Canada!

We drove up Routes 20 and 97 to the Osoyoos area of British Columbia to Okanagan Falls.  There are hundreds of cherry, apple and pear orchards all the way up to the border.  Luckily we didn’t buy any fruit there, as they confiscate fruit at the border.  The border is another story, but suffice it to say, we were singled out by the computer and we spent quite awhile there while they searched for fruit and made us put our firewood in the freezer there, because they don’t want our firewood bugs in their country.  We had known this beforehand but were pretty cavalier about the whole thing, thinking Canada was our friend!  Not entirely!  These people do not joke around.  I guess we can’t blame them considering some of the 9/11 terrorists came over the border from Canada.

The border

After that delay, we decided to stay a little farther south than we had planned.  We entered into a beautiful valley of vineyards and orchards.  This is truly the Napa-Sonoma of British Columbia.  There are vineyards everywhere, the tastings are usually free and this section of the Okanagan Valley is just the beginning of the BC wine country.  We decided to stop at one on our way, Gold Hill Winery where we indulged in a bottle of Viognier and Cabernet Franc.  We are saving them for a special occasion. 

We stopped at Okanagan Falls Provincial Park and got the last possible spot.  We were planning to leave the next day as the park didn’t thrill us (we are so used to being thrilled!), but learned that Canada Day is coming up on Monday and the weekend is jammed.  All the parks we searched north of here are booked and we are a little unprepared planning-wise to go for a boondocking spot.  So, we stayed.  Actually, it turned out to be a godsend as we needed down time.  We took showers, cleaned up Maxine a bit, took walks along the river and the lake nearby and explored the very meager downtown.  Actually, the park is quite nice.  It is very simple:  we have a fire pit and a really nice table and are relatively private.  There are no hookups but the bathroom (which we seldom use) is decent and we love the married couple who are the hosts here-I believe they are rangers.  They have been very helpful.  The park is known for its bats and night hawks that come out at twilight.  They also have the most delightful California Quails which are a little too fast for me to catch on camera.  Not a whole lot to take pictures of except a lovely walk along the river here.

That's a deer over there.  Boo was dying to
go after him but he did get a chance to
chase a couple of ducks earlier.

We are actually at our first Internet Cafe, The Dogtown Cafe, today.  I'm working on the blog and doing emails and Jim is doing his thing.  It's kind of strange to all of a sudden find ourselves in rolling hills and lush valleys after being in so much "wild" country these past weeks.  We are going to meet up with some friends from San Carlos up north a bit for a few days before heading into Jasper.