Mar 19 -23, 2019 Back to Canada !!!

Mar 19
It looks like another great day for driving through the mountains today. Lots of sunshine and about 12C/54F forecast for where we are heading. Perfect. We got packed up and ready to roll by about 9:30 and sadly said "see ya soon" to Randy & Shelley. They have been so much fun to travel with and hopefully they can make it to Canada this summer so we can show them around our country a little bit. Lots of maple syrup and back bacon lol!
We are taking Hwy 12 across White Pass to Yakima and then up to Wenatchee, Washington for the night. We don't have anything arranged for tonight until we decide exactly how far we are going. Just wingin' it you might say. Randy was absolutely right about Hwy 12 being a beauty drive. It's steep in places but the views are spectacular!

Couldn't resist this pic. Randy sent us thru Randle !?!?

Mt. Rainier is to the north and there are views of Mt. St. Helens to the south.

Beautiful pullout part way up. Northeast side of Mt.St. Helens.

View to the north in Rainier Park.

White Pass Ski Area

Dropping down the other side; starting to the thaw.

A cool tunnel we drove through, it looked low so I'm in the middle.

Really nice drive and a big change when we got past the summit and dropped down towards Yakima. This side of the hills still has snow in the shadows and is very brown and wintery looking. At least it's not too cold.

Columbia River on I-90 looking east.

The Dam and the brown hills on this side of the mountains.

We stopped for fuel and a snack in Yakima and then hit the road north and east through George, Quincy and Trinidad to Wenatchee. When we had phone signal, Leslie was busy trying to find somewhere for us to camp overnight in Wenatchee. Our options are few. It seems most places are still closed. More options will be open April 1 but that doesn't help much now. There was a State Park called Confluence State Park but with the pass etc. it would be about $30 US to park there with power only (if we could find a spot big enough for us). Our GPS listed All Seasons RV as a park so we tried calling to see if they could give us a site. It turns out they are not an RV Park but a dealership. I asked the nice lady on the phone if she knew of a place for us to park for the night and she asked to put us on hold. In a minute a voice comes on and the fella introduces himself as Gene, the owner of All Season RV. Wow, we got bumped up to the top! I explained to Gene that we are just looking to park somewhere and he comes back with "Well you can park here overnight if you want, but it's beside the highway". I told him at this point we don't care and we would see him soon. We soon pulled into All Season RV and I went in to find out where to park. I met Gene and thanked him for letting us park at his shop. He was a really nice guy and rides a Harley too. There's your sign. He directed me to a spot under some flood lights in view of the security cameras and we shook hands. Thanks Gene! That's a good business in my view so if you are in Wenatchee go buy something from Gene lol.

Our stop for one night, thanks Gene!

Mar 20

 We had a decent night at All Seasons and we are awake early and excited to get back across the border. We don't want to be in the way at the dealership so we pulled out at about 8:30. We crossed the bridge back over to highway 2 then onto 97 north to the Oroville, Washington border crossing. We needed fuel and we both felt like another coffee and some breakfast so we decided to stop in a little town called Pateros. Easy access to a Chevron with diesel and we noticed a sign to a bakery. Hmm, we like bakeries!

Coming into Pateros

Room for RV parking across the road from the bakery.

Sooo good! 

We enjoyed the view from the park and ate our breakfast in the truck. Margaret also enjoys breakfast sandwiches from great bakeries ;) 

Next stop is our Canadian border!! It's hard to explain but after being away for a few months it feels good to come back home. Now our dollar is actually a dollar not 73 cents. Yay! 

Home!

No line up and an easy crossing.

Not home in Alberta but it's nice to be in Canada.

We called an RV Park called Nk'mip (pronounced In-ka-meep) RV Park which is owned and operated by the Osoyoos Indian Band. It's a really nice park right on the shore of Osoyoos Lake and we wanted to stay here and check it out. My sister and my niece are 45 minutes north in Penticton but we'll see them in a few days after we get organized here.

