Exciting to move to the other part of ZsaZsa’s slide out to place the first Canadian sticker on our map….Hello BC!!
First stop, Vancouver. After following the signs to enter a border crossing, the one with the most narrow entry gates EVER!!, we successfully navigated into the city. Despite what you may hear, you don’t need to throw away ALL your produce and booze, just make sure what you are crossing with what is legitimately for personal use only. Disclaimer: you may not get the same lovely border crossing agent we did!
Our first day in Vancouver was spent ferrying to Victoria to spend the day at Butchart Gardens and in the town. Tim’s gardening passion was very happy in Butchart and we thought of his mom and dad a lot. His favorite was the Japanese garden which was beautiful, peaceful, simple but sublime. We spent about 2.5 hours there and then taxied into downtown for a great lunch at John’s Place a restaurant that came highly recommended from the Fearless Female Travel site. She hit the mark! The place was jammed with photos of John and friends as he has cooked in Victoria for 40 years. Had Liz’s famous sangria and great food and totally enjoyed the scene. Then it was off to downtown, walking Government Street, the Inner Harbor, Chinatown and catching some fancy-ants action at the Empress. Cool place…great vibe.
The next day we spent e-biking through Stanley Park. We stayed right below the LionsGate bridge so although noisy and not the best RV park, very centrally located. Loved that Vancouver was such a pedestrian and bike friendly city; the biking across the bridge was a bit scary but we persisted!
We left Vancouver and moved on to just outside Kamloops and stayed at a provincial park, Lac La Jeune. Beautiful, peaceful little lake. Then we went on to Revelstoke, a ski town credited for early ski jumping in North America and a great little town. Nice vibe, not overly developed, smallish resort but cool. We hiked to the Mount Begbie falls, had lunch at the resort and walked around the small town. We were there for final game of Stanley Cup and found ourselves at The Village Idiot bar with other Edmonton fans cheering them on! Despite the loss, it was a great evening. Stayed at the Boulder Mountain Resort just outside Revelstoke which had tent, RV and tiny cabins available. Great little place…recommend if you are heading to Revelstoke to ski or hike….On our way to Golden, we stopped to wash ZsaZsa, try the famous Dutchmen Dairy ice cream
Now it’s on to Golden, Yoho and Banff. This part of the drive is spectacular. The mountains and rivers are unbelievable with one stunning scene after another as you wind your way up Hwy1. Roger’s Pass and the stories of building the Canadian Pacific Railroad along here are AMAZING. We are listening to GuideAlong which you can buy for various areas of travel and they narrate along the way so you learn history, economy, geography, etc… So lucky to be seeing these pristine and protected spaces