Road Trip #2a - Kelowna to Banff

Sooo, after more scrumptious pancakes the next morning we packed up our little car and headed out on the road again.

The drive up to Banff was increasingly impressive as you headed further into the Rockies. The Okanagan, our starting point, looks quite a bit like the Lake District, but with some more arid, Mediterrean overtones. As you go along it just gets greener and/or snowier while the mountains rise higher and higher either side of you, and eventually the lakes and rivers are frozen.






I got incredibly excited when we started to see moose warning signs:


Unfortunately, while the weather gods worked their magic, the moose-gods, or perhaps the moose themselves, seemed to have gone on holiday. C'est la vie. Apparently the Rockies isn't actually the best place to see them anyway - they reckon there are only about 350 of them between Banff and Jasper, but I've got a whole summer yet, so you never know.

Eventually, we entered Alberta (narrowly missing out on the chance to stop by the road along with everyone else on the highway and see a real life bear, so Tabitha assures us - me and Hannah missed it until it was too late).

And a little while later we arrived in Banff to stunning sunshine and blue skies.


We checked into the (exceptionally nice) hostel and got a mouth-watering dinner in town before turning in early, rather exhausted from all the not a lot we'd been doing. More on Banff coming soon.

Road Trip #1 - Vancouver to Kelowna

ROOOOOAADTRIIIIP!!!!!! :D

Yay! So, we're on the road and massively appreciating the wonderfulness of having a car to explore Canada's vast expanse (well, some (a very little bit) of it!).

Wednesday was a pretty long day for us, and the end of a mini era (erette?), as we moved out of our North Van apartment. Now officially homeless, we packed everything up and had left Vancouver by about 3.30 for a long-ish drive to Kelowna.

Kelowna is one of the 3 main towns in the Okanagan - wine country. Mainly we were stopping there because we wanted to break up the journey, but it's very much a destination in it's own right too - in the winter for Big White and Silver Star ski resorts, in the summer for the lake and the wine. Having arrived fairly late we just took a quick drive around in the evening and then headed back to the (rather cool (see pic), if not a little loud) hostel to sleep.


The next morning presented a minor blip in otherwise faultless weather on the trip. I mean, it was freezing cold and raining, which rather put a damper on a town known for it's outdoor pursuits. However, we made our complimentary pancakes and headed out into town regardless. Mostly we found a bear statue and Nessie's cousin.



The bear is a tribute to the town and it's founding in the region. 'Kelowna' is the English translation of the Okanagan First Nations word for grizzly bear - apparently there are a fair few of the around the lake.

Now, introducing the other landmark in Kelowna, 'Ogopogo' (first cousin to Nessie):


To quote the most reliable of sources on such matters, wikipedia says:

Ogopogo or Naitaka (Salish: n'ha-a-itk, "lake demon") is the name given to a cryptid lake monster reported to live in Okanagan Lake, in British Columbia, Canada. Ogopogo has been allegedly seen by First Nations people since the 19th century. The most common description of Ogopogo is a forty- to fifty-foot-long (12 to 15 m) sea serpent. It has supposedly been photographed and even been caught on tape.

Proponents of the Ogopogo's existence claim that the first documented sightings of the creature date back to around 1872, and occurred as the area was being colonized by European settlers. Perhaps the earliest mention of the Ogopogo was the story of a man in 1860 leading horses that were swimming across the lake near Rattlesnake Island. They were pulled under by some unseen and unknown force later attributed to the then common native myth of the Ogopogo

So there you go. Nessie, but with a cooler name and potentially interesting anthropological interpretations of colonial contact with locals. Mostly it's a plastic statue to play with.

We got a bit lost at this point, not really knowing what best to do with our day. Kelowna seemed like the kind of town it would be lovely to spent a summer in, but didn't have much for cold, wet days except a sort of bizarre mid-West chic.


By this point I'd decided that all my pictures would look a lot less gloomy and much more atmoshperic if i took them in B&W or sepia (bear with me...). This new photographic streak, along with a real-life paddle steamer) did help capture the town's ambience as a old style seaside town that hadn't gone past it's hey-day yet.


