Trip with a Theme

Theme of the trip is: “Be happy ...  for this moment is your life.”

Thursday July 14

We started to get ready for our trip to Invermere in Columbia Valley of BC. It was a cool rainy morning at 12ºC. We packed some food, clothes and maps and left Country Lane Estates at 7:30 am. But first we stopped at Shell to gas up the car. (Cost $.904/L).

We headed west on #7 to Black Diamond where we witnessed a streak of blue ski over the mountains. It has been a few days since blues skies were seen in Okotoks. We turned on #22 South and at Longview we decided explore #541 West toward Kanaskis Country. This was where the hiking club planed to be area next Thursday. We did not find the trail head.

We turned around at Highwood River Day Picnic area. From there we could see Mt Armstrong. The elevation was 1538m. We drove through an un-serviced camp site near the river.

By 9:45 am we were back on #22 at Longview. Some interesting things we saw were a few kilometres of caps placed on fence posts.

And Alberta Cowboys doing a round up. We wondered why there was so much traffic and saw 'cow pies' on the road at a point where a coral of cattle were placed. A truck was ready to load them up.

 At a rest area across from a Volker Stevin work area for a quick lunch. By 10:45 the sun came out We turned on #3 Crow's Nest Highway at 11:00am making our first stop at Frank Slide Interpretive Center. Many tourists were touring. We were there for 20 minutes.

Back on the road at turning on #93/95 to Elko, Jaffery, over the Kooteney River and just after noon we stopped at Fort Steele for a picnic lunch and to fill up the car with gas. By this time it was an enjoyable sunny warm day. Along the Kooteney Valley are fields of irrigation hay crops. We travelled back over the Kooteney River at Skookunchuck.

By mid afternoon we entered the Columbia Valley at the south end of Columbia Lake. The next stop was Radium Hot Springs, that was packed with people. The cost to stay the resort hotel was $200./ night. We drove on into Windemere and looked for motels. It is a smaller place and the motels were older and poorly maintained. We continued on the Invermere where we found the Canterbury Inn for $100 or so a night. We booked in for 2 nights – the rate goes up on weekends. At least we had good internet.

After checking in we went for a walk to the down town. Most of the shops were closing for the day at 5:00 pm and there were only an few eating places available within our walking area. We went to Holiday Inn sports bar for supper enjoyed a beer and watched sports on multiple screens.

Friday July 15 

Our night's sleep was uncomfortable because of the heat the noisy AC. We woke up with a thunder storm and very heavy rain. It did get sunny but continued with the thunderstorms and even hail.

Randal and I went out early looking for a place that was open for coffee and found Circle Cafe which opened to 8:00 am. We took the coffee back to the Motel and signed onto the computer. I went for a walk to the beach before we met Carol Gordon and Jim McElroy at the Circle Cafe.

At 10:00 am we met Carol and Jim and their friend Paul who is visiting them until Saturday for coffe back at Circle Cafe. We were there for an hour. Carol asked if we could stay one more night and come for supper on Saturday night.

The rest of the day we drove to the beach area and Randal took some pictures. The weather was not good for families. We talked to a fellow who was riding his bike. We asked his about the grave site o a Elizabeth Bruce, wife of Robert Bruce who came from England. She died before he finished it. The fellow we talked to gave us the story.

Randal and I walked around the path to Dorothy Lake and then when the thunder sounded we walked quickly to the car and drove to the Pynelogs Cafe and Art Gallery, which is in the house that Bruce built. While there it rained and hailed but we were warm and dry inside with a bowl of soup.

From there we drove to Radium Hot Spring through more rain. There we not one in the pool during the rain.

Saturday July 16 

It was over cast with a drizzle this morning when we got up. The weather continued this way all day.

We took our time to go out to the Farmer's Market of a good many booths and articles and food to buy.

Westside Legacy Trails - OurTrail.org and Columbia ValleyCentre.ca 

Anne B.- Corpuz-Bacalso Accessories - scarf holder

Manitoba Wild Rice

Oven Baked Bread fresh pretzel and cinnamon buns

Shooting Star pocket watch

Organic Vegetables.

Beeland Market - Honey Spillimacheen BC.

Randal  purchased a pretzel right out of a wood heated oven.There was not much left in the bag when he returned to the room. It disappeared in little bits.

In the afternoon we took a drive to Panorama Ski and Golf Resort. There was much activity with a large group of mountain bikers filling up the parking lots with cars trucks and campers. There several golfers out golfing in the cool wet weather. The course itself ran up through the valley and had many log-style homes built around it. A walking path extended throughout the resort with many people waling in both directions.

When we returned to the motel I went for a walk along the north end of the main street.

At 5:00 pm we drove to Carol and Jim's which was situated on the side of the hill with many evergreen trees around it. Jim gave us a tour of their home and show us pictures of the cabin before renovations started. We enjoyed a wonderful meal with a great view of the valley.

 Jim is enjoying the photography and Carol her art.

Sunday July 17 

It rained during the night, although I did not hear it. Another cloudy rainy day. Randal and I were up at 7:00 am packed up and checked out of Canterbury Inn. We left at 8:00 am and headed onto #95/93 toward Radium, turning on #93 and travelled through Kooteney National Park. Some mountain tops and the valley was covered with fog.

We stopped at some view points to take pictures. At one a couple of motor bikes stopped. I noticed the licence plates were not Canadian. I had to talk to them and asked if I could take pictures of them. The husband and wife team were from Australia and told us of their travels through Australia, South America, US and now Canada and are on their way up to Alaska. They then will return to Vancouver and motor bike across Canada.

This was my first time in this valley and I live over the mountains to the east. Their first time here from a much longer distance.!!!! What does that say about us and exploring our own back yards?

We stopped at Hector Gorge and Numa Falls for more pictures. There was a large burnt-out area and many hiking trail heads were busy with day hikers.

At 10:00 am we entered Banff National Park and turned on Hyw #1 at Castle Junction. In Canmore we stopped for a breakfast at Communitea Cafe downtown. The town was busy with people as the the sun was peeking through the heavy clouds.

We continued on #1 to #40 and turned south into Kanaskis Country through Elbow and Highwood Passes. The elevation was 2005 m. The rain came down heavy for most of the trip. On to Longview, Black Diamond and arriving in Okotoks at 2:00pm a 340 km trip from Invermere BC.

The four day trip was educational, heartwarming and thoroughly enjoyable. Lots to blog about.

Theme of the trip is: “Be happy for this moment is your life.”

Until next time remember "Discover It and Live It".