Kamloops, etc

This is Kamloops Lake, actually a river, I think. It's very long and skinny, and very green. Apparently the minerals washed into the rivers in this part of mountains have a lot of something that makes the water green...copper? There was a huge copper mine in this area, it's now a Superfund Clean-up site. Whatever makes the water so green, it was spectacular in the sunshine.
 

As we got closer to Kamloops, and the vegetation got browner and browner, we saw more cattle and irrigated hay fields. We also saw several of these circular red/white depressions. We tried to get closer, but fences barricaded our progress. There appears to be water, the red appears to be plant, and the white appears to be mineral. No clue, but the color was in high contrast to the brown all around.
 

We had lunch in downtown Kamloops, and decided to drive on to Vernon, population 33,000. We caught Michelle in the act of repairing a mural, had a nice visit, and she told us about Ricardo's restaurant, where we went for dinner. It was almost to Kelowna, but a pleasant 20 minute drive. I ordered Greek pork ribs...who ever heard of such a thing? The plate came with nicely done roasted veggies, and the excess made for a good take-out box.

We spent the morning Monday walking around Vernon, seeing the rest of the murals. Nice day, nice small town, wonderful public artwork. I'd love to see Michelle start Wilmington on this same sort of project.
 

We drove up to Silver Star Recreation Area, thinking we'd do some hiking on the now-bare ski trails. The young man we stopped to ask looked at us as if we were nuts. Barely gave us an answer, and dismissed us pretty quickly. The top of the mountain is a ski village, with lots of what appear to be multi-story condo buildings, all painted bright colors. There are a few good old boys driving fast on the dirt roads in pick-up trucks with the resort name on the door of the truck, and almost no one else in site. We have our lunch, standing by the back of our car, in an empty gravel parking lot, overlooking the valley. Hey, at least it's a beautiful day! After we ate, and figured there was no hiking here, we drove past some new houses, and asked the framers about the flat roof design. He told us that the interior walls are double 2x6, and the roof is designed to hold 250 pounds/sq foot of snow! The roof slopes towards the middle of the house, where there is a drain, and the snowmelt runs out from under the house somewhere. There is a for-sale sign on a lot, advertising $200,000 for the lot. Skiing is a high-dollar hobby! We figure these houses/condos are vacant about 9 months a year.

We drive on to Kelowna, checking out the hostel. Stuart came back out to the car, and reported that it looked pretty bare bones, and considering the price, decided to look elsewhere. We find a hotel in the downtown, right by the park, in the Arts District. For $80, only $20 more than the hostel, we get 2 chairs to sit on, a small fridge, and a rooftop patio overlooking the park. And, the front desk guy let me use his microwave to pop the popcorn!

Dinner was fantastic! We went to Wasabi Izayake, just a few blocks walk from our hotel. A small place, with an over-head garage door front, it was pretty, sparsely decorated and elegant. The kitchen was open to the seating area, and we could watch all the plates come up. We ordered the croquettes, which I won't even try to describe except to say we loved them, and the hand-written menu said they are the chef's favorite. Then, we had a mixed seaweed salad, and a house special sushi dish, and then Stuart ordered a tempura. Oh, it was great! The chef allowed me to take his picture...next blog!