Anywayz, at this point the both the weather gods and perhaps the travel gods (or maybe just the helpful lady at the tourist info) shined upon us and sorted out the rest of the day. Being known for it's wine, we were determined not to leave until we'd done some wine tasting. The helpful travel-lady gave us various good options, as well as pointing out a couple of views we shouldn't miss while we were there. Meanwhile, the sun fought hard to melt the gloomy clouds, and low and behold by the time we'd had a cup of tea (and seen one of my favourite signs yet:)...


... and got up to the winery on the hill, the sun had moreorless come out and begun to transform Kelwona into a rather stunning little spot :)


Ok, so it hadn't quite cleared by this point, but it was getting there, and yes, that is quite as large as it looks.

Like I said, the various gods were smiling on us at this point and we got to the winery only to discover that they had some kind of special thing going on whereby their tours were free that day - never quite understood why, but i wasn't about to complain. Of course, the obligatory tasting would follow as well.

Summerhill Pyramid Winery is an interesting place. Mostly they make wine, but they also age their wine in a pyramid which makes their wine especially yummy, or so they say. Something to do with energy channelling and negative-positive space-time. Not sure whether the owner believes this, or whether he's very good at marketing, but in any case, their wine is rather nice, and they do have a pyramid to look at, which is pretty cool.



I'll let you decide for yourself about the 'science' of it all, in fact, i'll quote them; from their very own website:

The pyramid's effectiveness may also be explained using Einstein's concept of Tachyons and Tardyons. Tachyons are particles of invisible energy that move faster than the speed of light (that means it is faster than 186,282 miles per second). Tardyons behave in the opposite way, moving below or at the speed of light. This brings about a theoretical negative space-time. Negative space-time is 180 degrees from positive space-time. In positive space-time living organisms change from life to deterioration. In negative space-time, life moves from deterioration to rejuvenation.

It is said that the pyramid serves as the interface between positive and negative space-time. It serves as a bridge between matter and anti-matter and becomes the gate or the instrument through which two realities meet and interact. In a precise chamber with perfect geometry such as a pyramid, a dome, or a true Roman arch, (many of the finest "champagne" houses of Europe age their bottles today in ancient Roman arch cellars actually built by the Romans), the two energies come together at the same rate of speed!

If the pyramid can serve as the meeting place for positive and negative space-time, then it would not only be the oldest, largest, and most mysterious instrument invented by the mind of man, it would also be the most useful. If the ancient builders could put together an instrument in which matter and antimatter could interact, they did indeed have all the energy they could ever need.

Some scholars have speculated that the builders could not have possibly constructed the large pyramids by moving the huge boulders into place by primitive methods, but that they had some means of levitating stone. (Levitation is said to happen in negative space-time). Other studies on pyramids have claimed that the Great Pyramid was used to elevate human consciousness to other levels of existence.

Sorry, I was going to put just a juicy morsel there, but could decide which bit was my favourite and had to quote the whole passage...

Now don't get me wrong, maybe the pyramid does make better wine, but as soon as you start involving tachyons in your explanation, I'm afraid you've lost me on the science argument...
Do have a look at their website, they're interesting people: http://www.summerhill.bc.ca/Story/The-Pyramid

But never mind science, what we all really want is wine. Very nice wine, mmm. I shall never be mean about Canadian wine (or perhaps pyramids) again - it was fairly delicious. We also got to try the fabled 'ice-wine', which i think is only a Canadian thing, at least, I've never come across it before. Ice wine is like port or madeira, but a bit lighter - it's made from grapes that are left to freeze on the vine and only then are harvested. Not sure what difference that makes, but it's a good gimmick. I would really liked to have bought a bottle, but at $110 a go, it might have to wait until i'm rich.

Aside from the wine, the whole place was rather pretty - including some stained glass that I thought I'd record for you, mum, it was rather pretty:

I imagine it was by some local artist - everything there was local and organic and generally wholesome... Anywayz, I thought it was a lovely effect.

