This is an exciting day! we are only 4 hours away from our final destination and we are going on wine tours :)
We wake up around 7, SO EXCITED for our continental breakfast. The sleep seemed to rejuvenate our appetite; hard boiled eggs, english muffins, cereal, juice, coffee and tea! We had it all.
Our first stop was at a TINY winery called "Rollingdale" a friend from school works there, and I bought a bottle of "Riewurztrafelseron"......a uber blend of: Riesling, Gewurztraminer, Chardonnay, Auxerrois, Semillon and Ehrenfelser. Its smooth, quaffable and fun, a good start to my new life on the West Coast. The second winery was a no brainer; Mission hill. The vincor of the Okanagan; Esthetically pleasing to every sense, including those you didn't know about. We didn't try any of the wine, I knew it would be delicious, but I came for the view.
Driving along the streets of Kelowna, you quickly realize just how well the economy is doing there. The houses were painstakingly beautiful with views that the Queen would envy.
The seed is planted, and germinating, to my eventual move there (maybe).
We continue on our way and leaving the Oak is sad but I know i'll be back! i'm only 3 hours away. Driving through the mountains here is a little different. There's signs all over the highway warning "SEVER WINTER WEATHER IF FLASHING" thank goodness it wasn't flashing, but we did experience flash fog, then flurries, then sun and repeat 12 times.
Our first stop is to drop Amanda off in Chilliwack, we go to her brothers work (a bike shop) and its so good to see him! I haven't seen him in 7 year either! i literally have a picture of me holding him as a new born. Crazy how time flies.
And then to Abbotsford. I don't know what to expect, but once there, I am more than pleasantly surprised. Coast mountains, followed by snow capped ones, clean, beautiful city with all the essential amenities, a large red pine forest nearby. My version of perfection. I couldn't be happier.
Friday, May 7, 2010
Day 3
Its just Amanda and I now, we are sad to leave the guys in Calgary, but they have to go to work the next day.
Our original plan was to stay in Banff that day, but we think it thru and agree it makes no sense only driving 1.5 hours and then 9 hours the next, plus we were on the road by 9am so it was plenty of time to "explore" the rockies and the national parks.
It didn't even dawn on me the fact that it was still winter season. Here I am expecting to see green/blue water again and excited to show Amanda, but Moraine Lake wasn't even open because its 10km's up the hill and Lake Louise was most definitely ice locked. It was mild enough though, to walk in just a sweater. We didn't realize that the rockies actually have 8 different weather systems in them, makes it SUPER unpredictable and dangerous, especially in the winter months. We didn't run into any bad weather at all, it was beautiful and clear.
So our contingency plan was to head to Kelowna. Again a different route than what I took last time, so I'm very excited to see a different scene. It was beautiful! So amazing to see the forests and scenery change as you decend the rockies, first its all pines, thick with the smell, and then birch trees flicker in, then its equally birch trees and pines, then wild flowers and ferns and sicamours and red pine. We see a female Elk ( something I didn't see last time), and we were talking about how badly we wanted to see mountain goats when just as we turned a corner, there's a dozen !!! Young ones or females, but not scared at all of the vehicles, we get out and take pictures quite close! Its very entertaining to see them scale down the mountainside! Unbelievable how their hooves work on the rocks. We are literally hysterically laughing with glee as we pull away and even though we were totally spoiled with the sight of so many, we can't help but wish we saw "horns".
Next corner, there they are. Magnificent creatures! 4 males keeping watch of their females like statues on a cliff ! They didn't move, it was very eerie, we were told that's their defense mechanism, to intimidate. I felt it.
We reluctantly leave them and continue on our way. The scenery continues to spoil us, and its hard to believe that it just keeps getting better and better. We arrive in the Okanagan and again, we gasp at the sheer beauty of it. The lakes and mountains, snow capped and lush green all at once, doesn't even seem real.
We check into our hotel and its early yet so we change and treat ourselves to a dinner. I chose steak, naturally, to replenish my protein and I opted for salad and steamed veggies on the side because rockstar and beef jerky seemed to be the norm for the entire trip previous. I also order a glass of red (we are in the Oak, afterall) and it tastes so good. After our meal, our plans to hit the hot tub were squashed by exhaustion again, at this point we have gone thru 3 time changes so exhaustion hits you fast and hard. We were both in bed by 9pm again, but woke up completely refreshed. I haven't had a decent sleep since the Thursday prior (about 5 days before).
