars. John had a wonderful time chatting with one of the volunteers, who had been a conductor on the Canadian Pacific and was, as most railroad enthusiasts are, bubbling with enthusiasm. He had taken training to be an engineer, but then decided the job of a conductor was more interesting and challenging. And he has so many volunteer jobs in that town that it's a wonder he has time to sleep.

In his 20's, John took a train across Canada and spent a night at Kamloops. He remembered the event fondly and thence had to go to Kamloops to see if he could find the railroad station and hotel (we actually did not find either). The terrain changed quite a bit as we neared Kamloops - it became much more desertlike, with scrub on the hills/mountains rather than tall trees.

We have not bought the "app", or whatever, which would tell Bertha (our GPS) that we are not just a car, but a 35' motorhome as well. So she sent us over the "red bridge" to our campground. Lots of people waved to us as we drove across! There had been a sign saying that the load limit was 4000kg, but it appeared when we were just about on the bridge with no hope of turning around. I finally bit the bullet and researched how many pounds 4000kg would be. Suffice to say, more than our motorhome. Since we are still alive, obviously the little red bridge and we survived.

We liked Kamloops quite a bit. It is built all over hillsides, but the roads are reasonable. The big box stores are a little way outside the downtown, accessible but not annoying. The downtown seemed quite vibrant - it had just about every kind of restaurant you could imagine. We settled for a coffee house, sitting on the patio in the warm sunshine. Kamloops has several parks, and we walked all through Riverside Park, past gardens and concert fields, etc. etc. It really was right downtown, along the Thompson River. We did a rare thing, for us - we went to a movie! We saw The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, and since it was Tuesday, the tickets were only $3.00 each.

Maybe it was a poor choice not to drive down through the vineyards and charming villages and farmlands of the Okanagan valley. But we felt as if we had seen a fair amount of that sort of scenery elsewhere on the trip. The hitch, though, turned out to be that Linda assumed that the road through the Fraser River Valley would be down by the river. Nope. It was high up on the mountainsides, with cliffs, turns, precipices, and all the things that terrify her. I'll not dwell on this, though, because we did survive. I kept thinking of Brady and Susie as I looked down (far down...) at the rapids in the river, and wouldn't it be grand to have adventurous spirits like theirs and all the other folks who thrive on what the river offers. It was, objectively, absolutely beautiful.

At a place called Hell's Gate, there is an "Airtram" (like a ski gondola) which plummets to the river level and an interesting museum. Hell's Gate is very narrow, which makes it even harder for the poor salmon to struggle upriver. Some do make it. John enjoyed the Airtram ride and the museum very much. (Linda napped and read in the RV)

At last we arrived in Hope, at the bottom of the Fraser valley. It is a charming little town, near the valley for the adventurous yet flat and lively for quieter pursuits. We had coffee and computer time at the "Blue Moose." Unlike much of the rest of the continent, it is not a bit hard to find a funky, charming coffee shop just about anywhere out here in the Northwest.

John wanted to duck down a few miles into the U.S. to fill up the gas tank. The hour and a half wait at customs made this seem like a questionable decision. However, we "saved" the day by driving over to the small Dutch village of Lynden after we got parked at a campground in Sumas. We enjoyed a coffee and miniscones at a sunny table on the street. A woman from Massachusetts asked John if he really was from Portsmouth, or if he had just bought a t-shirt souvenir there. Small world.

The next morning, we breezed back into Canada through their customs station. We drove past acres and acres of berry fields, filled with pickers, the women with head scarves. Our campground in Vancouver was extremely convenient, although our slot was so narrow that we could not have opened either our slide or our awning. No need to, though. If we had had bikes, we could have merely cycled over the Lions Gate Bridge to Stanley Park and then easily into downtown Vancouver. It was actually harder to drive because of one-way driving. We enjoyed the park, although the effect of the lovely gardens was lessened because of the Canadian goose poop covering the sidewalk. It was a slightly hazy day, not as crystal clear as the day we sailed out of Vancouver a few years ago on our Alaskan cruise, and the mountaintops were no longer snow-capped as previously, but the views of Vancouver are absolutely awesome in every direction.

The next day was one of the best of our trip. We met Elsie and Clare years ago on an Eastern European bus trip, and they had casually mentioned that if we were ever in Vancouver, we should look them up. We know that people who say things like are usually just being polite, but we nevertheless took them up on it and spent a delightful three days with them after that Alaskan cruise. We were glad to find that they were actually at home, since they are two of the best-traveled world travelers we have ever met. Elsie fed us a hearty breakfast and we enjoyed hearing about their travels and kids and grandkids. Then off we went to Granville Market, a very lively area of Vancouver. Even though it was "only" a Monday, it was jammed with folks enjoying strolling through the narrow streets, visiting the shops, watching buskers, eating and drinking at tables outside in the warm, bright sun. Then we headed to an area with a cluster of shopping malls in (high-priced) West Vancouver for a mid-afternoon lunch. More sun and conversation, and good food. Clare drove us back to their home and we spent another few hours chatting. And drinking wine. Oh, those two are so much fun and they do know how to enjoy/appreciate life fully.

The next day was rather strange because it was not sunny, but remained overcast all day. We hung around the RV, did laundry, walked to a shopping mall for a coffee. We do seem to need these quieter days sporadically.

And then, back to the USA. We must have chosen just about the worst possible time to make our border crossing because our crossing a few days back suddenly looked like a piece of cake. John was very patient, and I finally finished the 1300+ pages of Sacajawea, which has been a perfect book to read while we are out west. After our two and 3/4 hour creeping along in line, and being chided by the Agriculture Inspector because we did not have receipts to prove that the two flower containers in our front window were not bought in Canada, we were back in the USA at last. We only drove as far as Bellingham, WA. Parked the RV and drove into town. The campground hosts had suggested we go to the Fairhaven village southern section of the city, and it was very pleasant, full of shops and restaurants and an aura of hippie arts and crafts and environmental seriousness. I found several of the books on my list at a new/used bookshop, and we enjoyed a drink and a couple of appetizers, again on a patio in the sunshine. On the way back to the RV, we grabbed a half-gallon of ice cream, and a couple of servings of that completed our evening meal.

We are amazed and grateful that we are having so many sunny days. And the somewhat cooler weather is a relief after the scorching midwest. We are not even sure exactly where we will go next - Olympic Peninsula, Victoria BC, San Juan Islands are on our "maybe" list; Mt. Rainier is on the "definite" list, as well as visiting with our friend in Seattle, Ron. AND TUESDAY NIGHT WE ARE GOING TO A MARINERS-RED SOX GAME!!!!!!

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