Suitably lubricated we decided to head onto the look out point that tourist-lady had suggested earlier, which was a stunning end to a good day out.

(We'll not think too hard about the evening. Having headed back to the hostel to watch the big games - the ice hockey championships are on at the moment - we ended up watching nearly 4 hours of crippling defeat of both the generally supported teams in the hostel (Montreal (vs Boston) and the Vancouver Canucks (vs Chicago))... Oops. However, all is forgiven, because the Canucks have made it through to the semi finals and play their first match of that series tonight!).

I leave you with one of the lovely panoramas of Okanagan Lake and Kelowna. I'll try and get the rest of the week up asap. Coming soon: Road Trip #2 - Kelowna to Banff

What next?

Soo, the ski season is over for me - i've packed up all my gear (in fact, i've packed more or less everything I own). We're moving out next Wednesday for new pastures and leaving Vancouver for a little while.

So to start with we're going to head up to the Rockies. Now, this is slightly weather dependant, because we don't have any wish to be driving through lots of snow or anything (or any snow for that matter), and at this time of year that's a bit hit and miss. If it's not looking good, we'll head elsewhere instead. So current plan is to head out north east to Kelowna, then drive on up to Banff, where we will explore Lake Louise at the same time. All very pretty. After that, roads being well, we'll drive up through the national park to the town of Jasper - perhaps via the glacial ice fields. Finally, we'll be heading back to Vancouver via Salmon Arm, which is the main town on a reputedly very beautiful lake. Unfortunately the HI hostel there has a conference in that night, which we're all rather miffed about because the hostel is made up of train carriages (!). But nevermind.

After that, I will be somewhere for a week. Most likely, Vancouver. But if I haven't spent oo much money by that point, I might go and have a look at Victoria or Nanaimo, on the Island. I'll keep you updated.

Then, the interesting bit. I am going to be heading up to Prince George (BC) on the 4th may, for the next 3ish months to be a tree planter. To start with we'll be based in the UNBC uni halls just outside of Prince George, then when we've finished that contract, we'll be heading onto Houston (home of the largest fly-fishing rod in the world, I'll have you know - exciting place...), and then a third contract for the last couple of weeks (end of July/beginning of August) North of there, but I've forgotten what the place was called. After that i'll see how mcuh money I've managed to make (this is the principle reason that anyone does tree planting - being paid by the tree, it is potentially very lucrative for the job) and adjust job/travel plans accordingly.

On a practical note, I am taking my laptop with me - i have no idea what the internet where we're staying will be like (or whether it exists) but Prince George at large will have it, so i should get on once in a while at least. I also have mailing addresses for anyone that needs them, but knowing the Canadian postal system, I can't imagine how long it would take for stuff to get that far north if it has trouble working with any efficiency in Vancouver!

Sooo, uh, that's about my plans. We'll see how they go I guess. Meanwhile, my erstwhile housemates are going to spilt after the Rockies - Hannah is heading to Vancouver Island for a month to go be head bridesmaid at her friends wedding, and Tabitha is heading south to the states to go and work on a kids camp, which she's done for several summers running now.

I will do some Rockies posts before I head up there though, so there will be more blogging soon(ish - subject to me gettig around to it)! :D

Happy Birthday Vancouver!

So, apparently Vancouver is 125 years old this year. This notion is definitely debatable (more on that later), but why debate a notion when it is the basis for a party, with cake and everything - where truth is concerned, cake always wins.


Soo, Wednesday before last I headed down to the waterfront downtown to check out what they had planned. Mainly it involved street hockey, people on stilts, music and a huuuuge stage.


Later on when the ceremonies began, there was a First Nations witnessing ceremony, where they basically tell people that they need to remember the event so that they can tell other people about it - oral history and all that jazz (think blogging will as a technology-enabled equivalent...). In the picture above you can see the procession (on the big screen) coming up towards the stage where they all did some funky dancing and drumming and stuff.

