THURSDAY, JULY 24

THURSDAY, JULY 24:   

        What a difference a day makes!  We’d read the weather forecasts which had predicted rain and much cooler temperatures for today.  But the weather is so mercurial here – didn’t know how accurate that was.  But, in this case, it was right on the money!   Much cooler all day – sweatshirt weather.  And by mid-morning the wind really picked up – a loud whistling wind all through the afternoon, gently rocking the RV at times.   Intermittent rain, until the late afternoon, when it began raining steadily all through the night.  Wouldn’t want to be out in this weather!  So yet another reason to be exuberant over our day yesterday.   

      So we used today as a catch-up day.  Laundry, grocery shopping, WiFi, and a LONG nap.   Also made some arrangements for the next few days.  We’ll be leaving here tomorrow, as planned.  The short-term timing worked out well, because tomorrow is predicted to be a nicer day.  So that will be enjoyable for travelling.   Called ahead to reserve a spot in Kamloops, and then researched where to stay in Vancouver.  The two RV parks close to the city are more resort-like, with lots of luxury amenities.  But, according to reviews, both had extremely tight spaces, so that people couldn’t even open their slides in some cases without asking their neighbor to take in their awning.  And all back-in’s. Not meant for big rigs.  Plus very expensive – nearly $70/nite . . . Malibu beachfront prices.  The plus, of course, is location – one is right in the midst of West Vancouver attractions.   But we felt there were too many drawbacks.  So we looked for alternatives in towns close by, and found one which looks very promising about 40 minutes north.  Bill is going to call before we leave tomorrow to try & reserve.

     Enjoyed our salmon leftovers from last night before we drove into town (Hinton) for some groceries.  Bill went to the liquor store next door while I grocery shopped.  (In Canada, alcohol is only sold in licensed liquor stores, not in grocery or variety stores.)  He got 2 boxes of wine and a 6-pack of Guinness.  The bill??  $93!!  I was tempted to open one of the wines then to dull the pain. No argument with Rob’s comment on high Canadian taxes, especially on things like alcohol.   We’ve found that boxed wine works wonderfully for travelling like this.  It keeps for weeks, and is easy to store.  We’re finding that more and more mid-range brands are marketing their vintages in this way.

     As I write this just before going to bed, still raining steadily.  Nice going-to-sleep sound.