Wine Tasting in Canada

As mentioned in a previous post we are staying in Oliver, British Columbia which lists itself as the wine capital of Canada.  Today we decided to check it out.  There is something like 25 wineries within a 5 mile drive of our RV park.  We did 5 today.  The one that wins for the nicest tasting room and best view is Burrowing Owl.  Here are some pictures from their place.

They have a small hotel as part of their winery, along with a restaurant.

As was the case in Oregon and Washington these wineries are smaller producers selling through their wine shop or online.  Prices range from $20 to $50 per bottle.  Quality and taste is very good.  Here is a link for the area http://winecapitalofcanada.com/.  Today we visited Burrowing Owl (www.burrowingowlwine.ca), Desert Hills (www.deserthills.ca), Gehringer Brothers (www.gehringerwines.ca), Stoneboat (www.stoneboatvineyards.com) and Black Hills (www.blackhillswinery.com).  Our favorite was Stoneboat where we bought three bottles as we could not decide on one favorite.  They have a white blend, Chorus, that was very interesting and different, a great Pinot Noir and a Pinotage that I don’t believe is a varietal I have ever tasted.  Those were the three we liked.

Since it is during the week we were the only ones at the tasting rooms and they waived the tasting fee if they had one.  We were told that about mid-June is when everything picks up and they will be busy 7 days a week through the middle of August.  It sounds just like the way Napa Valley is.

Do you feel inadequate?

I could not resist posting this as I think it is funny.  Pretty much every rig in this RV park in Oliver is a large diesel pusher motorhome or a large fifth wheel like ours, but amongst all this is a Scamp trailer.  For those of you not familiar with the Scamp it is a trailer about 12 feet long that has all the necessary items in it, but it is just small and cramped.  Here are a couple of pictures showing it in the park

The interesting lesson in all this is the Scamp pays the same rate for their space as we do!

Canada, eh!

So we have made it to British Columbia, Canada.  We arrived on Friday just before it started to rain.  The drive from Leavenworth on Highway 97 was just beautiful.  The highway follows the Columbia River and you are in the valley for the entire drive.  The border checkpoint was uneventful and the line was only 5 cars as the highway is a less traveled route into Canada. 

The RV park is unimpressive but we did not have a lot to choose from in Oliver and this one sounded and looked the best.  They have some small grass strips here and there but for the most part it is all asphalt and the spaces are fairly close together, but the view is spectacular.  Here are some pictures.

This space required me to back into it as did the space in Leavenworth and in Walla Walla.  I used to be very good at backing when we had travel trailers years ago, but after the long absence without a trailer I did not readily pick the skill back up with the two trailers we had prior to this fifth wheel and really struggled when I had to back into a space.  With the fifth wheel I am finding it is much easier even with the extra length.  So far I have not had any real problems backing into spaces.

Before I leave this post I thought I would add some final pictures from Leavenworth.

My new hat! The Indiana Jones look.

Fran liked this plant.

A statue at the music center next to our park.

The best part, the view!

Reason why……

People ask why we chose to do this “Life on the Road” and we offer our explanations and reasons but for this posting I am going to put some photos up which pretty much say it all.

Here is the town of Leavenworth (notice the Cascades in the background)

Here are some pictures we took on a drive to Stevens Pass, which is about 30 miles from the RV park.

I walked around our park today so I could get some photos of the river to show you.  Here is the river from the spaces up above it.

Here is a picture from the edge of the river looking up at some spaces that are occupied on a long term basis (I have no idea how they got these rigs in there)

Lastly, we have a million dollar coach in the park that I just had to take a picture of.  It is Prevost bus with a Marathon Coach conversion.  It must be around 44 or 46 feet long.  For those of you not familiar with these, they are generally used by NASCAR drivers at the tracks and by big name musicians to travel to concert sites.  We do not generally run across them in RV parks.  The Prevost bus (empty) sells for around $500,000 and the Marathon conversion will add another million or so.  Best guess is that this rig was north of 1 million.

Leavenworth, Washington

We made it to Leavenworth and it is just like a German town in the Alps.  On the way to the RV park we had to drive through the town and all the buildings have the German architecture with high snow capped mountains as the backdrop.  As we explore the town this next week I will post some pictures.

The RV park is just fantastic.  It sits right on the Icicle River, which is very rough and fast moving at this point.  Due to the size of our rig they put us in one of their new concrete spaces up front, which is closer to the road but we only have a neighbor on one side.  The space is set amongst the pines and have lots of run.  The best thing is the satellite was able to find a signal!

Here are some pictures of our site and the view of the mountains right next to us.

Still in Spokane

We are wrapping up our stay here in the Spokane area and will be leaving Friday morning for Leavenworth, Washington.  Since the last posting we visited a local diner that is listed in our Road Food book.  It is Frank’s Diner and is inside a restored 1900 railroad car.  They are known for their breakfast menu, which is served all day.  We both had breakfast for lunch and were not disappointed, but it was a little pricey.  Here are a couple of pictures

I thought Kevin S. would like this picture.

On Wednesday we went back to the Pine Acres par 3 golf course.  This time we took some pictures.

