Sunday, July 19
64 degrees this morning - the warmest in a while, but we are in the middle of town also.
We leave early this morning, heading south to a ferry that crosses Arrow Lake. A free ferry, it runs on the hour and we get there moments before they begin loading for 7:00. Only four or five of us and it is a smooth 20 minute ride.
Shortly after the ferry, we decide to stop for breakfast at Mt. Abriel Recreation area. It turns out to be mostly a biking park with ramps and jumps and a nice covered picnic area. A couple of trucks with bikes are leaving the area as we have breakfast - they must have either spent the night or been there very early! The rough road continues past where we stopped....may be a campground down there.
We continue south on highway 31A heading towards the town of Kaslo, where we have found a couple of places showing the World Cup Final of Argentina vs Spain. This is really a popular road with motorcyclists - lots of twists and turns through mostly pretty and unpopulated areas.
We didn't know anything about Kaslo. It was just a point on the map where we knew there was a place to watch the game (I called them to be sure). Turns out it is a cute little town on the edge of Kootenay Lake, one of the largest, deepest lakes in Canada and is surrounded by mountains. Kaslo is one of the few sheltered ports of the lake, which has a reputation for sudden and severe weather. Population about 1,000, it was established during a Silver boom back in 1893 and gets by today mostly on lumber and tourism (because of the lake).
As we look for a parking place, we spot the the SS Moyie National Historic Site, the world's oldest intact passenger sternwheeler ship, docked right on the waterfront and open for tours.We have time for a visit, so take a look. It served the area between 1898 and 1957. It has some original equipment like a galley, cabins and captain's bridge, as well as several vintage vehicles.
We get to the Waypoint Restaurant and Bar which is part of the Kaslo Hotel, and get a primo spot and have some lunch. Greg tries the local IPA which is called Nasty Habit, and a burger that is a beef and elk combo.
By the start of the game, it is practically full and part way into the game a couple from Ontario asks to share our table. (Friendly folks with a few comments that let us know they are not Donald Trump fans - that's ok cause we're not either!)
Good game and Spain deserved their win! It seemed that the crowd was largely cheering for Spain so they were happy.
We continue on our way and instead of heading east, decide to drop down and cross the border into the corner of Washington. No line at all. The border agent is pleasant, but asks mostly about fruits and vegetables and eggs. Cherries are ok, but she came in and looked in the fridge and took our tomatoes. We made sure to eat our orange this morning as citrus is a no-no, but forgot to mention the peaches which were still in the cupboard ripening, oops!
It is almost 5:00, so we look for a place to camp and end up at East Sullivan Lake and Campground. It is pretty full, and it seems just about everyone is from Washington State. Lots of activity on the lake, paddle boarding, kayaks, etc. and lots of kids.
Beth meets and talks with a couple who are retired biologists who volunteer to research rare plants. They will hike to find one a mile or so from here and do a survey and report. The views at the lake are a bit hazy and they tell us it is smoke from a fire to the west. We talked about the trees here, mostly cedar, hemlock and white pine and very tall. Could learn a lot from them!
Still full from lunch, so we just snack a bit and play a game of cribbage before turning in.
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