BC Electric Street Cars In The Fraser Valley

 

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Vancouver is a young city by many standards but the growth of the city and the surrounding suburbs has been astounding in its short life.

Although the First Nations have lived here for over 10,000 years, the newcomers, the Europeans, first arrived in 1792 and by the 1860's sawmills were exploiting the rich forest and miners were exploiting the gold and silver found in the mountains.

Vancouver was incorporated in 1860 and by the 1890's streetcars were being introduced to handle the needs of the people to get around Vancouver and its immediate suburbs.

Further to the east in the Fraser Valley, pioneer settlements like Cloverdale, Bradner, Mt. Lehman were only acessibil by a ferry ride across the Fraser River from the north shore where the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) ran daily through to Vancouver.

By 1809 - 1810 the British Columbia Electric Railway (BCER) has pushed through tracks as far as Chilliwack and was running Interurban street cars to these "remote" settlements.

While Ken and I have visited and followed many sections of these tracks over the years, today we limited our day to just three of these locations.

Our starting point was Matsqui, just south across the Fraser River from Mission. Matsqui is a floodplain which provided fertile soil for farmers to grow crops for their own use. With the coming of the Interurban line, the farmers could now expand and begin to sell their crops commercially into the big city of Vancouver.

We had a late breakfast in Abbotsford, just south of the Matsqui Prairie area, and then headed west to our next stop of Mt. Lehman. Like so many parts of our history, the community and the historic buildings which centered on the rail line have mostly gone.

In Mt. Lehman we were able to visit the old Mt. Lehman Community Hall and the Mt. Lehman United Church. Sadly, even some of the buildings that were still standing not so many years ago have now been knocked down and only an empty field remains 

Our next stop to the west was Bradner where all that remains to identify a busy pioneer centre is the general store located right next to the tracks. Further north on Bradner Road is the Bradner Community Centre, and right next to that is the old Bradner Elementary School. 

While the community centre and the school are still in use, unless you know the original history of the area, you would be hard pressed to conjure up the ghosts of the settlers which have been so neatly pushed aside.

Final stop of the day was the community of Fort Langley. While Fort Langley was not actually on the BCER Interurban line, it still represents a major part of the growth of the Vancouver area, in particular the province of BC.

Fort Langley was the birth place of the province, and the first capital of BC before that title was given to the downstream community of New Westminster, and then eventually to Victoria on Vancouver Island.  

Today the quaint shops remind us of the early days, and the actual fort itself on the hill above the town reminds us of the original days of BC

The one thing that rings true is that the railways still play a big part of the Fraser Valley's daily life, with the main lines of the Canadian National Railway (CNR) running along the riverside right next to the original Fort Langley train station building

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 SPENDING A SATURDAY IN HOPE BC

Hope BC is 95 miles east of the big city of Vancouver and is the junction of three mountain highways and a site of a former Hudson Bay fort located on the banks of the Fraser River.

The Trans Canada Highway, also known as  Highway #1 heads north into the rugged Fraser Canyon which splits the Coast Mountains and the Cascade Mountains. 

Highway #5 heads north-east into the Coquilhalla Pass, known by many around the world as the Highway From Hell due to the TV series which follows the real life struggles of commercial tow truck operators winching 18 wheelers back up to the highways after they have gone off the road.   

Highway #3, known as the Crowsnest Highway, heads due east and follows a lower elevation route that is a two lane winding lane for most of its path. While the elevation is lower, the highway is no less dangerous.

The town of Hope sits at the western terminus of the three mountain highways as they exit the mountains and enter the flat land of the eastern end of the Fraser Valley. From there it is a relative straight shot west to Vancouver and the edge of the Pacific Ocean.

Today we would be settling for the town of Hope itself to wander around the town, shop the stores, and find a few geocaches which were new in the past few months.

Hope is also known as the chainsaw carving capital of Canada as there are no less than 80 carvings, most of them life size or larger. 

