Washington & BC!

Leaving Portland we took the historic Columbia River Hwy; beautiful viewpoints and lots of waterfalls. Spectacular structure, Vista House at Crowne Point, dating from 1916; it's an octagon shape and very lavishly appointed. Some Oregonians derided it as the $100,000 outhouse, but we enjoyed a rest stop including the marble appointments in the washrooms!  We happened upon a very nice seafood shop at Cascade Locks. Wending our way along the Columbia Gorge, we crossed into Washington. We zigzagged our way to Prosser with the aim of visiting the Gamache Winery, but being that it was a Tuesday it was closed. Denis was very disappointed but we consoled our selves with a visit to Chukar Cherries.  We visited the Grand Coulee Dam visitor centre, this dam is the largest electricity producing facility in the US, constructed during the 1930's and expanded in 1974. It also provides water to irrigate 600,000 acres of farmland, pretty impressive but they are still working on solving the issues with regard to salmon spawning.

Vista House, very high class rest stop



Multonah Falls



Denis' headstone?

We continued our way up to Omak, enjoyed a visit to Rockwall Cellars Winery and sampled some very nice wine, really enjoyed the Stampede Red. Moving on to Oroville, we were so close to Canada that the phone thought we were there. No reason to delay longer we headed across the border. Wonderful to be back on Canadian soil!

We proceeded to Penticton and met up with Sandra, also visited my cousin Vi and was privileged to meet her daughter Kathy and son-in-law, Kevin. Our main task was to get our income tax filed. We had Kelly courier our info to Kelowna and then the task was to get the dastardly deed done! We squeaked through without taking advantage of CRA's error, met the April 30 deadline without too many hiccups and are done for another year.

We continued on to Peachland and met up with more family. We had a wonderful brunch with Tim and Marg, reminisced about Newfoundland and compared our experiences in Arizona over the winter. Then we hooked up with David & Carol for a gourmet dinner and some spectacular wines...not to mention the view of Okanagan Lake. No wonder David paddles, swims & hikes!

Next it was off to North Kelowna and brunch with my cousins Eileen & Louise, which was a very overdue visit.

A night at Shuswap Falls and on to Kamloops. Denis was born here at the Royal Inland Hospital, 64 years and 363 days ago.

Major changes in 65 years!

We will be heading north to Grande Prairie & Peace River before making our way home.