Untravelling? (Sort of): Penticton, Vancouver and Whistler, British Columbia

The following is an article from Traveling Pat! Patricia is a regular contributor to The Inspirational Mom.

Back from Europe and wanting to just be still for a while but I guess that is just not our M O.

Vancouver was first up then anxious to see our family we went to Penticton B.C., a small city between 2 lakes and home of the famed lake monster Ogopogo. Then it was down to Tucson for a week where Aaron and I packed up a large part of our storage locker and hit the road, driving up through Arizona then into Montana (so beautiful) then on into Idaho to dispose of our possessions into yet another storage locker (don’t ask). A few wonderful days with our family and we were back on the road up through Washington and into Canada.

Was there going to be Peace in the Valley? Not a chance. 5 days in Penticton, a few yoga classes and one glorious hike later I am here in Vancouver and Aaron is out on the salt chuck Salmon Fishing.

Hiking Trail

Okanagan…one of the two lakes and home of the Ogopogo

However…it has all been great.

It is hard to beat the sheer majesty of Vancouver when the sun is shining and today was one of those days. And bonus…The Honda Celebration of lights is on. It is the largest offshore fireworks competition in the world. This year Vietnam, Italy and Brazil were the contenders. There are of course, judges but the public gets to cast their votes for their favorites as well. Italy emerged victorious.

We set out in the big fancy 42-foot boat (not ours) and motored directly to a primo viewing spot on the water and plunked the anchor plus ourselves down to spend a few hours enjoying just being out on the water. The appetizers appeared and the BBQ was fired up, the drinks were poured and we kicked back. One by one other boats arrived and soon the place was chocko block with hundreds of every kind of watercraft. The shoreline was jammed with thousands of spectators and the atmosphere was electric.

At 10 pm there was a huge bang and an explosion of light and from then on around 30 minutes of the most spectacular bewildering array of fireworks I have ever seen. Was it magical? I guess the artist/engineer guys who produce this don’t think so but I know for me it definitely was.

Looking at English Bay in Vancouver

Almost time for the fireworks

Ka bammm!!

Final stop on the unraveling trip is Whistler, the poster place for healthy living. Stunningly beautiful, Whistler is fantastic in the summer. There is so much to do and the place is alive with families and young people. Everyone is biking or hiking, rafting, shopping, swimming, eating in outdoor cafes and riding the gondola. Barb and I walked into the village on the valley trail, did some shopping and walked back. All in all it was around 16 K, almost10 miles… so we certainly earned our vino that night!

Cheers