I know, I know, I’m a little late for the big holiday up north. I was working, dammit, and didn’t get time to post pictures this past week. Here, however, are the long-awaited photos of our road trip to Canada. There are a lot of them, and I was going to split them into two posts, but what the hell.
I joked in a previous post that we were going to flip a coin at each intersection to decide which way to go. That was only partly true. We actually had a destination in mind, Fairmont Hot Springs in eastern BC. We had a week of time share that was going to expire if we didn’t use it soon, and they had an “efficiency”* suite open for one of the weeks I had off, so off we went. We didn’t plan how we were going to get there until we had the car packed and we were sitting in the driveway with the maps all over the place. Surprisingly, given that John and I are both happiest when we can give orders and expect everybody else to comply, we didn’t fight at all about the route that we ended up taking. We took a couple of leisurely days driving there, with frequent stops along the way.
Here’s our first stop. We got a bright and early start, about noon, and I hadn’t had nearly enough coffee.
This was our first night’s stop, in eastern Washington. Ahhh, wine and knitting.
By our second night, we’d gotten across the border and into Canada. We stayed in an old Victorian B&B in Cranbrooks, BC. Sweetpea found a buddy. She’d heard that there were bears in Canada, so she really was looking forward to the trip. I think she’s trying to explain to her friend how to knit socks.
By the third night, we’d made it to our timeshare home. Here’s the setting for our first dinner. Note the fancy candle holders.
I’m not exactly sure that I remember where this next photo was taken. This is bad, it might mean that the alcohol might be finally killing off more than the weak brain cells. John might remember. Honey? Any idea?
Next, your standard tourist photo taken through the front windshield of the car while it’s moving. I’m not sure what it says about my photography skills, but the shots out the front window were some of the best scenery shots.
Here’s one of the seaming party that I had for the Eggplant sweater.
It was getting dark, I was almost done with it, and the lighting wasn’t very good. John, always ready for an emergency, had packed his camping headlamp.
The sock enjoyed the drive through Kootenay park.
I’ll bet you didn’t know that they put benches along the trails in the park, just so we can sit for a minute and knit socks.
After our timeshare stay, we moved up north, to the resort with the late-night drinking boys I mentioned in the previous post. Sweetpea liked this place, too.
We took a hike, where John held up the world for a while.
We saw lots of waterfalls.
We had cocktails by the little stream outside our cabin. Yes, John brings his own martini shaker along on vacations. How can you not love a man like this?
Some of us drank bourbon.
And more Guinness. Remember, Guinness is good for you. Trust me, I’m a doctor. This one was enjoyed in an Irish pub in Banff. I remember this one.
We took more hikes.
We sat by that creek some more. This one was taken on the Solstice. We sat out until almost midnight (quietly, I might point out), and I got the opportunity to actually wear my new sweater. Right then, I wished I had made the collar higher.
We took more walks.
We saw a real bear. We are pretty sure that this fine specimen was a grizzly. It was right off the road, and dozens of tourists were out of their cars, dragging their little kids as close as they could get to take photos. We snapped this from the safety of inside the car. People always astound me in their infinite stupidity.
Sweetpea was really pissed that she missed that one, being back in the cabin and all.
The sock got to see glaciers. This was taken at the Columbia Icefields. This was pretty exciting for us, as we live close to the other end of the Columbia River. It makes me happy somehow to know that I’ve taken sock photos at both ends of the Columbia.
After all Stephanie’s talk of the hot Mounties, I finally found one. I couldn’t talk him into holding the sock, though.
We stopped at the Chateau Lake Louise for a cocktail. I think I might be the first person to sit on those benches and knit socks.
We saw more wildlife:
This is John’s favorite photo of the trip. It was the car stopped right in front of us. For some reason, this one made both of us laugh.
Last but not least, Sweetpea got to see some more bears.
The End.
Happy Fourth of July for all of you that celebrate it! Next time there will be knitting photos, I promise.
* Translate that as “small room tucked into a corner overlooking the parking lot, with a miniature kitchen and no air conditioning”.