We have seen many of these over the years, for the grandkids along today this was a first for them. We looked at a few of the carvings and then let the kids play of the local playground before we head on to find some geocaches.

One of the fun caches of the day was located next to a residence which had two old stumps on the city property by the sidewalk and the family had turned the two stumps into a showcase of colourful birdhouses. Bird figurines are hidden among the bushes of the garden to complement the esthetics of the bird houses. 

Next geocache on the list was at the Pioneer Cemetery, which is always an interesting place to visit. What often strikes me was the short years most of the original people lived due the hasher lives they lived. 

Young Rowan found this cache, it was a plastic stick which had the cache tucked into one end of it. For a plastic stick, the cache blended in well with the other wooden debris on the ground.

The last three geocaches were located along the old Kettle Valley Railway right of way which headed east out of the town in the direction of the gold and silver mines of Southern BC.

If you followed this trail for another mile or two you would come across the Othello Tunnels, a wonderful feat of engineering where they blasted 5 tunnels through a short, steep canyon to allow the train passage through impossible terrain.

Pictures of Othello Tunnels and the Hell's Gate Air Tram from a previous visit can be seen here 

This section of the trail is less than a kilometre and is an easy walk and a great place for the kids to stretch their legs.

We found the cache at the start of the trail, with second cache being at the end of the trail. About halfway between the two, the youngest grandkid looks around a good hiding spot and found a geocache I did not have on the list. As I had found that cache previously, I had ignored it on my new search  Kudos to Camden for finding that one!

We continued on and found the last cache at the end of the trail, which much to the kids delight was a scary looking skull staring at you from under the forest debris.

By now it was the end of the day, we had all had our share of exercise for the day. The grandkids had scored some books at the book store, where all books are only $2.00 each, and the adults had a chance to get out of those house after days of winter rains.

We headed back home just a little tired and somewhat cold from the unexpected windy day in Hope. The temperature was mild at 12C, (54F) but the cold breeze just blew right through our hoodies and light jackets. Oh well, we survived.  😀 

Thanks for reading about the day's adventure. Leave a comment if you liked the story and you must click on the link to look at the pictures to get gain full appreciation of the day.

ALL PICTURES FROM THE DAY CAN BE SEEN HERE

FORT LANGLEY AND SENDALL GARDENS 

The Fab Foursome of myself, Annette, brother Ken and his wife Linda took advantage of the sunny weather and headed over to take a stroll around the village of Fort Langley, once the capital of BC.

We arrived mid-morning slightly ahead of the main crowds but parking was already at a premium. We wandered around the stores on the side streets and then meandered down Glover Road, which is the main street through town.

We popped in a few shops which caught our fancy, then settled into A restaurant with an outdoor covered patio for lunch.
We sat next to the fireplace, so we had the benefit of the sun and the fire. The good food had us ready to continue on with our day of touring.

After lunch we headed for Sendall Gardens, a 3.67 hectare garden which includes a small creek.

Originally owned by the Sendall family, the property eventually found its way in to hands of Langley city for preservation.
The city has done a great job of expanding access to the property via pathways to the surrounding neighbourhoods.

The city has also cleaned up some of the land and created paths within the small park which allows visitors greater access to the full property.

After our tour of the gardens, the group split up to go our separate ways to take care of some shopping chores on the way home.

ALL PICTURES CAN BE SEEN HERE ON MY FLICKR WEB SITE

 Spending a Sunday in and Around Harrison River Valley

ALL THE PICTURES INCLUDING A VIDEO CAN BE SEEN HERE

Aunty Diane and myself picked up the three junior woodchucks for a fun filled day of "exploring with Grampa"

First up was Weaver Creek Spawning Channel in the Harrison River Valley east of Mission BC.

Unfortunately we were in between salmon runs for this facility, so we drove a few miles down valley and stopped at the Chehalis River Fish Hatchery

Here we seen some Chinook salmon but mostly Chum salmon trying to gain access to the hatchery channels. We also looked around the hatchery and found a batch of fry in one of the rearing containers.

