2010 - Saturday, July 3 (Canada)

BC and Alberta, Canada
MEM-YVR, YEG-MEM
July 1 - 9

• Dined on waffles and powdered eggs (in scrambled form) at the Hampton, then packed and checked out of the hotel. We left Vancouver via Highway 1 (TransCanada Highway) and headed east. After about 45 minutes, we stopped at the Fort Winery in Langley and did a bit of tasting. The winery had all fruit wines - apple, pear, cranberry - but no grape wines. The farm itself was comprised of 8 cranberry bogs. The valley is known for fruit-growing, but not necessarily grapes because the region is too wet for them to grow successfully. The owner told us that farther east in B.C. (Okanaga Valley) was prime grape-growing and winery country.
• We continued on through southern B.C. Stopped at Abottsford for supplies (food, cooler, etc) and had lunch at a Red Robin. Brad was ecstatic about this as he worked as a server for the company in Charlotte while in college. The waiter at this one (Cory) was a CD-Bag (Canadian douchebag). Sunglasses on his head (why?), and kept using the phrase "no worries" as a go-to.
• Got back on the road and continued east. Stopped at a liquor store off the highway to get beer. A 6-pack of Busch was 11$. 12 packs were between 25-30 CDN$. Good 6 packs were 15$. We decided to skip it and find some elsewhere. Now on Highway 3 (Crow's Nest Hwy), we kept going east and stopped in Princeton, B.C. to make another attempt at buying beer. Again, we found outrageous prices...25-30 CDN$ for a 12 pack. Ugh. Got 2 bottles of wine (@ 9$ each) and a 12pack of Okanagan and a 6 pack of Red Racer white ale. 62$ total.
• Went to Dairy Queen (always 0ur weakness) and had blizzards to recover from the sticker shock of the beer.
• We reached Cathedral Provincial Park at 6 PM and camped at Buckhorn Campground - free camping! We had bought firewood from a riverside pull through campground...one load for 12 CDN$. Dinner was chicken and potatoes cooked over the fire. As a side note, the 2 bags of groceries we purchased was 70$.
• Mileage - 480 KM. Beer of the day was Red Racer, Okanagan Pale. Beers in Canada we've had so far are really bad. The pale ale tasted like Budweiser. These people are NOT good at brewing and should really leave this to the Americans, who know what they are doing.
• 3/4 tank of gas. Darkness at 10:30 PM.