There are two ways one can tour the Canadian Rockies; "top down" from Jasper to Banff or "bottom up" from Banff to Jasper. We decided on the latter, and from Vancouver, we've decided to reach Banff via the Okanagan Valley region. This region, known as the Thompson Okanagan, supports a whole tourism industry itself in British Columbia. Famous for its fruit orchards, you'll be in for for a healthy treat if you drop in during the right season.... There're a couple of towns enroute, and we've decided to spend a night in the Okanagan before proceeding to Banff. We settled on a Bed & Breakfast establishment near a town called Kamloops.

The Okanagan Valley is also home to many vineyards, and has become one of North America's best known wine producing regions. One of its products, the ice wine, is both highly prized and also highly priced... Grapes were left on the vines until the first deep frost. The temperature should get between -10C to -13C before they are hand-picked and then pressed almost immediately. Thus ice wines are very sweet and concentrated. Picking grapes in winter is certainly no fun, and yield is usually low, so I'm sure that accounts for the high price... I think one of the more famous ice wines sold in Singapore is Iniskillin, which is from Ontario, Canada.

Here in Okanagan also lies Okanagan Lake, the largest lake in the region. But more interestingly, legend has it that a serpent like water monster lives in the lake... probably a distant relative of Nessie, of Loch Ness fame. Like Nessie, there have been many sightings of Ogopogo, the lake monster. Though less famous, Ogopogo has its own cult following.

When we finally reach Kamloops, it was almost dark, and we have yet to find Father's Country Inn Bed & Breakfast. We zipped past Kamloops and when we reach the country roads/tracks, it was almost pitch dark. If our car's headlights betrayed us now, we would have been stranded... As we turned into a small dirt track (which I suspect our rented car was not supposed to drive on), we found some lights in a distance and went forth apprehensively. As it turns out, it is our destination for the night!

It was later the following morning when we discovered another surprise. We wondered why there're so many pictures of Marilyn Monroe around the house. We then realised that David Conover Jr, the owner of this B&B, is the decendent of David Conover, who is allegedly the photographer who discovered Marilyn Monroe!! More information can be found at his website : http://www.dconover.com/ .

Part I: Vancouver	Part III: Banff National Park