Summer plans, part 3: The Valleys Okanagan & Fraser

Part 1 - The prep

Part 2 - The trip west

Part 3 - Okanagan & Fraser Valley

We spent a week in Vernon. Carrie worked mornings for the first few days. We enjoyed warm weather, although conditions got smokier as time went on. Normally the extended Driegen family would join us for the August long weekend, but it was decided that the air quality was too lousy this year in the Okanagan.

The girls got their annual much-awaited tea party with Grandma.

And burials by Grandpa.

There were plenty of beach days, even when it wasn't that nice out.

And our final day included a visit to Kangaroo Creek Farm in Kelowna. We did this a few years back and everyone enjoyed it a lot.

Meeting the capybaras

The shy albino

That should hold 'em

I don't even know.

Then it was time to head to the Fraser Valley. We set off with efficient travel plans and all, but those are easily mangled. We took the usual route: down to Kelowna, then Hwy 97C to Merritt to get onto the Coquihalla... only to discover that the Coquihalla was closed... or at least the on-ramp was, even though we could see traffic on it. Evidently the smoke was causing low visibility so they were starting to shut things down. So, we had to backtrack and make our way down Highway 5A through Princeton, and then carry on through Manning Park. It all added a couple of hours to our trip, but it was relaxing enough and let us see a scenic route we normally wouldn't consider.

We stayed in the Fraser Valley for a week. We hung out with family and were happy to be largely smoke-free. We endured/enjoyed more beach time and the kids got to visit with great-grandma.

Generations one, three, and four

(Almost) everyone pitching in

Cake!

Blondies

A bounty of local blueberries

Grandpa takes his role of fisherman training seriously

We spent a day in Stanley Park as well.

Biking the seawall. It's been a long time!

Towards the end of our week, Nora got pretty sick from a cousin, and we weren't thrilled about hauling diseases up to Smithers, but it turned out not to be Covid, so yay. On our drive to Smithers, we intended to visit the gold rush town Barkerville, but Nora was too sick and miserable.

There was a head-scratching moment on the way north. We were notified that dinner was ready in Prince George at Carrie's uncle's house! What!? That was well north of where we planned to reach that day. We'd asked about his availability a few days before, and some miscommunication led him to believe we'd be there that night. We felt pretty bad for him, but he's pretty chill so all was well. Still...

Anyway, we headed north through the Fraser Canyon, hoping we wouldn't encounter road closures due to fire or smoky conditions.

Fortunately there were none, although it was pretty bad in places, and we drove past some visible fires very close to the highway. We made it to Williams Lake and stopped for the night. The next day we kept going north and made our way to the beautiful Bulkley Valley.

Stay tuned...