Hot Springs, Lavender Farms and Wineries - A Few Of My Favorite Things

Lac Le Jeune, BC (52 degrees high, 35 degrees low, chilly, rain)

"I simply remember my favorite things

and then I don't feel so bad"

Julie Andrews - Sound of Music

Lavender Farm

The drive to Harrison Hot Springs was delightful as we wandered along rivers, lakes and mountain ranges. We had stopped at this place because of our love of hot springs and there was a pool near our campground.  I really didn't know much else so it was a pleasant surprise to find a really pretty lakeside town as well. 

Our campground, Hot Springs RV Park, was sort of sad and run down. However, the owners were friendly  and gave us lots of information about the area and it was right across the street from a public hot spring indoor pool. We were told this is the only privately owned hot spring in British Columbia. The large indoor pool was feed by a hot spring some distance away and was very nice.  You can buy an unlimited daily pass for about $12.  John took full advantage and went back three times. 

We met a local man who gave us a great tip for a scenic drive the next day along the eastern shoreline. It is not very crowded yet and we enjoyed a short hike at  Hicks Lake.

Sasquatch Lak

Our next stop was Okaanagan Provincial Park South in Summerland. At last some warm weather was found. Vineyards and wineries can be seen in all directions. Okanagan Lake is huge and spans several cities. There are two campgrounds here and the south one is more big rig friendly. The camp host said it best -  "welcome to our little slice of heaven". There are lake view sites available for smaller rigs and like most Provincial Parks there are not any hook ups. Our site was larger than most and really nice (S-44). Reservations in advance are necessary.

We had a lot of fun trying some wine tastings at a few places. There are over 120 wineries in this area. Wow!  So much to try...so little time. One winery explained that on this side of the lake (north) the wines are mostly white and dry. On the south side the wines are red due to the afternoon sun. Most of the wines were relatively reasonable, especially for Canada. Wine tasting were only $5/person and no charge if you bought a bottle. No problem there!

Sumac Ridge Winery (very reasonable wines)

Fitzpatrick Winery

Great lunch with Barry and Jann at Fitspatrick

Picnic Lunch

The second day our friends Bob and Becky joined our group (seated in the back of photo). They will be traveling with us from now on. We had met them through Cuatro Estados, a FMCA group. It was so good to see them and so it only seemed fitting to celebrate their arrival by going to a couple more wineries.

Doing some "wash" at the laundry

In Summerland we found our favorite winery, Dirty Laundry, just in time for a picnic lunch. The winery was quite large and named after a laundry/brothel which was once in the area. It's a fun place, You can pick up a picnic basket and purchase a wide selection of cheeses, salami and of coarse a bottle of wine to take it out to a pretty table over looking the lake. Life is good!

Dirty Laundry Winery

Dirty Laundry Winery

Concrete barrels at Okanagan Crush Pad

Before Bob and Becky arrived we also visited a Okanagan Lavender and Herb Farm in Kelowna, about a 45 minute drive from our campground. It's has beautiful gardens with over 60 varieties. They distill the lavender and make a variety of products which are sold there and online. We were a little early for the bloom so we didn't pay the $10 fee to walk the gardens. But, it inspired us to return sometime in late June or early July to see the gardens in all their splendor.

Another fun stop was Carmelis Goat Cheese Artisans.  You can sample up to four different kinds of goat cheese for free which is made on the premises or all eleven for $2. The ones we tried were delicious and we bought a dish of goat cheese galato too.  It was pretty tasty stuff.

So how do we find all these cool places.  The Lonely Planet Guide to Brithish Columbia and the Canadian Rockies has been invaluable guide along with material picked up at Visitor Centers and of coarse, word of mouth from locals.

I hope you enjoyed visiting some of my favorite things today. Stop back soon as we travel further north towards Alaska. 

More California Wanderings (Central Coast, Wineries, Earthquake, Dinosaurs, and the Beautiful Redwoods

Petaluma, Myers Flat, and Klamath California) 50's, sunny days most of the time)

"The Clearest Way Into the Universe

Is Through a Forest Wilderness"

John Muir

John, me, Evan, and Debbie at Coppola's

We are now in northern Washington, but I wanted to take a moment to catch up with some of our travels. Our friends, Evan and Debbie, noticed on Facebook we were traveling near them and reached out to us. They offered to show us some of their favorite places near San Francisco. We enthusiastically said YES!!! They are Presidents of our Newmar Fulltiming Club and used to live in this area.

Driving over the Golden Gate Bridge

We joined them at the Petaluma Elks Lodge. This involved driving the motorhome over the Golden Gate Bridge. Evan gave us great directions on how to navigate through this busy city.  The Elks Lodge has a great campground with full hookups in a nice neighborhood surrounded by wineries and a great birding area.  Wow!  We had a great time together and the weather was glorious. Here are a few pictures of the places we explored together.






We toured three wineries (Kendall Jackson, Francis Coppola, and one which specialized in port). The wine tastings are more expensive in this area, however, if you buy wine it's oftentimes waived. Our lunch at Coppola's was delicious.

Wine tasting at Francis Coppola winery

Kendall Jackson Winery

Francis Coppola

We spent another wonderful day visiting the coastline and seeing some beautiful views of the Golden Gate Bridge. Evan and Debbie told us so much about this area. When Evan was younger he drove tour buses to many of these highlights. It was a wonderful day and it was so great to spend time with them. We would not have been able to see as much if we had traveled here by ourselves.

The coastline here is very rugged and the waves crash and swirl around the rock outcroppings. What a spectacular area and as you can see the weather really cooperated with our visit.

We stopped at Point Reyes National Park to take a short hike to where you can definitely see the San Andres Fault line from the 1906 earthquake.  A section of fence moved 16 feet demonstrating the immense power of the earthquake. It is such a peaceful place now with a very violent history.

Thank you Evan and Debbie for taking the time to show us this beautiful area. We hope to meet you back here again.

We then headed to see the California Redwood State and National Parks. To really see this area well it required staying in two different campgrounds. Our first stay was near the Avenue of the Giants. The forest here is dense and tall and the trees are California Redwoods. Although not as large as the ones in Sequoia they are much taller (on average 350 feet). It was a fairy land of ferns and walking down the trails offered a quiet respite.

We stayed for three nights at the Giant Redwoods RV Park. It did not have the best reviews but the location was good. We took a chance and stayed here. It's under new management now and we found the campground to be much better than expected.

Beautiful gardens and dining area at Loletta

The weather was very rainy so we took a couple of day trips to pretty Victorian towns called Eureka and Ferndale. We enjoyed both of these towns and stopped at a famous cheese factory called Loletta (it has a grilled cheese bar) and picked up pastries from Humboldt Sweets. If you are ever in the area be sure to stop - so delicious. We loved driving by the beautifully restored Victorian homes too. They must be such a labor of love and money.

From here we went to Klamath and explored another park of the Redwood State and National Park. Here the Redwoods had a much denser undergrowth. It is nearer the coast and has a different climate with a different result.

One day we drove out to the Gold Bluff Beach. It's a jeep worthy trip and a deeply rutted road but well worth the effort. What was really special was hiking out to the Fern Canyon. This was the site of one of Jurassic Park movies. You walk down the river bed into a fairyland of ferns and small waterfalls. We loved this hike and is one of our all time favorites. Our pictures do not captures it's real charm.

Our next post will bring us along the Oregon Coast. Be sure to check back soon.