snowy Lions

So here I sit on a bed at the Holiday Inn Express in Kelowna, contented with a good dinner at the Old Vines Restaurant - to be blogged later - and keen to post some photos from our trip so far. Ready? Shall we?

I've veiled the truth slightly on the blog for a little while now. Every time I talk about staying with my sister, well, we have, indeed, stayed with her. What was not said but many know is that my sister lives in the second home we purchased earlier this year in Vancouver. So, yes, all the views are ours, and she just kind of takes care of them for us while we're at home in Chicago.

One of the key things to sell us on the home were the views. Much of what lies between us and the views of the North Shore mountains are the low buildings of Chinatown, many of them protected heritage buildings. Better still for us, we are in the middle of a city-designated view cone: no new construction will be permitted above a certain height, and our views will be preserved because of that. We are truly glad when we wake up to sights like this - fresh snow on the mountains. Wow. Winter dusts the North Shore peaks, and the Lions, the two prominent humps, are two snowy sentinels over the city.



No snow in Vancouver itself, or in Salmon Arm or Kelowna. We did encounter some on the ground and the road as we hit the two summits on the Coquihalla, though. Otherwise, it was just mountaintops gleaming with fresh new snow. This one, near Chilliwack, reminded us of a horse's head.