Day 1: Abbotsford, BC to Nicolson, BC
After getting up at 6:15 to shower and finish any last minute packing, Mum and I drove out to Daryl's for 8:00. I was a little apprehensive about Mum driving my car home but she called me when she got back and let me know that she had it safely parked under a tree in our second driveway. Daryl and I walked up to Avis to pick up our rental car. When we got there, the guy told us that we were lucky that we had booked our car in advance because he had turned down 41 people yesterday who were looking for cars to rent!! We had a choice of cars - a Chevrolet Cobalt or a Ford Focus Wagon. We went for the Cobalt because the Ford was ugly.....come on, it was a WAGON!! Unfortunately though, as we drove away, we found out the Cobalt REEKED like smoke - it only had about 5900km on it but whoever had driven it before must have smoked like a chimney! I made Daryl stop at the Walmart in Chilliwack so I could buy some Febreeze! So now our car smells like smokey Febreeze....yummy! Daryl drove until the rest stop after the toll booth on the Coquihalla. We must have gotten there just after a tour bus cause the bathrooms were PACKED with Japanese tourists! I drove a very uneventful trip to the Visitor's Information Booth in Kamloops - thank you, Nitasha, for informing us of the wonderful bathrooms - they are much better than the pit toilets in the rest-stops along the TransCanada! However, I did have to use the men's bathroom because there was a family in the girl's one! From Kamloops, Daryl drove on the #1 highway to Sicamous where we stopped for a break and walked down to the Shuswap Lake. We saw a houseboat with a waterslide on it!!!!! The beach was beautiful but it was super windy and the lake was very busy with marine traffic! A very kind woman offered to take our picture which was great because we very rarely get pictures on the two of us together unless we turn the camera around. We headed on and I really wanted to get some cherries and peaches since we were in the Okanagan so we followed some signs to stand just off the road. It was super sketchy, nothing was labeled and the guy yelled at me cause I was looking at the 'wrong' peaches. I bought 3 and got out of there as fast as I could! We continued along and Daryl found a neat little place near Three Valley Gap and I got two bags of delicious cherries! The woman was a bit crazy there too but she was nice at least. Daryl drove on and I read ( I got into "Undomestic Goddess" and I couldn't put it down!!). We stopped for gas in Revelstoke and continued on to Golden and then down to Nicolson to Golden Eco-Adventure Ranch where Daryl had booked us to camp for the night. It was a good thing he got a reservation cause there were a lot of people in "overflow" with tents pitched willy nilly. We got an ok spot although it is a little far away from the car spot and it's right on top of another campsite. Plus, the bathrooms are about a 10 minute walk away. After a quick dinner, we headed off for a walk on the property and by the river. We totally got lost (the trails weren't really trails) and ended up in the middle of a muddy field. We finally found the river and then Daryl stepped in some really deep mud and then tried to wash his shoes off in the lake- it was definitely amusing! We also found a suspension bridge over a pond and had fun jumping on that until some kids came along and wanted to try. Unfortunately the people two sites over blasted their music til all hours of the night - I guess that's what people have to do when they have no conversation skills!!!!
Me on the shores on windy Shuswap Lake!
Daryl striking a pose at Sycamous.
I couldn't put this book down!!
Daryl at Golden Eco-Adventure Ranch with the start of the Rockies in the background.
Me on the shores of the muddy river.
Daryl trying to wash the mud from his shoes!
Jumping on the suspension bridge!!!
Daryl on the suspension bridge...if you look closely, you can see the kids that 'forced' us off the bridge.
Daryl on top of the toboggan hill and overlooking the swimming pond/ice skating area!
Me on the shores on windy Shuswap Lake!
Daryl striking a pose at Sycamous.
I couldn't put this book down!!
Daryl at Golden Eco-Adventure Ranch with the start of the Rockies in the background.
Me on the shores of the muddy river.
Daryl trying to wash the mud from his shoes!
Jumping on the suspension bridge!!!
Daryl on the suspension bridge...if you look closely, you can see the kids that 'forced' us off the bridge.
Daryl on top of the toboggan hill and overlooking the swimming pond/ice skating area!