Our original plan was to stay in Banff that day, but we think it thru and agree it makes no sense only driving 1.5 hours and then 9 hours the next, plus we were on the road by 9am so it was plenty of time to "explore" the rockies and the national parks.
It didn't even dawn on me the fact that it was still winter season. Here I am expecting to see green/blue water again and excited to show Amanda, but Moraine Lake wasn't even open because its 10km's up the hill and Lake Louise was most definitely ice locked. It was mild enough though, to walk in just a sweater. We didn't realize that the rockies actually have 8 different weather systems in them, makes it SUPER unpredictable and dangerous, especially in the winter months. We didn't run into any bad weather at all, it was beautiful and clear.
So our contingency plan was to head to Kelowna. Again a different route than what I took last time, so I'm very excited to see a different scene. It was beautiful! So amazing to see the forests and scenery change as you decend the rockies, first its all pines, thick with the smell, and then birch trees flicker in, then its equally birch trees and pines, then wild flowers and ferns and sicamours and red pine. We see a female Elk ( something I didn't see last time), and we were talking about how badly we wanted to see mountain goats when just as we turned a corner, there's a dozen !!! Young ones or females, but not scared at all of the vehicles, we get out and take pictures quite close! Its very entertaining to see them scale down the mountainside! Unbelievable how their hooves work on the rocks. We are literally hysterically laughing with glee as we pull away and even though we were totally spoiled with the sight of so many, we can't help but wish we saw "horns".
Next corner, there they are. Magnificent creatures! 4 males keeping watch of their females like statues on a cliff ! They didn't move, it was very eerie, we were told that's their defense mechanism, to intimidate. I felt it.
We reluctantly leave them and continue on our way. The scenery continues to spoil us, and its hard to believe that it just keeps getting better and better. We arrive in the Okanagan and again, we gasp at the sheer beauty of it. The lakes and mountains, snow capped and lush green all at once, doesn't even seem real.
We check into our hotel and its early yet so we change and treat ourselves to a dinner. I chose steak, naturally, to replenish my protein and I opted for salad and steamed veggies on the side because rockstar and beef jerky seemed to be the norm for the entire trip previous. I also order a glass of red (we are in the Oak, afterall) and it tastes so good. After our meal, our plans to hit the hot tub were squashed by exhaustion again, at this point we have gone thru 3 time changes so exhaustion hits you fast and hard. We were both in bed by 9pm again, but woke up completely refreshed. I haven't had a decent sleep since the Thursday prior (about 5 days before).
Day 2
We wake up at this "lookout spot" and I was convinced that this will be our first glimpse of Lake Superior. Turns out, its just a bunch of tree's. Amanda is still beat (she loves her sleep) and I feel refreshed, even though I just had a cat nap. So we are on our way again. We definitely need gas, so we stop off at a place somehwere around Marathon, ON. Once there, its one of those pumps that you have to "lift" the metal thing for the gas stream to happen. No brainer. So I do this, press the kind I want and start pumping, but the numbers on the screen just say "$0.00". Confused, I go inside and ask if i'm doing it right and the women says "It's $50.50" and i'm like, No....I haven't put any gas in yet, it still says "$0.00" so she comes out, and tries to reset it all. I start pumping again, same thing, no numbers are moving, but when I pull the nozzle out, there's gas coming out, so I assume its working. I go inside and she's trying to tell Amanda its "$50.50" still. WTF ? Lady, it's not $50.50 because we only had half a tank, and everytime we fill up on half a tank it's no more than $20. So we argue back and forth a bit and she says "ok, just give me $20" We just want to get out of there, so we pay and then take off. We realize about 25km's later that no gas went in. Mother F****er.
So we see a Petro Canada ahead and we stop in there, restock our caffeine, snacks, etc. I was very tired and dressed hap hazardly (socks with flip flops) when this guy asks me if we're travelling, wehere from etc... we find out that their both from Burlington, ON and are on their way to Calgary for work, so we decide to travel "caravan" style. This makes the trip much more exciting and we feel relieved (especially if we run into anymore dirt roads). Both thier names are Justin and have done this drive many times. They show us this place called "Kakabeka Falls'' and its beautiful!
We decide to stop in Ignace, ON for lunch, at some diner, where I filled up my oil (that's for you dad) and we talk about how far we want to drive. We decide to try for Regina, SK, knowing that that is a pretty hefty goal, but we'll aim for it anyway.
We continue driving, and --finally-- make it to Manitoba, you don't realize just how LONG it takes to get out of Ontario, a Full straight day of driving....
