We have been away for a few days, spending Christmas with our eldest daughter Anita and partner Richard at their home in the countryside east of Kamloops. We had a wonderful time, thanks to their generous hospitality, lovely holiday decorations and fantastic food by chef Richard!

We’ve taken over a hundred photos which I’ve just been downloading. For now I’ll just show a few from the 4 to 5 hour journey up there along the magestic Coquihalla Highway over the mountains, with the highest summit at about 1250 metres (4100 feet). While Vancouver and the Fraser Valley stayed green and wet, as we climbed higher and higher we reached heavy snow levels and falling snow – so beautiful! It was hard to take good photos from a moving car and with no places to stop with the high snowbanks.

Driving at times was quite treacherous with too many drivers going too fast for the conditions. The last photo shows the amazing panorama on the north side heading down to the Merritt Valley with less snow on the road but more black ice. We saw many cars and even semi-trailer trucks off the road. Anyway, we made it safely there and back again.

The Thompson River valley and Kamloops area did not have a lot of snow left from earlier snowfalls, though it was enough to call it a White Christmas compared to Vancouver. However it was a good thing we left the cross country skis and toboggan at home and I never did get to try out Anita’s snowshoes.

I’ll try to post more photos over the next few days. I hope you have all had a great Christmas and that you are enjoying these last days of the year.