a whole lotta driving around

yup - it seems since have arrived in Canada that we've been doing 

a whole lotta driving around!

of course we have been doing 

a whole lotta driving around 

for that last 5 months - right!

Anyway, we went to Chilliwack to bring some of Derek's mom's stuff to her as well as some of ours for longer term storage at Derek's sister's place. Since we brought a u haul and left our trailer in Keremeos we had to return there! grrrrr 

So - drive to Keremeos - 3 hours - pick up our stuff - drive to the cabin - another 3 hours. PLUS -

it was snowing!

we packed to much in the trailer - it was WAY to heavy!

and our truck was running rough!

ahhhh isn't life grand!

We did split the drive up into 2 days; by the time we arrived into Keremeos it was late afternoon so we spent the night and headed to the cabin the next day. We had two options for our travel route 1. back to Princeton - north through Aspen Grove to the connector - down to Merritt - west to Spences Bridge and down to the cabin; or 2. north to Penticton and on to just north of Peachland to the connector and then over to Merritt and the rest. Either way we knew we would hit snow because both included higher elevations. Being fans of neither we took option 1 because it was the shortest route.

It was a pretty tense drive that we just wanted to be O V E R......

There were some nail biting moments along the Princeton to Aspen Grove route as we had many hills to climb and then hit snow - good thing AGAIN for our 4x4 truck. We finally made it to the connector (5A) and stopped for a rest (well - a smoke for Derek - it WAS stressful)

A really ugly day - enough snow already!

The connector drops down into the valley where the city of Merritt is situated. This is where we sometimes come in the summer for our groceries - it is just over 1 hour away from the cabin. Merritt's claim to fame is the country music festival it puts on each summer, thus calling Merritt the Country Music Capital of Canada. Which may be a bit of a stretch but I guess there are too many other contenders!

Today we were thrilled that it is so low because quite suddenly we were out of the snow.

The 8 between Merritt and Spences Bridge is one of our favourite drives - a bit winding though - great for motorcycling.

We finally reach Spences Bridge - the town that didn't. SP was sort of booming back in the 80's but the Coquihalla put an end to that. SP is perfectly situated with an even better climate - we find it strange that it never grew - especially as a retirement community.

Back to the trains - there are two tracks along the #1 highway.

One picture of the Thompson River! I took way more but they didn't turn out. We will be heading up to Gold Pan Provincial Park for cleaning and I'll take some more. By the way - in a month or so this 30 foot rock will be submerged!

About 20 minutes south of Spences Bridge we arrived to our summer home!

Skihist Provincial Park! 

Have we really been gone almost 6 months from here! Now it seems like yesterday!

Our little cabin in the woods - to the left of our truck! The nice looking building to the left of our trailer is the shiny new pump house that was built last fall.

Derek wasted no time planting some willow stems along the fence. We are somewhat remote and in the forest but RIGHT BESIDE the #1 highway - a busy truck route.

Dad's little helper.

We only spent a couple of days at the cabin - it was warm but with no water. We moved our stuff in and set up a few things and went for really good Chinese food just down the highway.

Soon, and again - we were back on the road headed back to Chilliwack so that Cassia and I could continue on to Vancouver Island to see my family. We take the #1 south through Boston Bar and Yale to Hope and then west to Chilliwack.

The #1 is very scenic along this stretch. The Hell's Gate Airtram is a popular tourist attraction. I see that May 6th is free ride day - we may have to go and save ourselves the $20 each - I've never been!

Our most favourite thing about this trek are the tunnels....this one....

and this one

and this one

and this one 

and this one! And no they are not the same tunnel - I think I missed a few - there must be 7 or 8 in total!

The river as we drive through Hope......

and on to the into the Fraser Valley.

Back to Chilliwack!

Sheesh! like I said

a whole lotta driving around!

We spent a few days at Derek's mom's place who was then nice enough to drive Cassia and I to the ferry for our trip to Vancouver Island and the beautiful city of Victoria. That's what's on tap for tomorrow's post.

Thanks for visiting!

Sorry the post wasn't up last night! As we ARE in the forest and not in a large center we are not always connected - yesterday a receiver went down and we lost our internet for about 24 hours while it was being fixed.

Teresa

Today's Interesting Link: Here's something for all you blog lovers out there! My sister just sent me this link (ha ha! ME a blog lover?) called Bloglovin'.  It seems like it might be a good tool - I just took a quick look. I'm using Pinterest right now with a board for my favourite blogs so not sure about this one - but maybe....

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