From the hatchery we drove a couple of miles up the Harrison West Forest Service Road to the location of an artesian well. Actually, it is the outlet of a pipe run from the neighbour's property on the hill above the road.

Being a good neighbour, the property owner installed a pipe down the hill to roadside for his fellow neighbour's and even built a rock faced Buddha shrine to highlight the water pipe outlet.

After this it was time for lunch, so we drove into Agassiz and had a great lunch at the Broken Whisk. The kids were happy about their burgers and chicken strips. Adalyn thought they were the best chicken strips she ever had, Rowan was extremely happy about his cheese burger and fries, while Camden thought his burger was pretty good but Wendy's was still better. All agreed the strawberry ice cream for dessert was fantastic.

After lunch I showed Diane Scofield a good thrift store built in the back parking lot of a church in Agassiz. Unfortunately the store was closed on Sundays but Camden and Rowan had fun playing chess on the large outdoor chess board.

From there we headed to visit the train museum but alas it was Sunday and the museum was closed as well, but we still took a few minutes to look around the rail car and the caboose on display.

Our last stop of the day was the Kilby Museum on the Harrison River close to the Lougheed Highway.

The Kilby Museum is housed inside of a large three story house with the 1906 general store on the main floor, and various boarding rooms on the top floor. The ground floor was the workshop for the farm which was also on this sight back in the day.

The building itself is up on 30 foot stilts to get above the spring floods which happened every year in the Fraser Valley until extensive diking took place in later years.

After touring the general store and surrounding farm, we began making our way home as the day was coming to an end.

Grampa took the kids on a few backroads they had not been on before, and we did a bit of bird watching in the back sloughs of the Fraser River.

We spotted many Bald Eagles of course; also present were American Coots, American Dippers, Common Mergansers, Mallard Ducks, Double Breasted Cormorants and others that were a bit too far away to accurately identify without binoculars.

It was a fun way to spend a few hours with the grand kids in between the rainy days of Fall. Grampa got to show them a bunch of new locations and sights, and Aunty Diane even got to see some new sights and sounds as well.

 PORT MOODY BOARD WALK

Annette and I took advantage of the late summer weather and enjoyed a walk along the newly renovated boardwalk along the eastern edge of Burrard Inlet in Port Moody.

We parked at the Port Moody rec centre and accessed the trail network from behind the rec centre.

The city has done a fantastic job on renovating the delipidated board walk with a well designed, elevated, and enclosed board walk connecting the south side of the inlet to the north side.

Along the way the trail intersects several times with the paved Trans Canada Trail which is the route for bicyclists accessing Rocky Point Marine Park.

Annette and I walked about halfway along, before we decided the heat of the day and the round trip distance might be more than we wanted to endure, so we re-thunk (sic) our plans and headed back to A\C of the car.

Enjoy the pictures and get down to the boardwalk and enjoy the views as you stroll along.

ALL PICTURES FROM THE DAY CAN BEEN SEEN HERE ON MY FLICKR SITE

 BC FARM MUSEUM AND THE HISTORIC HBC FORT LANGLEY

ALL PICTURES CAN BE SEEN HERE ON MY PHOTO WEB SITE

We had Camden the Junior Farmer with us for the day while the other family members went to the PNE.

We took Camden to the BC Farm Museum located in Fort Langley where Camden got his fill of old tractors and old farm equipment. The guy is pretty smart, he figured out what a lot of the old equipment was even if it looked nothing like today's versions.

Afterwards, we found a geocache a couple of blocks away, then went back and toured the actual fort in Fort Langley.

Built in 1827, the fort is an original Hudson's Bay Company fort catering to the lucrative trade in furs and salmon, which were shipped to rich nations in Europe and Asia

Camden's day was wrapped up with an early Pirate Pack dinner at White Spot where I hear the ice cream dessert was "to die for" !

