May 9, 2010

O Canada

 

Headed north from Grand Coulee.  

 

Backside of Grand Coulee Dam

 

 

 

 

 

Front side of Grand Coulee Dam – about half of it.

 

 

 

 

 

In less than 45 minutes we went from dry, pretty much barren hills to trees and mountains that reminded me of northeastern California.

 

Road north of Grand Coulee.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Road in to mountains

 

 

 

 

 

Over a summit and down into a series of narrow valleys.  This is apple country.  Lots of orchards tucked up against the hills.  Many types of apples.  Long stretch of road with apples on one side and a series of lakes on the other.   We stopped in Oroville, WA (another non-unique city name) to mail some letters

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and five miles later we came to the Canadian border. 

 

 

 

The wait time for the border was only about ten minutes. 

 

 

 

 

We showed our passports and answered a number of questions.  We had to surrender our lettuce and our one pretty old apple.  Went in to customs after throwing away our produce and they did a quick background check on us.  We passed.  The customs agent gave us some tips on things to see along our planned route and wished us a pleasant trip.  We were in Canada.

 

 

 

No cell phone and no navigator to help guide us here.  Street Atlas still works fine but we have to rely on guide books for finding POI’s, etc. 

Basic max speed on road north of border is 80 km per hour.  That is a little less than 50 mph.  Much more comfortable driving speed.

The valley from the border north to Penticton and beyond, some 30 or 40 miles is the Napa Valley of British Columbia.  There are vineyards and wineries everywhere.

 

 

We saw lots of cyclists on our drive north from the border.  Just like the Napa Valley.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stopped in Penticton, BC at a very nice RV park.

 

 

Very few other RV’s yet.   After setting up we took a walk.  Stopped at Wal-mart to compare prices.  A bit difficult as all liquids are in liters.  Will have to get a handle on that when we buy gas.

Across the road from the RV park is the north end  of a large (long) lake.  There is a nice park there which probably is pretty busy a little further in to the summer.

  

 

Lake Skaha

 

 

 

 

Pete standing on analematic sundial.  Concrete pillars represent the hours.  Shadow made by hands held over head points to time.

 

 

 

Sue’s shadow.  Pointing to 2:35 pm.  Add one hour for daylight savings – right on!