Thursday, October 17, 2019

Trains and Grizzly Bears, A Canadian Roadtrip - Osoyoos to Trail, BC


Monday, September 23

Summer is officially over as fall arrived today while we were sleeping.  It was raining when we got up so we were in no hurry to get started as we have a relative short drive today.  We got on the road around 10:00, but instead of leaving right away we visited a few more fruit stands.

We liked the apples we bought so much yesterday that we decided to buy more and take some home with us.  The ambrosias that I liked so much will keep well and should make the trip home according to several of the fruit stands.  We bought a bag of them to take with us, but our search for aurora apples, Val’s favorite, was fruitless (so to speak).  We did find some bottles of apple cider that looked good so we also bought a few bottles of that.

After finishing at the fruit stand, it was back on Highway 3 for our journey east.  About 20 miles out of town we realized we had forgotten to get gas and had to decide whether to go on or turn back.  We looked at the map and there weren’t many towns ahead and some of them looked pretty small so we decided we couldn’t gamble on running out of gas and returned to Osoyoos. 

On the way back we started wondering if we would be able to take the apples we bought in Canada across the border and decided to stop at the fruit stand we bought them at and see if they knew.  We got our gas and drove over to the fruit stand and asked them about taking apples across the border crossing and they weren’t sure, but thought it would be alright.  Unfortunately, a customer overheard us and he said he didn’t think they were allowed so it ended up, we really don’t know.  We’ll just have to take our chances at the border tomorrow, I’m going to hate it if we have to throw away those very tasty apples we bought.

By the time we finally left Osoyoos, it was after 11:30 so we weren’t making very good time today, but it really doesn’t matter.  The countryside was beautiful with the first part of our drive through ranch land that continued to be dryer than most of British Columbia that we’ve seen.  This is the bottom of the fertile and agriculturally rich, Okanagan valley that has a very mild climate.  One of the farm stand owners said it gets very hot here in the summer and sometimes reaches 100 degrees F.

A couple views of Osoyoos from above.
 

We left the ranchland and headed up into the forested mountains which although still not as lush as the coastal areas we had visited, it was much greener than the valley.  It also started to rain and we spent the day driving through everything from sprinkles to heavy rain.  We stopped around 1:30 for a very good lunch at the Wooden Spoon in Grand Forks, BC.  From there it was only a short drive to our destination for the night, Trail, BC.

Trail is a nice little town on the Columbia River so it was easy to find our hotel for the night and we were checked in and in our room by 3:30.  Once again, we had a late lunch and weren’t very hungry so we decided to finish off the groceries we had bought last night and of course, feast on freshly picked apples.

I have to admit, the road has taken its toll on us and we are wearing down a bit.  We are loving the drive as this route is very scenic, so we don’t regret that, but we don’t have much energy to get out and about in the evening.  The weather doesn’t help much either as we don’t exactly feel like getting out and walking in the rain.  So with that said, I will repeat what I have been saying lately, we spent the night relaxing before calling it a night.

Tonight is our last night in Canada as tomorrow we cross the border into Idaho.  Tomorrow night we will be staying just south of Coeur d'Alene.

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