Golf course, winery and campground, it's all right here.

They have trail rides too.

Our rig on the beach in the back, they just opened this section.

Tough site to get normally, score!

There was some miscommunication at check in but we got it worked out and were told to pick our choice along the lakeshore and then come back and settle up. We're the second rig in this section! We have 30amp with water and sewer for $34/night in Canadian money. Yay. It's a beautiful spot on the lake except the water is almost all ice! The lake is still frozen over but very close to melting. We hope it flips while we are here.

Of course we are hungry so we jumped in the truck and did a quick drive tour downtown. It's also a fairly small town so it didn't take long for us to decide on The Owl Pub for lunch.

Nice spot to stop for lunch.

We added a stop for groceries while downtown and then back to our rig to relax in the sun and enjoy the lakeshore and the ducks. Good to be home.

Black Jack Cherry frozen yogurt, can't get in USA. Had to text Steve Colibaba this pic as this is also his fave.

Mar 21

We had a fantastic, quiet sleep here on the edge of the lake. It's a beautiful day and it's nice to just chill for a couple days. We're excited for breakfast today. We get Shreddies now that we are back in Canada! They don't sell them in the US and we have missed them. 

Good, good whole wheat Shreddies! (from the tv ad)

We want to get out and enjoy the sunshine so we are doing a walk along the lakeshore and along the edge of downtown. We parked the truck along the road and then got out for a nice walk.

Nice bike path on the left and walking path on the right.

The town clock.

Leslie & Margaret saw this while I walked back for the truck.

A little history.

On the drive home I actually turned around when we saw this van parked at a roadside pullout. How much work does that take !

Entire van is bedazzled!!

When we got back, Leslie got to work inside of the rig making her famous pasta sauce and I got a bucket of warm water to clean the outside of the rig. I'm not doing a full on wash but more of a quick swish with the brush to get the sand off the outside. Of course they don't want me to wash with soap beside the lake. After chores I hopped on my bike and did a 10km bike ride around the campground and through town. Leslie took Margaret for a long walk and then did some extra distance on her own. I wanted to grab a picture of the sign to the RV park by the highway so I pulled off the road and rode my bike through some dead shrubs to get a better angle on the sign. Bad move! The shrubs were thorn bushes of some nasty type and now I have about 20 of them in both my bike tires. Got a good picture of the sign though, dang. I pulled a couple of them and soon realized that was pointless on the road so I pedalled as fast as I could until my tires went flat. I called Les to come get me with the truck and she is about an equal distance from home as I am. Alrighty then. I half carried and pushed my bike back to the rig and met Leslie just outside. Not a great end to my ride.

Decent picture but it cost me.

About 20 of these nasty thorns in each tire :(

We sat outside for a brief happy hour and then enjoyed Leslie's power pasta that she had made earlier. Not a great day for my bike but a great dinner at least. Thanks Les, one of my favourite meals!

Mar 22

It's going to be another beautiful day today and we want to have a look at the Cultural Center here at Nk'mip to learn a little bit about how this area was developed. This is one of the earliest starts to BC wine country right here in Osoyoos and it took some incredible vision and hard work to develop this into the thriving business that it is. More on that later.

While we were getting ready to go there was a knock on our door?? It's Doug, a friend of Steve and Dianne's that they worked with at Monk and Tunkwa Parks a couple years ago. Doug and Sue (his wife) stay here in Osoyoos for the winter and then work the summer at the Parks. Dianne had messaged that we were here so he popped by to say hello. Nice! We had a brief visit and we'll stop by their rig later today for a better visit. Doug is going to pickleball so we will likely see him there. My leg isn't ready for pickleball but Leslie is still playing when she can so we'll go check it out.

We walked the gravel path from our site to the Cultural Center for a brief look around. We'll need more time for sure to fully tour the Center but not today. We walked a little further to the winery tasting room and although it's a little early for tasting we enjoyed looking and chatting with a very knowledgeable fellow behind the tasting bar about the different wines.

