British Columbia Road Trip - July 2010

Sharan’s folks (Aunt & Uncle) were visiting us from Mumbai, India in the summer of 2010. We took them on short trips around Calgary during weekends much like when my folks visited during spring 2010. They had also planned an Alaskan cruise during this trip.  Since they had take the cruise from Seattle, we decided to drop them off at Vancouver. That way they could easily get to Seattle. Also, it gave us a chance of exploring British Columbia (BC) province. Our BC sightseeing was limited to visiting Vancouver till then. Hence we decided to make a road trip of this. 


Our entire road trip was for 6 days, 3000kms and mostly in Southern BC in the following route: Calgary-Kelowna-Victoria- Vancouver-Whistler-Kamploops-Revelstoke-Calgary

View BC Road Trip in a larger map

Kelowna:

This scenic city is in the Okanagan Valley of BC. Okanagan Valley and on the banks of Lake Okanagan, is known as the Napa Valley of Canada. – Things to do in Kelowna would include touring vineyards, wineries and fruit orchards. Other popular places in Canada for wines include the Niagara Valley.

Kelowna, BC (Photo Credit: Dr. R.V Rao)

We stayed in downtown Kelowna, close to the water front. Lake Okanagan is quite huge. There were actually waves splashing on the beach. There is a small harbor and a yatch club for all sailing enthusiasts. There is a nice walking path skirting the lake which also goes through some gardens. Kelowna seemed to be an excellent ‘chill-out’ place in summer. We went cherry picking in an orchard (Clue: darker the better). They were absolutely sweet. We instantly got addicted to them. Even after our return to Calgary, we went to the farmers market every week till the season ended as it was the only place where we could get BC Cherries. We also went around to the popular wineries for wine tasting. Apart from the regular reds and whites, we also tasted red and white ice wine.

Trivia: Canada is one of few countries that produce ice wine. Ice wine is a dessert wine – very sweet to taste. It is made from frozen grapes. Germany and Austria are the other major producers of ice wine. Canada also produces sparkling ice wine.

Victoria:

This is the capital of BC and is in the southern part of Vancouver Islands, off the Pacific coast of Canada. The only way to reach Victoria is by flight or ferry. Ferries operate both from Vancouver, BC and Seattle, WA (USA). It was unbelievable that we were so close to Seattle but yet we couldn’t go there because of visa issues.

Butchart Garden, Victoria, BC (Photo Credit: Dr. R.V Rao)

Victoria Local attractions include:

Butchart Garden - A lime quarry was converted into this beautiful botanical gardens spread over 55 acres. It takes a couple of hours at the very least to walk around. We went berserk taking pictures of the innumerable flower species.

Butterfly Garden – Right opposite Butchart Garden is the butterfly garden which breeds a wide variety of butterflies. This place strangely has a pair of flamingoes in their pond as well. I would definitely recommend this place and make sure you guide the simple and quick guided tour while you are there.

Old town –Victorian architecture based buildings like Fairmont Empress Hotel and Parliament house can be found here at Wharf Street.

Inner Harbor – is by the old town. The board walk along the water front is recommended especially in the evenings. Street performers, people selling trinkets or souvenirs are aplenty. Royal London wax museum can also be found here. The undersea gardens, which are nothing but HUGE water tanks full of sea life, is one of the local attractions. I wouldn’t recommend this place if you have been to any of the world class aquariums before.

Craigdarroch Castle – is another local attraction. Though it is a castle, it was never owned by royalty. It was built by one of the wealthiest people who wanted experience living the royal life. Sadly, he never got to stay in it because he died before its completion.

Some of the other attractions that we didn’t go to were – Maritime museum, art gallery, bug zoo and miniature world.

Vancouver:

Downtown Vancouver as seen from Stanley Park (dated Fall'09)

The main reason to visit Vancouver was to show Sharan’s folks around and then see them off as they went on their onward journey to Seattle, WA (USA). We had been to Vancouver for the 2009 thanksgiving weekend. More details of Vancouver can be found here. We managed to show them Gastown, Granville Island and Stanley Park in the half day we spent there. We also managed to eat at Saravana Bhavan – any South Indian’s dream restaurant. Sharan’s folks headed towards Seattle and we set on our journey back to Calgary via a different route.

Whistler:

The drive from Vancouver to Whistler is though highway 99 but better known as “Sea to Sky Hwy” (wiki). This is a very scenic route from and to the venues for 2010 winter Olympics.

Whistler is a winter sports delight. Just by the ski-slopes, is the very beautiful village centre catering mainly to tourists. We were quite surprised to find it bustling with activities since it was summer. In fact we saw a few people with their snow boarding outfit and gear but we couldn’t trace where they could find ski-slopes in the middle of summer. We had food at a nice restaurant called Citta Bistro (pronounced as Cheetah). We suspect that it is owned by an Indian J

Kamloops:

We had to get back to HWY 1 to get back home. The drive from Whistler (HWY 99) to HWY 1 was via HWY 97. If people say HWY 99 (Sea to Sky Highway) is scenic, then they haven’t seen HWY 97. This is a smaller highway with just 2 lanes and no lane dividers. But this winding road went through meadows, valleys and mountain tops. There were beautiful and vibrant wild flowers blooming all the way. We passed by LOTS of sparkling lakes as well. It was nature at its pristine best.

Kamloops was really just a stopover during our drive back to Calgary. We couldn’t see or do much as we reached late evening, had dinner at The Keg.

Revelstoke:

Visiting Revelstoke marked the last leg of our road trip as we passed through this picturesque village more famous for its ski-slopes than anything else. Since it was Parks Canada day, we thought we might as well visit Meadows in the Sky view point in Mount Revelstoke National Park as part of our Revelstoke sightseeing.

Monashee View point enroute Meadows in the sky at Revelstoke, BC (Photo Credit: Dr. R.V Rao)

The drive through the parkway took us across geographical zones: From giant cedar and pine, to subalpine forest, and finally to alpine meadows and tundra. We got a splendid view of the ice-clad Monashee Mountains peaks and the Selkirk Mountains as well. We got to see different types of wildflowers all along the way – as if they were planted. One of the flowers apparently grows only few weeks in an entire year!

And eventually we reached back home in Calgary. Thus endth our long road trip. A year later as I write this blog, I can still vividly recall one the MOST beautiful road trips we’ve ever taken.