There are many pictures here, mostly for the old farmers and history buffs in the crowd. While there are many agriculture items on display, there are also many other items such as washing machines, refrigerators, household appliances, radios, etc.

It is definitely worth a visit to experience our local history at both the farm museum and the fort.

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AFTER DINNER GEOCACHING

Trail alongside Chehalis Creek in the Harrison Mills area

Ken and I made a quick after dinner trip to Harrison Mills area to replace one of my geocaches which had been hidden 17 years ago.

(Hard to believe I have a geocache hidden that long)

As usual I did a good job of hiding the geocache (old ammo can) among the creek boulders along the edge of the river. Between the many boulders to step on and look under, and the slippery moss covering the boulders, I thought for sure one of us was going to take a tumble and break something important, like our wit !

Buddha statue through which an artesian well supplies water to community residents

We replaced the geocache unscathed, other than a few mosquito bites, and then meandered homeward finding a few geocaches on our way back to Maple Ridge.

We found our last few caches in the dark but even so, that was not a problem as our BAF (Big A** Flashlights) made it easy to find our way to the geocache area and then zero in on the cache itself.

Elbow Creek directly across the road from the Buddha statue

Though we were only out for three hours or so, we still enjoyed getting out of the house to experience the beautiful scenery so close to home.

Ruskin Hall in east Maple Ridge was built in 1922

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 VISITING QUAYSIDE AT NEW WESTMINISTER

ALL PICTURES FROM THE DAY CAN BE SEEN HERE ON MY PHOTO PAGE

The Fab Four, AKA myself, my "Handler" Annette, and brother Ken and wife Linda, waited out the Sunday morning rain by having breakfast at a local diner, then headed to New Westminster to visit the Quay (pronounced "key"). The Quay is an indoor public market containing gift stores, jewelry stores, craft sellers, food stands and a grocery store.

Today's visit was more about strolling the boardwalk before and after the market place, and seeing the latest buildings and parks as they are developed. 

The New West waterfront was once a run down commercial section of the city; over the years derelict warehouse were torn down and the land left vacant. A few years ago, an arsonist started a fire in the massive wooden pier which caused extensive damage and set back the city's community plans for the area.

Today, the pier has been rebuilt, residential high rises are separated by community park areas containing plenty of activity for little ones and for everyone else. Benches, lounging sculptures, extensive board walks, and clear views are accessed by city spaces and pathways from one end of the complex to the other. All in all, I'm guessing at 2 kms of boardwalk from the newer east end to the older west end now exists.

We enjoyed exploring the new areas and stated that we wouldn't mind living here; many outside cafes and restaurants have opened and the riverside view can't be beat!

After our walk we popped into the quay itself to have a coffee and do a quick shop at the grocery store where we picked up some fruit and veggies, all local of course, and headed back to our cars for our next destination.

Queens Park in New Westminster is a 75 acre park containing a baseball stadium, ice rink, spray park, tennis courts, and multiple buildings used for community functions. Established in 1887, this historic park is well loved by all of the Greater Vancouver residents.  Today we wanted to visit their outstanding Rose Garden as a soft wrap up to our day of walking the riverside boardwalk.

Constructed in 1981, this small garden harbours dozens of roses, along with some other native plants and shrubs. We spent an hour just enjoying the multitude of colours and smells of the flowers, a fine way to end the day.

Afterwards, it was time to head home and rest our feet and plan on where to go next time.  

 A DATE WITH MY DARLING WIFE

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CLICK HERE TO SEE ALL THE PICTURES FROM THE DAY, INCLUDING UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL WITH A CHOO-CHOO TRAIN !

The City of White Rock is located south of Vancouver BC, along the northern shore of Boundary Bay which derives its name from being divided between Canada and the U.S. by the 49^th parallel.

The Salish people have been living in the area for over five thousand years, with the Semiahmoo First Nations have multiple villages around Boundary Bay both north and south of the present day international border.