The ceremonies culminated in the lighting of the Olympic cauldron, which was the main reason I had gone down there. After a slight hitch, where it didn't actually light after the countdown had got to 'one', all was well and it all looked very pretty.

Next there was to be some more exciting things going on on stage, but I think most people have no idea what it was that happened next because one of the MCs uttered the words 'enough cake for everyone', which of course can have no other effect than to cause a stampede towards the cake! So while a very excellent Bach choir was being ignored on stage, I meanwhile was being gradually compressed by the crowd towards the cake. (I so happened to have unwittingly stood next to one of the cake tents...).

They were right though, there was more than enough cake for every one - they were huge!



Only the forefront of the baying crowd (i'd have been slightly terrified if I was a chef with cake at my fingertips...):


The cake was quite nice, in case you were wondering.

Meanwhile, I feel duty bound to give a mention to the people who were intent upon going around chucking small flyers around like confetti, upon which they called people not to celebrate 125 years of colonialism and oppression, and various other slightly random causes they had picked.

They definitely have a point. And as an anthropologist, I was going to write a longer and more involved post on the matter, but right now it's sunny outside, so that might have to wait for later. Indeed there were people here for hundreds of years before anything resembling Vancouver, and perhaps all that has transpired over the last 125 years has not been perfect. Equally, Vancouver is an amazing city - pretty impressive for only 125 years anyway. And more importantly, why would you skip an excuse for cake? If only more neocolonialism and oppression could take the form of cake and music. In the same way that I'm not exactly a royalist, but it is completely beyond me why anyone is complaining at getting an extra bank holiday for it...

Anywayz... Pretty lights...

Feet!

My exciting new acquisitions :D Toe shoes!

Very. Cool.

You know you want some :D

Day two: Waffles, Mt Baker and going on a Walmart hunt

So I don't really know why I left day two separate, because I don't have a huge amount to say about it. Still, adventures were had and pictures were taken...

Day 2 started with the eagarly awaited waffle (etc) breakfast, and as a result we found ourselves leaving an hour later than we had planned to (despite breakfast featuring heavily in said original plans...). Anyhow, I took the first driving shift and headed out onto the highway (via turning out the carpark in the wrong direction, having forgotten and then realised that streets in American cities are inevitably one way...).

To cut a long drive short: America looks a lot different than Canada, despite looking exactly the same; we almost ran out of petrol in the middle of nowhere, because I am sooo not used to having to pay any attention to the gauge; if you hire a Canadian car, it is unleaded petrol, that is to say 'gasoline', even if it doesn't actually deem to tell you that *anywhere* and you end up having to make an educated wild stab in the dark; if we thought the roads up to Seymour and Cypress were long and windy, Mt Baker truly proved us wrong - my god their road is long and windy and very very thin...

So, we did eventually make it up there a little later than we really intended, but no matter, still plenty of riding to be had!

Unfortunately, while me and Tabs were checking out the easy run to see if Linsey would make it down there ok, Tabs managed to completely stack it over her board and hurt her shoulder, which meant that for most of the afternoon I went off and explored the mountain on my own (since Linsey was still very much a beginner and Hannah both wanted to stay with her, and was also nervous about hurting herself). Still, it was cool to explore a different mountain, and there was some nice powder left from a couple of days before hand if you were willing to cut a few corners off the groomed runs.

It does amaze me slightly that the mountain manages to stay in business, given how isolated it is, but I guess it just gets so much snow that people make the effort.

But then, I'd say the same thing about Hemlock and that does fine for itself - it did have the best day of the season though, so it gets massive brownie points for that ('that' being a metre or more of untouched, unridden fresh powder when we went) (Although, as I write, Seymour has just had about 80cm of snow in the last day, so I'll head up there tomorrow and see how it compares! *excited*)

Sooo, much snow was had and eventually some food too and then we headed home. (a journey somewhat extended by Tabitha's insistance that we must visit walmart to get cheap things... Alas, the search ended in failure, but we did find a costco just on the border, so it all ended happily ever after) The end.