Check out that swing, such concentration!

 

In the weeds, again!

 

What a beautiful setting to play golf.

We got back to the trailer after golf and Fran pulled hazardous duty in doing laundry.  Unknowingly Fran brushed something from her leg and it was a yellow jacket that proceeded to sting her twice.  OUCH!

Spokane Excursion

We started exploring the area on Friday by going golfing.  There is a nice little 9 hole par 3 course a couple of miles from our RV park.  The longest hole is 115 yards.  The course is called Pine Acres and here is their website http://www.pineacresgolf.com/.  It is really nice how they kept all the pine trees on the course as it did make the short holes very challenging.  Fran was excited to get her second par on a hole!  The best part, no holes with water and no balls were lost!

On Saturday we thought we would take the bikes out for a ride.  As we are near the Mount Spokane State Park that sounded like a nice place to go.  It was a 15 mile, very scenic, drive to the top of Mount Spokane, which still has many feet of snow on it.  They could still be skiing and snow boarding if the ski lifts were open.  Needless to say there was no bike riding, or hiking, at the park yet.  Here are some pictures of the view from where the road ends.

Since we had the bikes in the truck we decided to seek out another park.  We had heard about the Riverfront Park in downtown Spokane so off we went.  It is a small park right downtown next to the river.  We could ride our bikes around but the park was not that large for extensive riding.  The best part was looking at the waterfalls at the park.  The water flowing over these falls is very powerful.

It was spectacular to see these falls up so close.  We had a picnic lunch in the park, then headed back to the RV park.

We have altered our plans a little for the next few weeks.  In looking at our resource material we read about Leavenworth, Washington, which is about 180 miles west of where we are at.  This town is made up like a Bavarian town in the Alps.  Here is their website http://www.leavenworth.org/modules/pages/index.php?pageid=1.  We are headed there at the end of this week and will be staying a week.  From there we will head north into British Columbia, Canada to the town of Oliver.  This town is at the start of the Canadian version of Napa Valley.  There is supposed to be numerous wineries and some very good wines to taste, so of course we are going!  From there we will head onto Banff to meet up with our friends, most likely stopping on the way for a few days at a town that looks interesting.

Spokane, WA (Actually Mead, WA)

We made a short drive from our friends house in Spirit Lake, Idaho to Mead, Washington, which is just outside Spokane.  Our holding tanks had filled up which made it necessary for us to move on.  We will be getting together with them again in a month in Banff, Canada.  Since we are set up to be in Banff in a month we decided to save some money on gas and just stay in the area for the next month.

While in Spirit Lake we did some fun and interesting things with our friends.  Besides Hudson Hamburgers we did go out for dinner on a floating restaurant, Cedars in Coeur D’Alene.  Here is their website http://www.cedarsfloatingrestaurant.com/.  We attended the graduation ceremony for their daughter who graduated from vet school at Washington State as a doctor.  What an accomplishment!

We found a very nice RV park in Spokane.  It is nicely maintained and the rates are very reasonable.  The sites are a little tight but with the landscaping it does give you some privacy.  Here are a couple of pictures.

We are very near Mt. Spokane State Park so we hope to be able to do some biking and hiking while we are here.  So far our plans are to stay here at least a week, but most likely we will stay longer.

Road Food

I believe I have mentioned in previous posts that we have two books that we look at for places to eat and things to do as we travel.  One book is “1000 Places to See Before You Die” and the second is “Road Food”. While on our visit to Spirit Lake Fran looked at the 1000 places book for Idaho and saw that a hamburger restaurant, Hudson Hamburgers, was in Coeur d’Alene.  Our hosts knew of it but since they have lived here they have never gone, so we went on Thursday.  It is in the heart of Coeur d’Alene and is a little restaurant with a counter that seats about 15 people.  The menu consists of a single hamburger, double hamburger or both with cheese on them.  You can also order a fried egg sandwich or fried ham and egg sandwich.  Soda, ice tea and pie are the remaining items on the menu.  No fries, chips or any side dishes.  On your hamburger you have the choice of pickles and/or onions. 

We watched the cook make the burgers.  A tray of meat is next to the grill and he takes out enough for a patty, forms the patty and slaps in on the grill. Good hamburger but In-n-Out is still at the top of my list.  It was fun to talk to the cook, as he was about 3 feet from us, and watch him cook.  I will say the pie was outstanding (banana cream).

Here is the Road Food link for the restaurant so you can see and read about it, http://www.roadfood.com/Restaurant/Overview/173/hudsons-hamburgers

Spirit Lake, Idaho

We left Walla Walla on Tuesday and drove to Spirit Lake, Idaho where our friends, the Cover’s live.  It is about 50 miles outside of Spokane, Washington and near Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.  It was a nice drive especially as you approached Spokane and all the way to Spirit Lake.  Our friends built a house on some acreage in Spirit Lake so we are able to set up in front of their house.  They have set the standard for all our friends who want us to visit. They provided an RV space at their house!

Here is a picture of our rig in their “front yard” and a picture of their house as seen from our rig.

Got below freezing over night but warms up nicely during the day.