Day 10 Tuesday September 20th

Princeton to Grand Forks

Sun! Fruit, a Dutch store, a bear and two deer, spectacular views and a very nice motel room.

A very cold start in the morning. After all, we are in the mountains. But the sky is deep blue and in the afternoon it is nice and warm. First we stop at Hedley, and old mining town where everything is closed. An outer wall of the hotel has a nice painting. We see that in many towns which we explore.

Hedley

We do not make a lot of progress today, but instead enjoy buying fruit at Keremeos, in the Okanogan Valley, which is full of orchards and vineyards. I had never associated British Columbia and the Rocky Mountains with lush orchards. We buy bags of big peaches, orange apricots, dark purple plums, juicy apples with a crisp bite and baby tomatoes in a variety of forms and colours. It is difficult to leave the enticing looking pumpkins and marrows on their display stalls.

Just when we go on our way again, we see a stall with a Dutch windmill! Of course we have to investigate. It is a shop with Dutch produce, run by a man from Amsterdam who has lived here for over 30 years. The strong Dutch coffee which he serves us is a relieve after the weak Canadian brew, and with the huge servings of homemade Dutch “appeltaart” made by his wife, we enjoy a delicious lunch. His mother in law lives in a bungalow next to him. She seems rather bitter, is 88 and still going strong. She talks with us through a wire fence while some six dogs of various breeds bark incessantly at us, a canine concert if there ever was one.

At noon we set off on route 3A and turn off at Green Mountain Road, a very quiet and picturesque road which goes through an Indian Reserve. Here we see our second bear, a lot closer to the road than the one we saw at Pemberton. I have plenty of time to take some pictures through the open car window, while the bear goes enjoying its lunch.

We end up in Penticton and follow the North road along the lake. But Penticton and the whole area is very busy, so we decide to turn back and follow a more southerly route, via Osoyoos. This leads through a beautiful area with vineyards, especially in Oliver. Besides there are many orchards. Osoyoos is a busy tourist resort as well, attractively situated between two lakes or rather on a dam through a lake. From there we take route 3A which leads us high up to a ridge overlooking Osoyoos and the valley. Luxury houses are planned here, and the lots are already numbered and prepared, but no houses have been built yet. The view from this ridge is fabulous.

We end up on route 3 again, which leads us along the USA border to Greenwood, a former mining town and now a ghost town, where most shops are closed, boarded up or for sale. Deer cross the main street.

After a short stop we drive on to Grand Forks, some 60 kilometres further,  where we find a super apartment in a Ramada Inn, a place where we can relax.