Travels With Miranda

I woke up to snow this morning; heavy, wet, stay at home in your jammies and watch bad movies, kind of snow. At least, it was only minus one, not the minus twenty-one Oliverites are experiencing!!! But I dragged myself into proper going out clothing and headed to the Surrey Museum… after not noticing the statement on their website that they’re closed the whole month of January. DOH!

The weather being way too yucky for driving of the exploratory variety, I pressed on to Langley to pick up 12V lightbulbs at the Canadian Tire there, and to see where the major shopping complex is so that I can be comfortable returning there to see movies ( ), and went almost straight back home (with a pause at Starbucks for a caramel macchiato).

One really nice thing about this lifestyle is that you can stay in one location long enough to not feel that you absolutely need to ‘go see the sites’ in poor weather.

In other news, one silly RVer forgot to leave her water on last night and now has a frozen solid brand new fresh water hose.

Some travelers collect pins, others shot glasses or bar coasters, tee-shirts or ball caps; little trinkets to remind them of where they’ve been.  I have no patience for things that are just for looking at, so over the past few years, while I was still bound to a sticks & bricks existence, I collected blue willow dishware and artwork. Since hitting the road with Miranda, I have, for the first time in fifteen years, begun to rely solely on photographs and journal entries to remind me of where I’ve been. However, there is one purchase made in Edmonton, at Rutherford House, that I like to pull out on chilly mornings like this one, to remind me of those heady first weeks on the road: tea.

I like visiting museum giftshops because you can occasionally find unique items there. At the Rutherford House giftshop I was greeted by a lady who just had to proudly show off her personal tea blends, packaged by herself into tiny and rather pricey packages. The blend she was most proud of was the Rutherford House, which she based on the Queen’s favourite tea blend of jasmine and Earl Grey, with a personal twist. I took one sniff of that mix of my two favourite types of tea, with a secret ingredient I couldn’t identify, and I just had to have it! I think the lady was surprised to have a sale!

Since that September day, I’ve only had four cups of this tea. I have to ration it out because there is so little in the bag, enough perhaps for two or three more cups. It is a strong and fragrant blend, rather exotic, more reminiscent of warm climes than of Edmonton, and yet each sip transports me back to the parlour of Rutherford house, with its apricot walls and emerald green draperies.

Such a souvenir is more transitory than a painting, but when the tea is gone I will associate Earl Grey and jasmine to Edmonton. That is the kind of memory that lasts a lifetime.

This afternoon, a group from the resort including myself toured a couple of ski hills, three or four fairs, a zoo, a m*a*s*h, an army base, and several towns. We witnessed at least a half dozen accidents and someone getting arrested, explored a sunken ship, marveled at a mermaid, laughed at skinny dippers, and experienced two nights.

All this, and so much more, can be experienced at the Osoyoos Desert Model Railroad, Canada’s largest Marklin-layout. The museum is a 3,500 square foot (and growing!) miniature Europe, featuring fantastic scenes and whimsical humour with, of course, model trains traveling through the various landscapes. It is well worth a detour to Osoyoos!

Earlier this week, I decided to get away Friday night to, well, get away. I decided to go to Vernon, thinking it would be a quick drive as the city is just 155km north of Oliver.

Ha.

There have been road closures on highway 97 north of Summerland for months now and the situation is getting ridiculous seeing as that road is the only way to reach the north Okanagan without taking three times as long by using one of the ‘detours.’ Yesterday, I left Oliver at 1:15, figuring I would hit Summerland at 2, at the end of the scheduled 1 to 2 road closure, just squeeze in before the 2:30 closure and arrive in Vernon for about 3:30. Just as I entered Summerland, there came an announcement on the radio that the road would be closed until about 3:30. I finally pulled into Vernon at about 5:15, in the dark, and in freezing rain. Very relaxing. The four hours it took me to drive 155 kilometres doesn’t beat the 9 hours it took me to drive from the Mexican border to north of Los Angeles (less than 200km), but it’s pretty close.

At any rate, I sure was glad to get to the B&B I’d found via trusty old Google, Richmond House 1894. I’d called my hosts, Dinham and Kathy, to let them know I would be very late, so they were waiting for me when I arrived. Kathy lead me up to my room, the Tennyson, and showed me around the guest area. Richmond House is a beautifully appointed Victorian jewel with all the comforts of home. I had a specific reason for picking this B&B:

A sight for sore eyes for an RVer who loves a good soak!

