The drive from Kamloops, BC, to Vancouver, BC

The drive from Kamloops, British Columbia, to Vancouver, British Columbia, has a lot of variety. When it started with sage brush filled ranch land and farmland, I was missing the rugged mountains of Banff and eastern British Columbia.

The area immediately west of Kamloops, including Cache Creek and other towns, was part of a gold rush in the 1860s. Paddle boats carried men and goods across Kamloops lake. Stage coaches also serviced the area.

As I traveled further west, the land was not as barren. I followed Trans-Canada Highway 1 until just past Cache Creek, where I forked off and followed Highway 97 and Highway 99 -- the route that goes through Whistler. Although the land was still dry at first, it included streams, trees, and stunning Fall colors. 

The route has a lot of variety. I drove through areas with rugged rocks and a deep river canyon.

I was glad to see a dark blue lake, and a rugged snowcapped mountain in the distance.

Interestingly, one of the lakes, Duffey Lake, has a stockpile of fallen trees blocking one end of it. The native people use the name "Teq" for Duffey Lake. The word "Teq" means "blocked".

The mountains are grizzly bear country,

At the lower altitudes, the landscape and hills were still full of brilliant fall colors.

As I got closer to Pemberton and Whistler, the mountain scenery became quite majestic. I was glad that today was a sunny day, but clouds were starting to appear above some of the peaks, foreshadowing the coming days of rain and snow.

Before long, I was nearing Vancouver. I saw the waters and islands of the sound on my right as I finished my descent from the mountains.

I wanted to have Chinese soup dumplings for dinner tonight. Several years ago, when my brother Glen, some good friends, and I had a ski vacation in Whistler, Glen and I had soup dumplings at a restaurant while we were waiting for our flight home. I remember the dumplings were really good!

I called Glen and got the name of the restaurant, which is Dinesty Dumpling House. The location where we ate several years ago is closed, but they still have four other locations in the Vancouver area. The closest loation to me was in Vancouver's west end, so I followed the GPS to that location.

I hate parking in big cities! Robison Street, where the restaurant I chose is located, is a very popular street for shopping and dining, and parking is $5 per hour between 6 pm and 10 pm! I wasn't willing to pay that much to park for dinner. I drove a couple of blocks away, onto a side street, and found a meter for $1 per hour between 6 pm and 10 pm. I could live with that!

Unfortunately, I only had 60 cents in Canadian coins, and the parking meter rejected my credit cards, so I had to look elsewhere. Several blocks away, I found a space in an area that allowed free two hour parking between the hours of 9 am and 8 pm. By now it was almost 8 pm, so I was fine to park there for the night, and it was free!

It took me about 5 minutes to walk to the restaurant.

I ordered the pork soup dumplings, and an order of pan fried pot stickers. They were both great! My server was also very nice!

Since my parking space is good until morning, I came back and discretely put up the blinds in my windows and settled in for the night. I am parked in a quiet residential neighorhood in the west end of Vancouver, near the intersection of Pendrell and Nicola streets.