Day 5 New Denver to Castlegar
Today was supposed to be an hour and a half
but everywhere on this route seems to take much longer. It
was a really pretty drive down but heavy with clouds, not good for photography.
I thought I would like Slocan but Sunday morning and not a soul around with the threat of rain it felt pretty empty. I did like the paintings on some of the buildings but with rain threatening I kept moving on. There is a famous bicycle trail built on an old railway bed that goes 50 km all along the lake. I sort of wished I had brought my bike but I probably wouldn’t have gone on it alone as this time of year there were almost no cars let alone bicyclists on trails. Once I got onto Hwy 3 again the traffic picked up and by the time I got to Castlegar 4 hours later the RV park only had 2 sites left, granted it is a smaller park.
I thought I would like Slocan but Sunday morning and not a soul around with the threat of rain it felt pretty empty. I did like the paintings on some of the buildings but with rain threatening I kept moving on. There is a famous bicycle trail built on an old railway bed that goes 50 km all along the lake. I sort of wished I had brought my bike but I probably wouldn’t have gone on it alone as this time of year there were almost no cars let alone bicyclists on trails. Once I got onto Hwy 3 again the traffic picked up and by the time I got to Castlegar 4 hours later the RV park only had 2 sites left, granted it is a smaller park.
I headed out right away and visited the Brilliant (and it is brilliant) Suspension Bridge built in 1913 by the Doukabours. An equally
beautiful arch bridge for Hwy 3 was built next to it and there are lengthy descriptions of the difference in construction and enginering between the two styles. However I don't have a good picture of the Brialliant Bridge.
From there to the Doukabour museum. I had an informal tour by a really smart Doukabor woman who game me a different history than I envisioned. She estimates there are only 22,000 in Canada, mostly in BC and Saskatchewan and few live in colonies anymore.
I needed some exercise so went down to Millenium Park an incredible park for a town of only 8,000 people. It was reclaimed from gravel pits and has 3 natural swimming ponds with water slides and a long paved river walk to Zuckerberg Island. I wonder if Mark knows about it. Anyway it was beautiful and busy and I loved being there.
Then onto the downtown Sculpture Walk. There were about 30 pieces within a 6 block area and again there were quite a few people following along on maps. It is my favourite town on this route.
By the time I was finished I was really tired and hungry, ordered Boston pizza and while waiting went over to Safeway and filled up with gas. Back at camp I ate at the picnic table and watched the sun go down over the river. It was a full day and was thinking how good it would be to have just one day to not be moving. I opened an email from a friend with this quote from an interview with Jeff Bridges:
Brilliant Bridge is the lower one in the background
I needed some exercise so went down to Millenium Park an incredible park for a town of only 8,000 people. It was reclaimed from gravel pits and has 3 natural swimming ponds with water slides and a long paved river walk to Zuckerberg Island. I wonder if Mark knows about it. Anyway it was beautiful and busy and I loved being there.
Then onto the downtown Sculpture Walk. There were about 30 pieces within a 6 block area and again there were quite a few people following along on maps. It is my favourite town on this route.
By the time I was finished I was really tired and hungry, ordered Boston pizza and while waiting went over to Safeway and filled up with gas. Back at camp I ate at the picnic table and watched the sun go down over the river. It was a full day and was thinking how good it would be to have just one day to not be moving. I opened an email from a friend with this quote from an interview with Jeff Bridges:
Bridge: I'm 66. I cannot believe it, man. I cannot believe it.
They tell you this your whole life, and it's really true—how fast
it goes. And it picks up speed. I've got these two voices in my
head. One is saying, "Man, you're 66. You're not going to live
forever. You got a lot of stuff you wanna do, so get on it,
because it's gonna be over in a little while. There's not much
time left. And the other guy in my head says, "Will you please
relax? You don't want to spend the rest of your life in the middle
of some homework assignment, doing all this achieving. Why don't
you just take it easy?"
Methinks this is hitting a little too close to home. I don’t feel like this trip is a homework
assignment, although this nightly blog might seem like that to the reader, but a break from
driving would be good and I do like this site so we will see in the morning.
And this is the view in the morning!
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