Before the ultimate of all treats, I asked for some suggestions for dinner and Kathy was quick to suggest Sushi 1 on 30th Avenue. Not having had Japanese in way too long, I headed that way. Dinner, while not inexpensive, was fabulous! I went for the evening bento box special which had sashimi, shrimp rolls, tofu, tempura, teriyaki salmon, and more. Add a Sapporo beer and I just about rolled out of there, LOL! One thing I love about Japanese food is that you rarely know what you’re eating, but just about everything is delicious. I easily recognized the salmon sashimi, but there was also some white fish I’d never had before. Both were equally delicious. Raw fish is not at all like cooked fish, it has a very delicate flavour and a ‘melt-in-your-mouth’ texture that is slightly gummy, but not slimy. When I started to eat fish voluntarily several years ago, I actually started with sashimi before ‘graduating’ to cooked fish. So, the bento box is a fabulous deal and I highly recommend Sushi 1 in Vernon!

Then, I had a much needed and well-timed soak as yesterday we moved ‘mega’ blocks weighing 25lbs to 30lbs each and my muscles were sore!

Sleep came easily in a luxuriously soft bed…

Breakfast this morning was the proverbial icing on the cake: fresh juice, excellent coffee, fruit compote with yoghurt, waffles with mounds of berries and whipped cream, two muffins, and a slice and a half of pumpkin loaf. I brought the muffins and loaf home as I was stuffed by the time they came out of the kitchen! The price for all this luxury is worth mentioning as I’ve paid more to stay in crappy motels with no amenities: 75$, taxes included.

It’s really winter in Vernon, with snow, slush, and freezing rain, so I wasn’t too tempted to tool around much this morning. I’d made a list of interesting-sounding attractions open on Saturday mornings and decided to visit the Okanagan Science Centre.

The museum is tiny and kid-oriented. At present, it is between exhibits, so there isn’t really much to see. It was still worth a detour for me because of the reptiles!

First, though, I toured their astronomy section and really enjoyed the exhibit featuring a ‘what if’ scenario for someone stranded on the moon: your craft is damaged, there is stuff to fix it 100km away at a station, and these are the items available for your journey. Which five items will help you and which three will hinder you? I was surprised by some of the answers.

As I was heading out, a lady asked if I want to pet the one snake available for public touching, seeing as the others were digesting after being fed yesterday. Of course! The snake in question was a young (two year old) albino boa (making him cream and orange-coloured) and such a darling! The lady even let me hold him for a surprisingly long time. I love boas! After getting my fill of the boa, I was invited to take a look at the resident anaconda (a member of the boa family), not something I was about to turn down! To my delight, this wound up being a green anaconda, not a black one like I’d seen in San Francisco and Brandon. Her name is Bridget and she’s a beauty, olive-skinned with black spots. Just as I thought the visit couldn’t get any better, I was invited to hold one of the resident bearded dragons! I’d never in my life held such a critter before and it was quite the experience! He was a rolypoly fellow, with a huge tummy and a love of having the top of his head scratched. Anyone who thinks that a reptile can’t show affection has never met Ralph the bearded dragon!

And that was the end of my over night trip to Vernon. The drive home was better, although I still hit an unscheduled 15 minute closure at Summerland.

When I left yesterday, I turned off the space heater, left the radiator on high and the furnace set to 60, hoping that this would keep Miranda’s temperature at 16 even though we were set for another very cold night yesterday. I got in this afternoon and it was 16.5 in here. So, that’s very useful information to file away for the next time I leave her overnight in cold weather.

I’ve been out of ‘tourist mode’ since settling for the winter since I haven’t had any money come in. So, I decided that today being the gorgeous day that it was, I would take a mini-road trip to Kelowna and turn it into an adventure by taking highway 33 back, effectively doing a full circle. It would be quite the detour, but a chance to see more of the splendid Okanagan Valley.

First stop in Kelowna was an oil change, then I was off to the Okanagan Heritage Museum. I’m glad that admission was by donation because I was quite disappointed. The museum is tiny! I started by taking a tour of a temporary exhibit about the KGH: Kelowna General Hospital. Then it took about five minutes to go through the rest of the museum. It was an interesting hodgepodge of artifacts from around the world, most of it not immediately relevant to Kelowna. Worth stopping in if you’re in Kelowna, but definitely not worth a detour. I walked around the Marina a bit, had lunch, went to Value Village, and then headed home.

Highway 33 wound up being positively breath taking, a world of valleys and peaks unto itself. The most memorable part of the drive was the section of switchbacks that led me down into Osoyoos.

Pictures.