Just get me there already

 (Thurs 2nd Oct)

I really wanted to be able to get out and have a good early walk in Whistler as we’d not had chance to see much the night before. 

Sadly the rain had different ideas for us - well me as Dan was dead to the world in a mildly drunken sleep!! 

It was battering it down from the minute I woke up. Not oh I’ll be fine with my waterproof coat and hat rain, it was soak you through to the skin level rain. 

Darn it..so I wrote up the blog for the day before and waited on his royal grumpiness waking up or the rain to ease. Dan woke first! 

We agreed to just get brekkers and then head straight off rather than try to squeeze a walk in.

Breakfast was at Alpha Cafe which was a short walk away so we got to see a tiny bit more as by now the rain had eased off and was just a bit of drizzle.

Once fed, we grabbed some road trip snacks from the grocery store, checked out and got on our way (well after Dan practically repacked in the boot of the car. I am now driving the untidiest of boot wardrobes. Not even had the car for 24hours!!) 

Kelowna is 450km away but up and over / through the mountains so it was estimating a 6hour drive. 

The route itself is stunning. It’s very hard to describe the sheer scale of the place…it’s just SO big!! You feel so small in this giant landscape but really blown away by how beautiful it is. The mountains, lakes and rivers are glorious. 

The first lake we pulled over at was Duffy Lake and bloody hell was it cold there! We were both shivering and teeth chattering so just a few quick photos and back in the car as fast as we could to warm up. 

We passed through Grizzly bear country according to the warning signs but we never saw one. I was actually excited to see a bear - from the car! 

We did see these little cuties though 

We stopped off for fuel and lunch after about 3.5hours in Cache Creek. It was a diner at the gas station and I was not overly impressed with Dan’s choice to be honest!! But I have to admit the food was good and it was huge! Was definitely going to get me through to Kelowna.

The landscape on the journey changes quite dramatically as does the weather. We came from grey and rainy, into bright and cold surrounded by lush forests, lakes/rivers and mountains to warm-ish quite beige and arid looking surroundings back to mountains! We also hit some light snow, some torrential rain and then heat 🤷🏼‍♀️

2nd lake we stopped at was Selton Lake. Absolutely stunning..

We ended up with about 45min delay due to a lot of construction work happening (think they were re-tarmacking the whole road) so we were sat still at red lights for ages. 

This meant we didn’t get into Kelowna until 7.30pm (having left Whistler at 11.30am) so it had been quite the journey! 

We’re at a motel here for 2nights called Hotel Zed. It’s a really funky place, brightly coloured and really well kept. This is in the lobby 

Quick freshen up and we headed out, we’re right round the corner from the waterfront and lots of bars & restaurants. We headed to Craft Beer Market and ended up staying there for the rest of the evening. I was enjoying g the beer in there and tbh, I couldn’t be arsed with us trying to decide/agree on where to go next so we stayed put.

My brain was a little frazzled after the drive. Driving over here does need so much more concentration- I’m in the wrong side of the car and road. I have never ever driven these roads before or know most of the names of places on the signs. I’ve got to try to remember the rules of the road plus I was dealing with varying terrains and weather. Don’t get me wrong, I’d rather it was me driving - I would just go to sleep if I was in the passenger seat and miss it all. Not to mention Dan does get a little bit flappy at times when driving anyway so him doing it over here….well!! He is insured though in case anything happens to me (I tore my ankle ligaments in Sicily and I was the only insured driver) or even if I am just getting too tired to drive any longer. 

Anyway I ramble on. We had a light snack each in the bar where I also indulged in a couple of Old Fashioned’s and then I tipsily headed to bed!