Around 4pm we start thinking we won't be able to make it to Regina, we are all very fatigued and decide to split on a hotel together ( obviously Amanda and I to a bed and the guys have their own) but they are legit. So we stop in Brandon, Manitoba (around 8pm) at a Days Inn. We all take turns to shower, then I'm passed out by 9:30 (we had already gone through a time change in Northern Ontario.
We wake up at 5am- felling somewhat refreshed, at least we got to sleep horizontal, and we head out on the road again. Today we know is going to be a long one, all praries. But there's no reason to stop overnight again until we get to Calgary. The guys ask us if we want to save more money and we are welcome to stay at thier place, if we could just help them move their stuff in, no problem at all! On the drive through Saskatchewan, the wind starts to pick up, so I check the weather on my iphone and sure enough, there's a severe wind warning for area's of Alberta and Skatch. Some area's are up to 100km/hr, so this made driving difficult and really took a toll on what would have been, good gas mileage (on flat prarie roads). At one point, it was completely overcast except this tiny little window of light South West, and if we looked closely, that was the first glimpse of the rockies, pretty neat!
So we arrive in Calgary, its FREEZING and super windy. We had some troubles finding the place and at this point everyone's in a pretty irratible mood and we just want to get inside. So we finally find it, all of us in tandem with the tought of beer and pizza. I can hardly keep my eyes open at this point. The beer and pizza arrive, I manage to eat 3 peices and drink 1.5 beers and that was enough for me to fall into a deep sleep, only to awaken at 6am, and can't fall back asleep because of the windstorm. Amanda wants to sleep in that day so I decide to do a timmie's run, eat breakfast there, fill up my gas tank and by the time I got back she was pretty good to go.
So we see a Petro Canada ahead and we stop in there, restock our caffeine, snacks, etc. I was very tired and dressed hap hazardly (socks with flip flops) when this guy asks me if we're travelling, wehere from etc... we find out that their both from Burlington, ON and are on their way to Calgary for work, so we decide to travel "caravan" style. This makes the trip much more exciting and we feel relieved (especially if we run into anymore dirt roads). Both thier names are Justin and have done this drive many times. They show us this place called "Kakabeka Falls'' and its beautiful!
We decide to stop in Ignace, ON for lunch, at some diner, where I filled up my oil (that's for you dad) and we talk about how far we want to drive. We decide to try for Regina, SK, knowing that that is a pretty hefty goal, but we'll aim for it anyway.
We continue driving, and --finally-- make it to Manitoba, you don't realize just how LONG it takes to get out of Ontario, a Full straight day of driving....
Around 4pm we start thinking we won't be able to make it to Regina, we are all very fatigued and decide to split on a hotel together ( obviously Amanda and I to a bed and the guys have their own) but they are legit. So we stop in Brandon, Manitoba (around 8pm) at a Days Inn. We all take turns to shower, then I'm passed out by 9:30 (we had already gone through a time change in Northern Ontario.
We wake up at 5am- felling somewhat refreshed, at least we got to sleep horizontal, and we head out on the road again. Today we know is going to be a long one, all praries. But there's no reason to stop overnight again until we get to Calgary. The guys ask us if we want to save more money and we are welcome to stay at thier place, if we could just help them move their stuff in, no problem at all! On the drive through Saskatchewan, the wind starts to pick up, so I check the weather on my iphone and sure enough, there's a severe wind warning for area's of Alberta and Skatch. Some area's are up to 100km/hr, so this made driving difficult and really took a toll on what would have been, good gas mileage (on flat prarie roads). At one point, it was completely overcast except this tiny little window of light South West, and if we looked closely, that was the first glimpse of the rockies, pretty neat!
So we arrive in Calgary, its FREEZING and super windy. We had some troubles finding the place and at this point everyone's in a pretty irratible mood and we just want to get inside. So we finally find it, all of us in tandem with the tought of beer and pizza. I can hardly keep my eyes open at this point. The beer and pizza arrive, I manage to eat 3 peices and drink 1.5 beers and that was enough for me to fall into a deep sleep, only to awaken at 6am, and can't fall back asleep because of the windstorm. Amanda wants to sleep in that day so I decide to do a timmie's run, eat breakfast there, fill up my gas tank and by the time I got back she was pretty good to go.
Day 1
It's 5am on Saturday May 1st. I look at my cell phone and the number 1 on the calendar is staring at me. I try to fall back asleep for 2 hours because I don't know when I will be able to have a good sleep again, but by this point my mind is racing; Did I forget anything? Will my car make it? Is mom going to be ok? When will I get to see my family and friends again?...
