WEATHER: Spotty rain showers. Highs in 70s
We spent another night camped at the farm with friends of Tony and Jenny. George picked blueberries for breakfast from their garden.
Today, we made a day trip to Mt. Revelstoke, about 2 hours away. To get there, we drove along lots of lakes with beach resort areas. Seems a little like Florida.
Mt. Revelstoke is in the Columbia Mountains. We ascended to 6,000 feet. We watched the temperature drop as we drove up the mountain, from about 70 to 50. Along the way, we saw 3 marmots. This one posed for us.
During our trip, we have seen lots of signs asking drivers to watch for wildlife. Here, the wildlife are rare salamanders.
The vegetation changed from rain forest, to snow forest, to no forest as we ascended. Once we got to the top, the fog rolled in and it started to rain. Undaunted, we donned our rain gear and looked at the famous alpine meadow wildflowers. Here is Jenny enjoying the weather and flowers...
We found a really nice log pavilion. It had a wood stove, a pile of logs, and an axe, all conveniently ready for us to make a fire. The only problem was that we didn't have a match. We tried igniting a piece of Kleenex from the car's cigarette lighter, but that did not work. I asked some people for a match. Finally, I found a smoker who had a lighter. I lit a little candle and carefully walked with it back to the pavilion, in the wind and rain. George had the kindling ready and we got a little fire started.
Soon, it was going well, and we added more wood.
It became cozy and we warmed and dried ourselves. We took a shuttle to the summit, then hiked back down, admiring the wild flowers. We returned to our cozy pavilion with smoke emitting from the chimney, to get warm and dry again.
We drove down to the city of Revelstoke for a late lunch at a brewpub. I finally had my first taste of poutine. It is a Canadian dish, mostly French, with French fries covered with brown gravy and melted cheese curds. Not what you would call health food!
We drove back to the farm. A baby bear had visited our hosts about an hour before we returned. They think the mother bear was shot, and this little guy is wandering around. He was in their yard and tree next to their deck.
DINNER: We had our last meal together. George grilled chicken thighs, and I used them in an arroz con pollo recipe I had. It was with corn, tomatoes, onions, and Mexican spices. Served over rice. Tony and Jenny made a nice salad, and we had some Canaduan beer and wine. Perfect ending to our stay here.
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