From Victoria, BC to Kelowna BC.
A long travel time today, car, ferry, crossing a dangerous mountain pass. Only a few but interesting morning walk photos.
Our hotel was near both the Royal BC Museum and Emily Carr’s house so we did a little morning culture dog walk.
On our drive we had to go through the Coquihalla Connector. There is a big sign that states there can be unpredictable weather. It was the scariest drive of my life. Driving music was Talking Heads.
We headed out for our morning walk going away from the inner harbour and more toward city centre. Our GPS indicated different tourist sites. Emily Carr, the famous Canadian artist, has her house called Carr House. It was farther away than we had time for. On the corner of Government St and Bellville is a sculpture of her and her dog Billie.
On the other side you can see she has her monkey Woo on her shoulder.
The plaque gives an overview of her life, including that she won the Governor General’s award for her writing.
Thunderbird Park is next to the Royal BC Museum.
Eve tells me they have lovely grass. No totem poles were peed on during the walk.
Kwagu’t Ceremonial home.
Beacon Hill Park was a couple of blocks over so we headed there. Found a plaque and some crumpled iron. Lord Stanley, the Governor General of Canada (and whom hockey’s Stanley Cup is named after) left Victoria, heading back to Vancouver. It was foggy and the ship hit a reef. They returned safely and the damaged bilge keel is now in this park.
I thought I saw a large, off leash dog in the bushes but it was a deer. Never see those in Toronto’s Eglinton park.
Heading back to our hotel we passed through the gardens of the Empress Hotel. Tne Empress hotel has a lovely walkway through these gardens. They keep it fenced but 2 pugs managed to sneak in for a photo.
On the ferry back, I just got a coffee and sandwich and stayed in the car with the pugs. After docking we headed out for our Kelowna destination. Little did I realize how long it would take to get there.
This is Mara Lake. I decided to stop at the picnic area for a rest. Look how calm and beautiful it is. I’m about to drive up a mountain that will bring a down pour of rain, low visibility and then snow – the Coquihalla Summit.
The max speed is 120 Km and most drivers were doing that. I was driving 80 Km with white knuckles all the way through. No time to stop and take pictures. Couldn’t see out the windshield because of the splash from passing trucks.
Also there had been a traffic accident so we were delayed by about 2 hours. We got in late to Kelowna and did not have time to see anything. Grabbed a takeout sandwich and spent the time in the hotel calming down.