So I get up. I want to have a nice breakfast with my mom, so we make coffee, pancakes and home made berry sauce, I try to keep conversation as casual and light as possible because I know she's on the verge of tears. I'm not good with goodbyes myself, I just sorta sputter out the word and smile, but I try to make it a good one for my mom.
Once breakfast is finished she has to drive me to Dad's where I left my car. I give her a big hug and then say goodbye to Danielle and I'm on my way. My first stop is North Bay, where I have to pick up Amanda. I have known Amanda since she was born, our parents were Best Friends and I used to babysit her and her brother. I literally haven't seen her in 7 years, so I'm excited to get caught up! Amanda is coming for the ride because it's her brother's 19th Birthday on the Thursday. He lives in Chilliwack, which is literally 20 mins from where my brother is, so it worked out perfectly.
I arrive in North Bay and have to wait about 3 hours for Amanda to sort out her new roomates moving in, it was a nice break because I've already been driving for 5 hours.
3pm rolls around and we are on the road again. Last time I drove out West, google maps and my GPS took me through Sault and around Lake Superior (most beautiful drive ever). This time, however, it suggested a different route (and I'm always up for suggestions). It suggested we head north of Sudbury and cut across to Wawa (hwy 101 or something). It looked as if it would shave 3-4 hours off of our drive so we went for it. This highway is about 4 hours north of Sudbury and 4 hours South of Timmins. On the corner of the highway there's a gas station and so we fill up ( we tried not to let our gas tank go below half, just in case we don't run into another stop). At the pump an old guy asks me where we're from, etc. and wonders why we decided to take this highway, i just said it'll save time (not sure what he meant). So we pull onto the "highway" and signs say "Gravel Road for 80 km". Horrified, it dawned on me what the old guy was surprised 2 girls decided to take this route. We are literally in the middle of nowhere. Our cell phones haven't had reception since Sudbury, and we have to take this route (turning back is not an option). To make matters worse, we are driving directly West now at 7pm, so the Sun is setting directly in our faces, and if we happen to see a car drive by, it kicks up so much dust, visibility is literally impossible. So we are crawling along, going no faster than 60-70km/h. I notice the gravel is constantly being kicked up and "tinging" the bottom of my car, I wince at the thought, and then I observe all of the "car parts"; mufflers, wheels, etc at the side of the road, no doubt from the rocks being constantly kicked up at your car. At this point, I'm sort of freaking out. I try to stay as calm as possible and remember to breath, but can't help but think "2 girls, in the middle of nowhere, no cell phones, no weapons, if we get a flat, we are F***ED."
Amanda is driving (thank goodness because she seemed a lot more calm, if this was a disguise, good on her because I would be visibly shaken). She can't see the road, so I have to hang out the passenger window (for 80km's) and tell her "a little to the right, ok now the left".....
And then we see them. Bears. LOTS of them. This made it all worth it, I took it as good karma and was able to relax a little better.
We managed to get some fantastic photo's of them, and the sunset.
Finally, and this finally is worthy of a victory dance, we pull onto pavement, huge sigh of relief and big smiles on our faces. We are determined to get to Wawa, even tho its another 3 hour drive.
We finally arrive and its just after 11. We decide to eat something (subway - my healthy eating habits suffered on this trip) and we agree that both of us are weary from driving (our eyes are doing funky things in the dark, a sure sign of exhaustion). We pull into a well-lit parking lot and try to get some shut eye. I thought by this time I should be able to sleep standing up, but sleeping in a car (one you have been sitting in for the past 15 hours) is no easy feat. I concentrate on my breathing, and I find myself finally drifting off, but then I hear these 2 guys talking right outside my car, I sit up, fully alert, scared they are going to tap on our window or something, I check to make sure the locks are set, but then they just keep walking. I settle my beating heart and try to sleep again. Then 3 OPP vehicles pull into the parking lot and one of them shines their spot light directly into our car. "Wawa is BULLSHIT" I say, and I get myself a coffee and pull out of there. I'm terrified of night driving, even though I have "deer whistles" who knows how well they work. But i'm confident that I am fully alert now. My mission is to find a transport truck that I can keep up with and follow behind (if they hit something, who cares). The first 4 trucks were big meanies and were driving way too fast for my comfort level, but then I found a guy and he visibly slowed down for me :) I followed him another 300km's and then we pulled off into a lookout point (around 3:30am) and Amanda and I slept until 6:30. She can sleep no problem in the car, I struggled with this, and got maybe 30 mins of shut eye.
