Okanagan – three special places.

I stayed with friends in Vernon with a spectacular view over Kalamalka Lake from their porch that also was perfect for tasting or drinking wine.

In the hills northeast of Vernon lies Silver Star a ski resort with a large number of alpin pistes. Close by is Sovereign Lake Ski Center with 55 km of cross country or snow shoe skiing tracks.

Tne Silver Lake Village has a special style especially when it comes to colours.                                                                           

It is a winter resort.                                                                                                                                                                                    

Sparkling Hill  Resort lies on a hill overlooking the Okanagan lake. It is built and owned by Swarovski, the company with the crystals, and that shows. I did not count but they claim that 3,5 million crystals are used in the building. Both the building, the use of crystals and the view are unique.                                                                                                                                                          Crystals on the rail                                                       15000 crystals on the bird

                                          

I was told the building costs were 350 million dollar (Canadian). Extreme wealth is almost pornographic.

Okanagan – Wine

Wine production is one of the most important sources of income for the Okanagan Valley. Fra Osoyoos in south to Enderby in the north (250 km) there is almost continous vineyards, 131 licensed wineries all together. In addition the production of fruit like apples, peaches, cherries, apricot, plums etc is important.

                                                   The wine production has actually an interesting history. The first wine production was in the 1850s at Okanagan Mission and was only intended for sacramental use. When we lived in BC wwe could still buy Mission Hill wine in gallon bottles. It was not a good wine so we used it mainly as cooking wine.

During the prohibition period almost all wine production stopped and the vineyards were fallow. Most of the area was planted with other agricultural plants. The production was started again in the 1930s but it was based on fruit grapes not wine grapes. It was actually the NK’Mip band who started wine production of wine grapes in 1975. The planting of wine grapes like Gewürztraminer, Pinot Blanc and Pinot Gris increased and they got clones of roots from Germany. Then in 1980 the Free Trade Agreement started and the the Canadian market was opened for wine from USA. Then the Canadian Government started giving grants to growers who uprooted their old wine plants and replaced them with specialized sorts.

The climate, precipitation, temperature, hours of daylight etc varies from north to south so the wines are different for the experts. Eiswine is also a specialty.

Needless to say we visited a number of wineries and tasted a number of wines and some were better than others. During my stay we also had wine with a lot of meals and on the porch etc. My summary is simply that Okanagan wines are very good and worth a visit.

Osoyoos – NK’Mip

The NK’Mip is a First Nation band living on the east side of the Osoyoos Lake. That area is considered to be a desert and the band’s traditions and way of life are associated with that enviroment. In modern time the band was dependent on the transfer of Government money given out as welfare checks once a month. Then in 1984 Clarence Louie was elected Chief. He stated clearly that the conditions for his band were  not good, and what was needed were two things: Education and economic development. Today it is an organized community with vineyards and a big winery, a beautiful camping place and the schooling system is developed. On the curriculum are NK’Mip language, their tradition and songs and they have excursions to the desert to collect edible and medical plants.

There is basically no unemployment among the 520 members of the band. On the contrary members of other tribes or bands try to get work with the NK’Mip. The band has now a revenue 26 million dollars and a net profit of 2,5 million. They had their own appartment buildings and a modern winery producing popular wines. They had also built a cultural centre that we visited. The NK’Mip language is used on signs and that is really a different language as the name of the band indicates.

                                          The wall to the Cultural Center (the right pictureI is made from rammed clay mixed with colour and a little cement. A big portion of the exhibits at the center was placed along a 2 km long trail and here are some pictures showing this:               

They had also unic decorativ statues around the town made of sheet metal

I also found the most attractive name on appartment building.

Other names were Merlot, Shiraz and Chardonet.

From Vancouver to Osoyoos

Osoyoos is a town situated at the southern part of the Canadian Okanagan valley, We drove from Vancouver almost straight east and it was a drive through different landscapes. First on the Trans-Canadian highway through the Fraser Valley. It is basically flat  and not very interesting. Where the river and the valley turn northward lies the city of Hope. After a stop at the Blue Moose cafe with excellent blueberry muffins, we continued eastwards. If we had taken the road going northeast we would have used the Coquihalla Highway, which is called the Highway of Hell in a TV-series.

15 km east of Hope is the Hope landslide site. January 9. 1965 at 7Am the largest recorded landslide in Canada happened here. A whole moutainside came thundering down into the Nicolum Valley. Three cars and four people were buried.

               Taken from an airplane (not my photo)

The slide was probably caused by a minor earthquake and around 47 million cubic meters came down the 2000 meter mountain side into the valley 1000 meters lower. The slide is 3 km wide and went across the valley and up the opposite mountain side and then came back to the valley floor.

It is still very visible.

