November 29th 2012
Waking up at 7
Pictures as promised from the apt
Downtown on a rainy day
My sailor outfit?
Mama
I went for a swim in the basement of my dad's apartment. It is probably max 30 ft long, so it made for a short kick set with a lot of flip turns (open of course...). I sat in the sauna for about 10 minutes until I realized it wasn't on. Then I mosied upstairs for a shower and my mom and I went out to lunch at my favorite whole in the wall noodle shop,
Motomachi Shokudo. So tasty.
We walked home and planned a spur of the moment trip to the Okanagan Valley
in eastern British Columbia. It is a valley that is right on the banks of Okanaga Lake. It is a flat land and well known, along with its surrounding regions, for beautiful scenery as well as vineyards. We decided to make it a 2-4 day trip across the vineyards and around the lakes, and I am so glad we did.
We began our drive up the Trans-Canadian Highway (Highway 1) and stopped along the mountainside to take shots of the low lying fog draping the base of the mountains. We were pleasantly surprised by a small town called Harrison which was the home to hot springs (until we realized that the hot springs were only present through a pipe stemming from the very bottom of the lake, and that they reached a temperature of 145 degrees faranheit-- much too hot to bathe in). Harrison Lake was beautiful. (We were also pleasantly surprised by the radio and the tunes coming out of it.
Muse's Madness got us good.
We found this cute little town called Hope which is positioned somewhere near the middle of the journey from Vancouver to Kelowna/ Vernon. It is well known for its cedar carvings done with chain saws. They are positioned around the town and began with a creative project done by a local in the middle of a park with a rotting cedar oak tree. The town is called Hope, and we chose a beautiful bread and breakfast on top of the side of a mountain, called
High Hopes.
The bed and breakfast was made for the house owners, a pleasant british lady named Pauline, and her Canadian husband Larry. They designed the house and spent 7 years, with engineers, constructing the house looking over Hope. They rent out two bedrooms on the upstairs floor, the Eagle Room and the Bear Room. We chose the Eagle, because of it's obvious significance in our families mascot history, and because it has a view looking off the mountain. We arrived at night, so we can't wait to wake up in the morning to see the view that awaits us.
The highlights of the house include cork steps on the stairway leading up the stairs, cork flooring in the kitchen, a waterfall in the living room, a beautiful view, slate flooring, paneled wood high ceiling, and the two cutest little lap dogs the world has ever seen, one of which is 13, wears a velour red jumpsuit and can fit in a coffee mug.
I'm finding it hard to keep my eyes open. Once again, I promise pictures, and links once i can get them.
Tomorrow we will probably explore the tunnels of an old railroad, or maybe even the background shots taken in the movie Rambo. We might also go to Princeton, BC, which is supposed to be like the wild west, which I love. There are supposedly no stop lights and there are a few ghost towns. Maybe even some tumbleweeds and dueling cowboys? We'll see.
Sweet Dreams.
Love,
Kit