There is no Highway like the Coquihalla

Yesterday we drove the Coquihalla and of course sang the Splendourbog song. Imagine our horror when we realized it had ceased being a toll road. An era has passed.

We began our trip at 6:00am. It was a lovely morning for a drive and fog misted above most of the creeks winding through the pastures. Cattle and horses were munching on the new green grass as were deer. We made several sightings in both the prairies and the mountains before the day heated up and the wildlife vanished.

The light on Cascade Mountain in Banff made the massive chunk of rock look even larger than it normally does. It seemed to punch the sky with its crags and snowy ledges. Castle Mountain, near Lake Louise, stood majestic against the bluest sky ever. Our first stop was the Castle Mountain lookout and would be the last bit of construction-free highway for many miles.

The road to Golden will be closed on Sunday so they can blast away more of the Canadian Rockies to improve the highway. We were lucky we didn't have to make the detour around that but we did pass huge earth movers and various other highway improvement machinery. Our next stop was Revelstoke where broke open the cooler and got out some drinks. It was around 10 but I was starving so I thought a drink might tide me over until lunch time. Note to self: Don't eat a normal breakfast if lunch is delayed by a couple of hours--eat more food.

Outside Revelstoke we passed the site of where the east and west legs of the railway binding Canada came together in 1885 --Craigellachie and the Three Valley Lake hotel. One day we hope to take Elijah and Miles to this hotel as it has a roundhouse, ghost town, and is very close to the Enchanted Forest.

We stopped for lunch and gas in Salmon Arm. This town sits on the edge of the famous Shuswap Lakes. The scenery is always spectacular but on a perfect day as was yesterday, the lakes were awash with boats, seadoos, and fishermen.

After you pass through Kamloops, you hit the famous Coquihalla road which links Merritt to Hope. Merritt, nestled in the Nicola Valley, hosts the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame although Calgary has won the right to house the memorablia. Merritt won't give up its Hall of Honour plaques so it will be interesting to see how this feud resolves itself.

We made excellent time until we hit Hope where a major accident had us stalled. We aren't sure what caused the accident but it involved a trailer and there were only police at the scene when we came upon it so that gives one cause to worry.

This delayed us about 20 minutes so our hope to get on the 5:00pm ferry to the island was dashed. However, when we reached Tsawwassen a sign said the ferry to Victoria was only 82% full so we sat in line praying we'd get on. By the time we got to the front of the line, only one car stood between us and the ferry. Then the pylons were tossed down and we stayed where we were.

The terminal's food court offers a wide variety of food but we both felt like pizza so had a couple of slices before they announced they were ready for boarding. We drove to the front of the ferry and knew we'd be the first ones off. The Coastal Celebration, a new ferry (2008) had a lovely cafeteria with front-seat views of the Strait of Georgia. Glen had to have 'ferry' ice cream so we could enjoy the crossing from these premier seats. Later, we went on the outside (top) deck and watched the navigation of the Gulf Islands. Funny thing was the front 6 seats were occupied by 5 people and each was reading a book rather than enjoying the scenery. Why choose the front seats if you aren't going to watch the passing scene?

We arrived at the condo and there was no visitor parking stall available so we parked on the street and had to haul our stuff up the elevator in about 4 loads. Taking the stairs down burned off some of that ice cream. The condo was very hot so I threw open the windows and started the fans blowing. The company working on fixing the building's envelop has created quite a mess of the apartment's grounds and I think we have lost some of our lovely rhododendron bushes.

We had a couple of beers, enjoying the cool of our balcony then went to bed. 10:30pm Calgary time. It had been a very long day.