VANCOUVER to SALMON ARM – on the road again

Today’s Wednesday mat is the last in the series.  We will be on our own from now on and hopefully we will be able to remember what day of the week it is.

We wake to pretty much the same weather as we had when we left Vancouver except for the rain so that’s a good start.

Our bags have been collected earlier this morning so all we have to do is have a bite of brekky and then prepare for the disembarking onslaught.

Under the Lions Gate Bridge, still followed by our constant companion we arrive in Vancouver about 6.30am.   I take some last minute snaps and think of the time when we were heading in the other direction.

Breakfast time is relatively quiet – most of the Fakers are busy packing 2 tonne of items so we can relax a bit before the big day ahead of us.

Getting back to the cabin we organise ourselves, finalise our account and head off down the hallway for the last time.

Not a lot of people around – the majority of Fakers have packed and are now headed to the trough – so we make the most of it and bid our farewells to the Madam V.

Clearing Customs without a fuss, it’s then off to find our luggage which has been colour coded so that we will find it with the least amount of fuss.  An excellent system as we collect our bags and proceed to our Cruisepark transport bus.  We look at all the people with as many bags as us and quietly smile.  Back at the carpark our car is brought around and we spend some time repacking everything into the boot and back seat.  This is no mean feat let me tell you – and we still have two and a bit weeks to go!

Kylie decides to drive so I am up front with the good old Trip Tik in hand ready with the directions. Our first stop is to be the Capilano Suspension Bridge so it’s back through downtown Vancouver to say goodbye, over the Lions Gate Bridge and we are off.  The clouds are keeping an eye on us but the rain has held off.  We get to the parking area for the bridge – pay the parking fee and proceed to the Admission Gate.  The entrance fee is $30.00 which is fine if you are going to be here for the entire day as it is a rather large park with lots of activities, but as we are not going to be here for very long we decide it is a bit too pricey for an hour or two just to walk over a bridge and take some photos.  There are no short stay discount admissions – so it’s back to the car (we forfeit our parking fee) and the journey continues.

Travelling along through the Canadian Rockies on Trans-Canada 1 we are overjoyed that the sun has finally decided to come say hello.  I was beginning to think that maybe old sol had decided to head South for a holiday.  After a lengthy drive with me taking lots of movies it is time to stop for petrol at a town called Hope – as in ‘abandon all ye who enter here’.  Unfortunately we miss the turn off and have to take the scenic route which takes us to the short cut via the short cut. Tyler is now driving and Kylie is having a nap in the back seat scrunched up with all the bags and goodies.

The scenery is majestic with the blue skies and the green hills and there is not much traffic on the highway and all that makes for a really good drive.  Around lunchtime Kylie spots a Tim Horton’s sign – coffee is always a good idea so we get something to eat, have coffee now and get some coffee for later.

Back on the road and we pass through ‘an area that has a lot of roadside signs notifying ‘Avalanche Area’ so there must be a lot of snow here during Winter.  We have also ended up behind a dirty big logging truck which is however making good time – and then on the left of the car a goods train of about 3 miles long drives past us heading towards Vancouver.

Another sign says 80km to Salmon Arm so it looks as if Mr Logs will be our driving companion for the distance, but the scenery makes up for it and after the goods train disappears there is now a really, really, really big lake.

At 40km to Salmon Arm Mr Logs departs for parts unknown but the lake is still with us.  If you see some markings on the windscreen – they are from a previous encounter with a rock that Kylie had back in St Helens.

We arrive in Salmon Arm where we are staying at the Holiday Inn Express & Suites.  We have room 506 and on the door along with the room number there is a plaque of a salmon.  Well, what else would it be?  Do you suppose that every room is named after a species of fish for example are we staying in the ‘Salmon Suite’ or because we are staying in Salmon Arm.  Looking around though, every room has some sort of salmon plaque on the door.  How quaint!

We unload the car (and that is no mean feat) and bring everything up to the room so that we can reorganise.  Remember we made only three stops on the boat and we seem to have bought out each and every town.  It didn’t seem that much when we were in the shops.  In keeping with hotel rooms on the Stansbury/Clarke Tour, our view is — the car park!  At least we are not on the main road so that’s good.

After settling in the best we can and having a bit of a Nana Nap (a habit acquired on the Madam V) we take a small scenic tour of Salmon Arm to find a place for dinner.  Deciding on an establishment called ‘White Spot’ (isn’t that a disease that fish get?) Kylie assures me that they have the best burgers so in we go.  Granted it’s not like the dinners on the cruise but it hits the spot and after finishing the meal we head back to the room.

Time for a bit of channel surfing on the TV and I find NCIS – I love this show – and this becomes the first of many, many episodes we watch if the Ducks are not playing something somewhere.  Incredible how every time you turn on the TV there is NCIS – a bit like I Love Lucy.  I update my journal and then it’s time for lights out – another big day tomorrow. Come to think of it – it will be big days from now on to the end. Oh dear!

Highlight of the day: my first sight of the Canadian Rockies.