Today Annette and I were visiting White Rock to have a walk along the beach and the 1,542 foot long pier which is always a favourite thing to do. The tide was at its high level today, even though the tide charts state it should have been low tide.

At low tide, the water recedes quite far exposing expansive amounts of sand areas to walk along. That was disappointing for Annette, as she really looked forward to walking along the exposed sand.

Instead we settled for a stroll along the high tide line and then headed for the pier. The White Rock Pier is listed as Canada’s longest pier at 470 meters, or 1,542 feet. However you measure it, it’s a long way to the end.

The city had to rebuild the pier in 2019 due to storm damage and part of the rebuild was adding historical information boards about the White Rock area along the walkway. It made for an informative walk and helped to break up the long trip to the end of the pier.

After our “long walk on a long pier”, we had a light dinner at one of the local restaurants and then treated ourselves to ice cream at a takeout ice cream parlour.

The advertised rain was still holding off, so we headed over to the north side of White Rock to visit Crescent Beach.

We wandered our way over there, taking side streets which hugged the coast line. We stumbled across a small park named Kwomais Point Park. Kwomais is a native word meaning “place of vision” and the point of land was used by the First Nations Semiahmoo people as both a look out for their enemies and as a place for spiritual visions. I don’t think I had ever been in this park or at the lookout point, however, checking to see if there was a geocache here, I discovered I found the geocache in January of 2008! So, I guess I have been here before, huh.

After the park we continued on to Crescent Beach were we took a short stroll along the pathway and enjoyed the ocean views. The village of Crescent Beach has a block long main street containing some excellent small restaurants, but as we eaten earlier we declined on stepping inside. 

We wrapped up out short visit by taking a rare selfie and began to walk back to the car just as the advertised rain began spitting on us. As daylight was fading and the sun was going down, it was time to wrap up our day-date and head for home.    

 KANAKA CREEK PARK IN MAPLE RIDGE

Kanaka Creek has its origins in the hills in the northeast of Maple Ridge and winds its way down to meet the Fraser River as its endpoint. Metro Vancouver has created a linear park which protects more than 11 KMs. of the creek. 

Today my honey and I joined a host of other nature lovers and enjoyed a late winter afternoon in the sun in the lower section of the park at the confluence of Kanaka Creek and the Fraser River.

Kanaka Creek is named after the Hawaiians who had joined as crew on the Hudson Bay Company's ships as they sailed north from southern seas loaded with goods purchased in trade with partners in Asia.

When the ships reached Fort Langley across the river from Maple Ride, some Hawaiians left the ships and rowed across the river to live and eventually married into the Katzie First Nations band. 

Nearing its terminus, Kanaka Creek meanders across a flood plain in oxbow fashion before it straightens and runs into the Fraser River. 

In early settler days, a logging railway ran from the forests at the foot of the mountains down to rivers edge. Here there was a dumping ground for the trains and a log sorting area where the logs where sorted by size and species, then boomed together for a trip downriver to one of the many mills on the river.

The wide pathway from the parking lot to the rivers edge is actually the old train bed which makes for an easy walk for everyone.

We enjoyed our walk, with Annette out to get her exercise and myself just meandering along taking pictures and enjoying the views and the history of the park.

After an hour or so we had our required steps in, just in time as the clouds were moving in to eclipse the sun to cool down the temperature as the day came to an end.

Time to go home for a warm cup of tea and a hearty meal of home made soup, perfect for a chilly winter's day.

 ALL PICTURES OF OUR AFTERNOON WALK CAN BE FOUND HERE ON MY FLICKR WEB SITE 

   

 Criss Crossing in Chilliwack

I picked up the three Junior Woodchuks early on Saturday so that they may embark on another Grand Adventure with Grampa. First up was a trip to the Chilliwack Fish Hatchery located on Chilliwack Lake Road. The hatchery is located in the Chilliwack River Valley, 20 kilometers from the intersection of Vedder Road and Chilliwack Lake Road.