So I get up. I want to have a nice breakfast with my mom, so we make coffee, pancakes and home made berry sauce, I try to keep conversation as casual and light as possible because I know she's on the verge of tears. I'm not good with goodbyes myself, I just sorta sputter out the word and smile, but I try to make it a good one for my mom.
Once breakfast is finished she has to drive me to Dad's where I left my car. I give her a big hug and then say goodbye to Danielle and I'm on my way. My first stop is North Bay, where I have to pick up Amanda. I have known Amanda since she was born, our parents were Best Friends and I used to babysit her and her brother. I literally haven't seen her in 7 years, so I'm excited to get caught up! Amanda is coming for the ride because it's her brother's 19th Birthday on the Thursday. He lives in Chilliwack, which is literally 20 mins from where my brother is, so it worked out perfectly.
I arrive in North Bay and have to wait about 3 hours for Amanda to sort out her new roomates moving in, it was a nice break because I've already been driving for 5 hours.
3pm rolls around and we are on the road again. Last time I drove out West, google maps and my GPS took me through Sault and around Lake Superior (most beautiful drive ever). This time, however, it suggested a different route (and I'm always up for suggestions). It suggested we head north of Sudbury and cut across to Wawa (hwy 101 or something). It looked as if it would shave 3-4 hours off of our drive so we went for it. This highway is about 4 hours north of Sudbury and 4 hours South of Timmins. On the corner of the highway there's a gas station and so we fill up ( we tried not to let our gas tank go below half, just in case we don't run into another stop). At the pump an old guy asks me where we're from, etc. and wonders why we decided to take this highway, i just said it'll save time (not sure what he meant). So we pull onto the "highway" and signs say "Gravel Road for 80 km". Horrified, it dawned on me what the old guy was surprised 2 girls decided to take this route. We are literally in the middle of nowhere. Our cell phones haven't had reception since Sudbury, and we have to take this route (turning back is not an option). To make matters worse, we are driving directly West now at 7pm, so the Sun is setting directly in our faces, and if we happen to see a car drive by, it kicks up so much dust, visibility is literally impossible. So we are crawling along, going no faster than 60-70km/h. I notice the gravel is constantly being kicked up and "tinging" the bottom of my car, I wince at the thought, and then I observe all of the "car parts"; mufflers, wheels, etc at the side of the road, no doubt from the rocks being constantly kicked up at your car. At this point, I'm sort of freaking out. I try to stay as calm as possible and remember to breath, but can't help but think "2 girls, in the middle of nowhere, no cell phones, no weapons, if we get a flat, we are F***ED."
Amanda is driving (thank goodness because she seemed a lot more calm, if this was a disguise, good on her because I would be visibly shaken). She can't see the road, so I have to hang out the passenger window (for 80km's) and tell her "a little to the right, ok now the left".....
And then we see them. Bears. LOTS of them. This made it all worth it, I took it as good karma and was able to relax a little better.
We managed to get some fantastic photo's of them, and the sunset.
Finally, and this finally is worthy of a victory dance, we pull onto pavement, huge sigh of relief and big smiles on our faces. We are determined to get to Wawa, even tho its another 3 hour drive.
We finally arrive and its just after 11. We decide to eat something (subway - my healthy eating habits suffered on this trip) and we agree that both of us are weary from driving (our eyes are doing funky things in the dark, a sure sign of exhaustion). We pull into a well-lit parking lot and try to get some shut eye. I thought by this time I should be able to sleep standing up, but sleeping in a car (one you have been sitting in for the past 15 hours) is no easy feat. I concentrate on my breathing, and I find myself finally drifting off, but then I hear these 2 guys talking right outside my car, I sit up, fully alert, scared they are going to tap on our window or something, I check to make sure the locks are set, but then they just keep walking. I settle my beating heart and try to sleep again. Then 3 OPP vehicles pull into the parking lot and one of them shines their spot light directly into our car. "Wawa is BULLSHIT" I say, and I get myself a coffee and pull out of there. I'm terrified of night driving, even though I have "deer whistles" who knows how well they work. But i'm confident that I am fully alert now. My mission is to find a transport truck that I can keep up with and follow behind (if they hit something, who cares). The first 4 trucks were big meanies and were driving way too fast for my comfort level, but then I found a guy and he visibly slowed down for me :) I followed him another 300km's and then we pulled off into a lookout point (around 3:30am) and Amanda and I slept until 6:30. She can sleep no problem in the car, I struggled with this, and got maybe 30 mins of shut eye.
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