Capilano RV Park

Vancouver, British Columbia: We left our little find of a RV Park in Armstrong and headed south - not really sure we were going. The news reports warned of terrible fires in Washington State, so we decided to head west and now find ourselves in beautiful Vancouver, BC.

We followed Highway 97 south... or we think we followed 97, as our map showed it on the opposite side of the Okanagan lakes! Not to mention, Highway 97 is situated along the gutter of our map and we really could not read it at all! We took a right at Keladan and drove through Manning Provincial Park. There is a small forest fire in this area - but traffic was flowing. The forest is heavily damaged by a pine beetle and I think it could use a good forest fire - they were letting it burn, but were "containing" the burn to a certain area.
 
The area around Okanagan Lake is known as the "wine country" - and we did see many signs to vineyards, but actually only saw one vineyard. I think the area is misnamed - it should be known as "fruit stand country" - I am not exaggerating when I type that we passed at least 100 fruit stands today! Of course, we stopped at one and bought a few homegrown tomatoes and peaches. I asked what type of peaches they were selling and the sales girls replied "local". We also bought a loaf of wonderful, just-baked sourdough bread. We immediately had a picnic of bread and cheese in the parking lot of the fruit stand - the peaches need another day or two.
 
The Okanagan Country is very much like eastern Oregon or Washington - rocky hills with sage brush - I have no idea how they get grapes to grow here, but as soon as you leave the Okanagan and head towards the Provincial Park, the scenery turns very lush - fir forests, mountains with actual snow caps, bubbling brooks and also CLOUDS!
 
As we came down from the mountains - 4,500 feet to 500 feet in about 10 miles - into Hope, British Columbia, it began to rain! We are just coming into Vancouver now and it is raining hard and traffic is terrible!
 
Added later: Oh, goodness. Our day went from bad to worse! How could this happen? We sat in traffic for over one hour coming into Vancouver. I decided to phone the RV Park to make sure they had space tonight, before driving all the way into town to be skunked. Yes, they could take us - so no worries about that. We sat and the rain came down. It had not rained for quite some time in Vancouver and that always makes for several accidents and terrible traffic, doesn't it? As we neared the campground, we missed the turn and had to continue - over the Lion's Gate Bridge! Five lanes merged to three, then two and final ONE! We sat and sat. (G-d forbid someone should get BEHIND a motor home! Never mind we have 275 horse power!) Anyway, my poor husband was nearly at his wits end, so frustrated sitting in traffic and then missing the turn. But, wait, things can get even worse! They are widening the bridge and have metal scaffolding along the south-bound side and that scaffolding ate our rear-view mirror! Snapped it right off - into the ocean below. The temporary curb ate a big chunk out of our outside passenger-side tire too!
 
Damn hungry bridge, that's what I think.
 
There was nowhere to pull-over. The car behind us followed right along, so we knew the flying mirror did not hurt anyone - thank goodness. We went around a block on the other side of the bridge and came back over, this time NOT MISSING the turn into the RV Park and are settled down in the same campground I stayed in as a girl, about 35 years ago!
 
Tomorrow we will phone the manufacturer and they will tell us where to go to get this Humpty Dumpty back together again. Luckily, we have a friend, Phil, who lives in town and he has offered to help us tomorrow in any way we need him - rounding up parts, finding a dealer, etc.
 
So... we may be here for a while. At least no one, including us, was hurt and we are in a huge city - so that will help in locating parts and will help in entertaining us while we wait for their arrival.

RV Park: Capilano RV Park