As you drive further into the valley, you begin to gain elevation, and to match your elevation gain, the temperature drops a few degrees. Knowing this in advance, I had the kids prepped by packing their warmer coats for this early day excursion.

Arriving at the hatchery, the first sign we seen (after the Fish Hatchery sign, of course), was a warning sign that bears were seen in the area. This did not worry me as A) the chance of actually seeing a bear was low, and B) I have bears walking through my yard and on my front porch most nights.

So of course, 5 minutes later the kids say "Grampa, there's a bear" !
The bear looked to be a two year old, running along the inside of the hatchery property trying to figure how to get out to the creek. Eventually a work truck scared him off and that's the last we seen of the bear.

It is early in the season, so only Chum salmon were present in the fish ladders and the pens. They are also called Dog salmon as they do not taste as good as other salmon. That did not stop the hordes of fishermen lining the miles of river bank from trying to land a returning fish.

We walked around the hatchery property and checked out all the fish pens; some where empty, some had fry waiting to be released into the river once they reached the right age.

By now it was getting lunch time and the kids voted on a fast food joint to load up on chicken strips and fries.
This is also where we met up with Brother Ken and his wife Linda who would be joining us for the next stage of our adventure - Geocaching!

I had picked out three caches in our current Chilliwack area, all three were located in local parks.
The first cache took a bit to find as the co-ordinates were a ways off, but find it we did.

We signed the log book in the cache, then wandered across the street to the elementary school so the kids could burn off some energy on the playground.

After a sufficient amount of sliding and swinging, we headed a few blocks over to Sardis Park which has a small lake at its centre. The park held two caches around the lake, so we enjoyed a nice walk around the lake as we went from one cache to another.

Of course, once we found both caches the playground had to be tested to see if we up to "kid code". Apparently it was as the kids did not want to leave.

Ken and Linda headed off to do some shopping, while the kids and I headed in the general direction of home.
Of course, if the Clayton General Store happens to be down the block from another cache I had in mind, that's just a happy coincidence.

The Clayton General Store is inside an old company store built out of the same bricks which were made onsite. Old time buildings throughout much of southern BC were built using Clayton bricks.
The store is also renowned for its vast collection of old time candies, as well as candies from other parts of the world.
And what kind of a Grampa would I be if I didn't spoil the kiddies by buying them a food item containing fast acting sugar?

Lastly, we headed back into Mission and found a couple of more caches just to round out the day's findings.
By now it was almost dinner time: time to get the kids back home to their parents where they were finally allowed to open their nutritious candy collection.

Another fun day with Grampa while the kids experienced new locations and learned new things. Grampa had fun showing them around his extended "backyard" as well.


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 End Of Summer Visit to Kelowna

The Pedersen clan made a late summer visit to Kelowna BC, a destination we usually visit once or twice a year. Brother Alan and his wife Nancy make the trek to Kelowna twice yearly to visit their son Christopher who lives in Kelowna. For Annette and myself, and brother Ken and his wife Linda, it is a good reason to make it a family road trip where we all get to visit and play in another town, as well as enjoy a visit with Christopher.

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Click here to see all the pictures from the weekend. There are many to see and they help to do justice to the Kelowna scenery; so much so you will add it to your next vacation ideas !  😀

Annette and I made the trip late on the Friday afternoon after visiting Samantha and the kids on the way out of town. By the time we made the four hour drive to Kelowna, we had just enough time to check into the hotel and then meet the group for dinner.

Christopher is our resident tour guide in Kelowna and he picked a brewery with outside seating as our dinner spot. Beers and pizza were the main items on the menu and those went over well with the group.

With thirsts quenched and bellies full, and our catch up conversations done, we adjourned for the night making plans to meet at a local favourite breakfast location in the morning. 

