Greetings!

It is half-time in my vacation game and time to pause and reflect on the last few days. I arrived in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, last Friday. Joining our Canadian outpost, Yann and Reilika, we immediately hit the road towards the Okanagan Valley. Situated close to the US border, the Okanagan ist one of the wamest regions in Canada. It also has Canada’s only desert ecosystem and is considered its foremost wine growing region. So we didn’t only enjoy a little lesson about the Okanagan ecosystem, we also had some little nippers of delicious wine on our journey from Osoyoos to Kelowna. Now, that is a good start for a vacation, right? In Kelowna, we left the Okanagan and drove west. We crossed the Fraser river, the longest stream in BC, the towns Lillooet and Whistler (big skiing resort, they are preparing for the Winter Olympics right now) and arrived back in Vancouver for a short stop.

Then Vancouver and the Guld Islands were on the menu. We crossed over to Salt Spring Island, where we stayed at a beautiful camp ground. The next day, a visit to Dave and his honey production was fun. We got the grand tour, including detailed stories to every old Buick he has on his farm, dating bsack to 1957. After a lot of photos and honey gifts, we hopped over to Vancouver ISland and visited Cathedral Grove in McMillan Provincial Park, where BC oldest Douglas Firs live, the oldest being 800 years old! The largest ones have circumferences up to nine meters, and reach almost 100m in height. This concluded more or less the trip. We returned back to Vancouver with the ferry from Victoria.While en route on the ferry, four Orcas waved us farewell, it was a pity that it was already so dark that one could only see there silhouettes…

What will the next days bring? Tomorrow, downtown Vancouver will have to suffer me. Friday we might check out “the Chief”, a mountain near Whistler. Saturday is my last day here, I just might take it easy….

So much from the far west. I wish everyone back home a pleasant evening!