A fantastic Okanagan winery!

Running a very impressive business and a great leader.

Hard work and the vision to make it successful.

We hurried back to the truck to get down to the rec center for pickleball. There were only six players in the gym and Leslie was a little intimidated to join the four guys on the court. They are definitely advanced players. I think she would have been alright to play with that caliber but we just ended up watching a couple games. Doug isn't here either? Turned out he went to the outdoor courts.

We decided to stop at Sage Pub by the lake for lunch on the way home. It was a good choice. Good food and a great red ale. It's not too early for beer now lol.

Good food and good beer.

We went back to the rig and relaxed for a little bit and then took Margaret on a long walk that took us to Doug and Sue's site for a nice chat and get to know each other a little better. They plan to head south next winter as this winter was a super cold one here in Osoyoos. We stayed for a while but the wind and the chill as the sun went lower signalled time to head home. We made supper and just relaxed for the evening. There are a couple more rigs in our area now but it's still so peaceful here.

Mar 23

Today we want to do the full tour of the Cultural Center and the trails behind it in the hills. They have two short videos to watch; one is in a small theatre and is more about the area and it's history as well as how the land and wildlife plays a pivotal role in the Native Culture. It was a really good video.

Cool little hut right inside the Center. The screens have images behind them.

The other little video was in a small recreated tepee with a fake campfire in the middle and short benches all around to imitate sitting around a fire listening to the story tellers. It had these cool screens around the sloped roof that ghostly images would appear on as the story was told. Really cool and I was glad we were all by ourselves to be able to enjoy it. click here to see more about Nk'mip 

After the videos we went outside to look at the display boards and walk the paths up the hill behind the center. 

Incredible insight to the future! From 1915!!

Canadian residential schools turned out to be 

a terrible part of our history.

Metal sculptures.

It smelled so good out here in the sun.

Lots of sage looking back towards town.

The paths are incredibly well marked with small interpretive signage along the way. Too early for rattlesnakes thankfully! This area is part of the Sonoran Desert and has many snakes and spiders. Leslie's favourites!

They built an Indian Village along the path.

Dugout canoe.

Like the lodge in the Cultural center only this one is real.

Tough to get a good picture inside.

Open roof to let out the smoke.

There was a big spider in there so I got the pictures. Thankfully Leslie never did see it because when I noticed it I just told her she should wait outside and she ran without questioning why lol. We could do a lot more on the Cultural Center but this is getting long. It's well worth a stop if you are in the area. Plan your visit because it gets smokin' hot here in the summer!

I wanted to show Leslie around a bit so we took a driving tour of the town and I explained what it was like when I lived in the area back in the 80's. We ended up at a Provincial Park called Haynes Point for another walk. The park gates are locked still but you can walk in from the boat launch parking area.

Nice park and a great walk off season.

This site is a double but there are several we could fit in.

We had a really nice walk and then a little more driving to cap our tour. Osoyoos is a nice small town and we really like it here. It's only 5 miles from the US border so it's a great spot to head south in the fall or to come back to in spring. It's normally quite warm by April 1. We dropped Margaret at the trailer and then decided to go out for supper. We noticed a small East Indian restaurant on the main street that looks good and gets great Google reviews so that's where we are off to for supper. The reviews weren't wrong, it was fantastic!

Excellent food and great service.

Good Indian Lager.

So good! They look small but was just the right amount.

We ate all of it lol.

This is our last day in Osoyoos as we are off to Penticton tomorrow for a couple weeks with some of my family. It has been great staying here and getting some chores done and enjoying our time here. Looking forward to Penticton too. When we got home Leslie got a fantastic picture of sunset in Osoyoos. A beautiful shot to end this post with. Cheers everybody.

Almost looks fake. Beautiful spot. Thanks Nk'mip.