We met in the morning, ate too much for breakfast, which seems to be the norm these days, then headed over to a local farmers market a few blocks away. As outdoor markets go, this was a fairly large one with a good mix of craft artisans and farmers themselves selling their harvest. Both Annette and I were wanting to buy some farm goods but we were still to be on the road for a couple of days, so the food would spoil before we returned home.

After the market, we headed to one of the weekend's highlights, that being walking part of the Kettle Valley Railway. Then railway itself is long defunct but dedicated and passionate local activists worked hard to save the rail right away for recreational use for hikers, bicyclists and horse riders. The gem of the trail is a 12 mile section which includes 18 trestles as the railway snakes through Myra Canyon. While we were not going to attempt all 12 miles, if you access the park from the Myra Canyon end point, you reach trestle #18 in a kilometer, and then within the next kilometer are another five trestles.

That we could accomplish as a nice walk for most of us, for a couple of us (including myself) that was a stretch but we did it anyways. The roundtrip amounts to 4 kilometers, for those considering the trip.

After the walk we rewarded ourselves with a visit to a local cidery. Annette had enjoyed a cider at a Fraser Valley brewery during the summer when we stopped for lunch. Annette discovered the cidery itself was in Kelowna, just 15 minutes away from Myra Canyon Park.

The Soma Craft Cidery is a small batch cidery, meaning they make small batches of cider throughout the year but the cider flavours change dependent on the season. Unfortunately they did not have any stock of Annette's chosen cider, but we did have a sampling of their current four batches of cider. After the tasting, Annette and Linda both opted to buy the blueberry cider; it was pricey but apparently yummy, so I'm told.

After the cidery, an early dinner was in order, so we voted to visit a local Chinese food restaurant which some of the gang had previously visited. This provided a chance for more catch up conversations and the expected retelling of old, embarrassing family stories involving those present and not present.

  

After dinner, Chris suggested going to a viewpoint at Dilworth Mountain Park, which offers a terrific view of Kelowna from the east, and just happens to be the perfect location to watch the sun set in the west. It was an excellent suggestion as it made for a memorable ending to the day. We had enjoyed sunny skies through the day, which kept the temperature relatively warm, but Fall was on it's way and we needed our warm clothes to keep us toasty as we enjoyed the red sky caused by the setting sun.

Next morning, another highlight fieldtrip was on the books - a ride aboard the Kettle Valley Steam Train which runs for 10 kilometers along a restored section of the Kettle Valley railway bed. The trip starts on the western outskirts of Summerland, in Prairie Valley. The trip takes you around the local mountains and ends south of Summerland at the Trout Creek Trestle, another spectacular hand built train trestle restored by the local volunteers.

It was such a wonderful trip, the train moved slowly allowing the tourists the full experience of the train ride itself, as well as being able to take in the grandeur of the scenery. The conductor had a running monologue about the local history and geography of the area, plus he also informed us that the engine which was pulling the train was the same engine which had been pulling the train when Billy Miner robbed the train near Mission, B.C. in 1904. That was Canada's first train robbery!

After the train ride we split up and went our own ways. Ken and Linda were headed to Penticton to hit a local outdoor flea market, while Alan and Nancy were returning Chris to Kelowna, and Annette and I were heading down to Penticton to visit Annette's mother.

We all arrived back in the Vancouver area late in the day, seemingly to all arrive home in the 7.30 - 8.00 PM time frame.

Annette and I were quite happy with our Kelowna visit; we got to visit with family, got to see Christopher which we only do so now once or twice a year, and we had several new tourist experiences which were quite enjoyable.

Come October 1 you need to have your snow tires on in BC to travel the mountain passes; we headed back down to the Coast on September 29th. As we reached Pennask Summit on the Coquihalla Connector between Kelowna and Merritt, a rain shower had just passed through and the 3 degrees Celsius temperature at the summit turned the passing rain shower into snow as the clouds surmounted the mountains and reminded us that winter comes early in the BC mountains.