Prince George, Cache Creek and the Okanogan Valley

British Columbia, Canada: Prince George, Cache Creek & the Okanogan Valley

August 30 September 4, 2013

Prince George:

We started the 24^th week of our North American Safari, completing the Alaskan Adventure and heading south toward home, and being excited to complete this trip of a lifetime.  It felt good to be back on the road on our own.  We headed east on Highway 16 – the scenery returned to a more agricultural appearance: hay fields, horses, and cattle along with the on-going forests, mountains, and waterways. Burns Lake was post-card picturesque – so calm and glassy, revealing a great reflection of the lakeside. Camp for the next 3 nights was in Prince George, B.C.

Saturday morning we enjoyed the luxury of sleeping in: not having anywhere to go or anything to do.  We hadn’t realized how tired we had gotten having so much fun. The day was spent on a few cleaning chores followed by a nice drive around the town.  Prince George is a lumber town since the early 1800’s blue spruce is the main lumber harvested.  We found the iconic Mr. P.G. standing at the end of town, sort of a cross between the tin-man and the jolly green giant.  The University of Northern British Columbia is located on a hill over looking the town, a great vantage point if there hadn’t been so many trees growing all over the campus. A beautiful setting – there were many nice walking trails, and gardens and water features on campus. There were also signs warning of wildlife encounters, moose, bears, dear and other critters frequently visit the campus.

We spent some time trying to up-date the blog – we had become lazy about making our entries, so was a bit frustrating trying to remember where we were and what we had done. Think we finally got some notes written up, only to have trouble with the photos.  The Labor Day Weekend weather was perfect for enjoying the outside – we took a nice walk up on Connaught Hill enjoying the shade of the park, the flower garden and some fresh air.  For dinner that night we met with 3 other couples from our tour.  We were able to sit outside and enjoy our dinner together – reminiscing about our shared experiences.

Cache Creek:

Labor Day – back on the road traveling 240 miles along Highway 97 South, named the Caribou Connector. Despite being a holiday in Canada, the traffic was surprisingly light and the route was most enjoyable. The highway paralleled the Fraser River for a long part of the drive.  This was an important route for the Caribou Gold Rush in the 1870’s – we saw a few reminders of the time in Road Houses along the way, they had been established every 10-12 miles so that the miners and the others heading north had a place to rest. We stopped in our own roadhouse for the night just out of town at a closed auto repair shop – dry camping off the highway.

The Okanogan Valley was on our itinerary today – an amazing drive. The roadside views were spectacular. We drove through the interesting towns of Vernon, Kelowna, Summerland and Penticton. Getting to the southern end of B.C.’s 97 Highway we saw more and more abundant agriculture.  We had no idea how lush this area is. Very hilly, dry and hot, it apparently is perfect for growing fruit of all types: grapes, apples, peaches, plums, and cherries.  After getting into camp, in the town of Oliver, (wine capital of Canada) we ran out to check on some of the local wineries, Quinta Ferreria and Fairview Cellars.  There are over 100 wineries in the Okanogan Valley and we had a challenge before us (how many could we realistically see?).  We were so surprised to have discovered this very area.  Mike says it reminded him of the Napa Valley many years ago – quiet, simple and unsophisticated, with wineries nestled in the vineyards.  There are also an incredible number of acres planted with a variety of fruits.  Fresh produce stands: each featuring family grown products colorfully dotted the roadsides.  The weather was sunny and quite warm, so after a nice drive around and 2 wine tastings we decided dinner at the local brewery was in order.  We enjoyed a Canadian specialty Poutine – French fries smothered with cheese curds and brown gravy, not on the diet plate – but really quite tasty!

With so much to see in this area we decided to spend an extra night. We visited 3 more wineries, Black Hills, NK’Mip, Hester Creek and a cidery.  This was fun; we drank some very good wines, had a nice lunch and made a visit to an interesting NK’Mip First Nation’s Cultural Center. We bought several bottles of British Columbia wines – all estate grown and good souvenirs of our visit to this remarkable area. Definitely a place to put back on the “to be visited again” list.