My Canada - US Travels
BC - Winnipeg
Winnipeg - Quebec
Quebec - Winnipeg
Winnipeg - BC
Epilogue
North West Drive
Washington
Oregon
California
Nevada
Utah
Colorado
Utah again
Idaho & Montana
Alberta
BC
Epilogue
BC Interior
Langley Detour
Okanagan
Cariboo
Prince George to Prince Rupert
Return to Vancouver
Epilogue
Road Trip - Sunshine Coast, British Columbia to Sainte Adele, Quebec
Sunshine Coast to Revelstoke (550km)
Started Wednesday, December 15We leave the Sunshine Coast B&B in Sechelt, ready for our big road trip. We get off to a good start, and miss our ferry over to Vancouver. Since there's no other way to leave the Sunshine Coast by car, we go back to Gibsons and spend the next 2 hours drinking coffee.
We get the 10.30 ferry and cross Howe Sound, arriving in Horseshoe Bay, just northwest of
Vancouver.
Excluding Vancouver Island, this is where the Trans Canada Highway begins and that’s the route we’re taking to Ontario. By the time we clear Vancouver and the Lower Mainland,
we need to stop for a brief lunch in the town of Hope - I won't crack any
jokes about the town's name as I'm sure they have all been made before many times before. Hope is where
the Rockies start for the Trans Canada. We get back on the road and on to the only Toll highway on our route ($10), the
Coquihalla. The highway was built in the 80s to bypass
the old and slow (but beautiful) road along the Fraser Canyon and such towns as Spuzzum, Boston Bar and Lytton. But faster routes have their merits, especially when you're only
just starting your "Cross the Country" Jaunt.
The unfortunate side effect of the higher speeds is the higher impact speed of some rock which has been kicked up on to our windscreen, and the resulting Crack. Excellent, just what we need! We watch the crack grow at an inch per 200 km, straight across the driver’s line of vision.
The Coquihalla ends at Merritt, but the highway continues to Kamloops where, courtesy of the foggy weather we can see nothing. Here the Trans Canada highway
turns east towards Salmon Arm and Revelstoke. At Revelstoke, a feeble 550 km into our journey, we decide to call it a day and find a Super 8 to spend the night.
They’re not the lap of luxury, but they are always clean.
Revelstoke to Calgary
Thursday, December 16
First off, the old town of Revelstoke is under rated. It’s got a great old part to walk around and we found a great coffee place for breakfast, called the
Woolsey Creek Café on Mackenzie Avenue.
The advantage of staying the night in Revelstoke is that we can now drive through
Rogers Pass and Kicking Horse Pass in daylight and without fog everywhere.
So not only do we get the spectacular views, but are also a little bit safer on the road. We stop for a brief lunch in
Lake Louise, wave at Banff and press on to Calgary,
where we arrive mid afternoon. We can’t get the windscreen replaced until the next morning. So we find somewhere near to the glass repair shop to stay and go to the Chinook Centre
to do Christmas shopping and experience sensory overload.
Calgary to Brandon (1170 km)
Friday, December 17First duty of the day, get the windshield repaired. As a result we don’t get going until 11.30, and this is going to be a long day, to make up for our first 2 feeble days. We hit the Prairies. There isn’t any snow around, we can still see the grass in the fields. The weather is still so warm. First we pass through Medicine Hat, with the “world’s tallest Tee Pee” and you can’t miss it from the highway.
The railway track runs alongside the highway for much of the way. Every hour or so, you see an engine pulling a hundred freight containers.
Yes it’s FLAT. The only things that stand out are the grain silos and oil pumps/refineries. As dusk falls, the light on the fields is surreal, looking more like a desert than a frozen plain. The horizon is so far away and the air so clear, you don’t know if the oncoming car lights are a few 100 metres away or several kilometres.
Eventually we get to Regina and stop for dinner.
Having decided that we want to spend as much of the next day as possible in
Winnipeg, we press on. Four hours later at 1am we hit Brandon (known predominantly for its air force).
My second time here, and again I don’t have an overwhelming desire to stay here for more than a night’s sleep.
Brandon to Winnipeg (200km)
Saturday, December 18
We drive the short 200km to Winnipeg. We book in at the old Grand Trunk hotel, The Fort Garry. It is the best deal of the trip. For the same as we paid at 2 non descript motels we get a
great room with excellent amenities, free coffee service to the room whenever you want and a stunning Sunday Brunch the next morning. So far the weather has been warm, but Winnipeg needing
to live up to its reputation is a windy -23c, their first major cold snap of the season.
Once checked in we take a brief (as it is a windy -23 as I said before) walk around ”The Forks” ,
a nicely revitalized area near the central railway station, probably the old rail stockyard. Winnipeg means Ukranian food, so we have our dose of perogies and kapusta (think sauerkraut)
for dinner at Alycia’s.