I had seen the sight before but I was still surprised by the dimensions. Somehow it fits the slogan of British Columbia: Supernatural. The forces of nature are huge and we can not do anything to control them. In this context humans are just small,

Driving further east the landscape became more and more dry, we were clearly in the rain shadow of the mountains. On one of our stops we saw a bear.

The next stop was a surprise, a spotted lake.

                    I was surprised, I have never heard or seen something like it, so I have tried to find out more. There are two interesting sides about Spotted Lake or Klihik which is the First Nation name .

First the science part. It is a lake with no water flowing out  So over the centuries or millenia different chemical compounds have accumulated, During the dry season when the water evaporates, the minerals are left and crystallizes, The different compounds have different colours. The main compounds are sulphates, magnesium, calsium    and sodium, but there are eight other minerals there and also small amounts of silver and titanium.                                                                   See the perfect heart-shaped pond slightly to the left in the picture.

The second interesting side of the lake is its history. It was a holy place for the First Nation and they considered the mud to have healing power. It is told that after a war between two tribes they agreed that both tribes could use the lake for their wounded soldiers. During the first world war the minerals  were used to make ammunition. Later a Smith family owned it and proposed to build a spa there. The First Nation people did not like it and bought it back.

Again British Columbia lived up to its slogan: Supernatural.

Vancouver – Squamish – Sea-to-Sky

The Squamish Sea-to-Sky gondola is new. It opened in May 2014 at a cost of 22 million Canadian dollars. It goes up to 885 m above sea level and is spectacular to ride. The godolas are fairly small with glass all around so the view is not obstructed.

We had clear skies, no wind and warm temperatures so the conditions were perfect. No haze or clouds. On the top there is of course a end station and a nice restaurant with a big deck out towards the valley.

From the deck to another view point was a suspension bridge. Fortunately I have very little vertigo so I had no problem crossing it, but I can see that might be a problem for some.

From the end of the bridge were several prepared trails and we took the longest.

The view from some points was great and supports my claim that Vancouver is special having these surroundings.

It was a day to remember, I really enjoyed everything and I put it high up may be on the top of “must-see” in Vancouver. The combination of fresh air, good trails, forest and great views is very special.

Vancouver – Granville Island

Granville Island is not really an island now, it is a peninsula. But it has been an island i False Creek. Landfill has increased the size and made the sandbank island to what it is today. It lies actually partly under the Granville bridge.

anville Island Map

The history of Granville Island is in many ways the history of the district. It was a sandbank that the First Nation people used for fishing. Then the first bridge crossing the False Creek used th sandbar and tried to stabilize it with piles. The port of Vancouver was growing and the Harbour Comission started a large reclaimation project in 1915 and 760000 cubic meters were dredged from to bottom of False Creek and created todays peninsula. It was meant to be an industrial area and was actually called Industrial Island. The industries were connected to fisheries, lumber, shipping etc. Sawmills, machine shops and similar factories filled the island and around 1930 1200 people worked there. The streetcar had a stop on the Granville Bridge and stairs were builr down to the island underneath,                                       The depression hit the area hard but a lot of the industries on the island survived. After the second world war, the production declined and the standard of the building was very outdated, several fires destroyed buildings that were not rebuilt. So in 1970 the transformation to a “people-friendly” place with parkland, restaurants. a market etc. The transformation costed the city 19 million dollar, today the yearly taxes amount to 35 million. Some pictures:

In the middle there is a rest of the past, a cement storage and concrete production. In order to fit in they engaged a Brazilian artist to decorate the storage tank.

It was great to spend time at Granville Island. The atmosphere was relaxed with street musicians, good coffee and  superb view  over False Creek..

Vancouver

Vancouver must have one of the spectacular locations for a big city. From anywhere in the city you can see mountains, the sea or Thompson River are always close and you get the feeling that the wilderness is just outside the last house. At the same time it lies at the end of the valley where Thompson River flows, and that valley is fertil and an agricultural area. It is also the gateway to the interior. To illustrate what I mean:

In addition is it a multicultural city not only with a mixture of “western” decendents but with big groups of Asian immigrants and decendents. And then of course the first nation. This gives the city a cosmopolitan face at the same time as it is a bustling modern metropol.

British Columbia, Canada – September 2014

We lived in British Columbia from 1966 to 1970.Most of the time we lived in Ocean Falls. It was a company town  on the coast approx. 600 km north of Vancouver. It was isolated you could onluy get there with airplane or boat. In addition it had more than 170 inches (5 Meters) with rain per year.

                         Ocean Falls is marked at the head of the fjord                    Ocean Falls

Living there made i necessary and easy to get friends and we, Ingrid and I, visited the best of them a couple of times after we left (not in Ocean Falls). We also had them visiting Norway. We had promised to come back so I did so alone i September. I spent the first part of my stay in Vancouver and the rest in the Okanagan Valley in the intererior. It was a great trip and I am amazed and thankful for so great friendships after 40 years.