Flying from Whitehorse to Kelowna
Cathy and I are “on the road” again, this time a 5-day trip to Kelowna, British Columbia, to help my Dad celebrate his 90th birthday.
For the first time ever, we picked a very civilized flight time that allowed for a calm morning. This is our Air Canada Express arriving at 11:40 am yesterday (Air Canada Express was formerly “Jazz”, and this Canadair CL-600 hasn’t got its new paint job yet).
Taxiing out to the runway at 12:09, with the temperature sitting at -28°C (-18°F).
Lining up for takeoff – that doesn’t look like noon light, does it?
Looking down through the low fog layer that’s common at low temperatures. That plume of smoke is probably someone’s wood stove firing up.
The Mt. Sima ski hill, which may open for the season this weekend if the cold eases off a bit.
An unusual mountain just to the southwest of Whitehorse.
Montana Mountain is in the centre – the fog makes everything look very different, and I have a hard time recognizing even areas that I know well.
To the lower left is Mount Birch on Teresa Island in Atlin Lake, at 12:24. Teresa Island is the 2nd tallest lake island on the planet at 1,875 metres (6,153 feet) – the highest is Isla Ometepe in Nicaragua.
We went into a thin cloud layer just south of Atlin Lake, and I read for much of the rest of the 2-hour flight. At 1:56 pm the coast appeared in the dim afternoon light (sunset was at 4:02 pm).
I love flying over the coast. Okay, I love flying period, but especially over the coast 🙂
Vancouver Island with multiple cloud and fog layers. The plume of smoke right of centre is the Harmac pulp mill south of Nanaimo.
This is where I grew up – Surrey on the upper (south) side of the Fraser River and New Westminster on the lower side. It’s a very different place than it was then.
A broader view.
Cranberry fields surrounded by warehouses of various kinds.
Sawdust and raw logs being towed up the Fraser River as we dropped down on final approach.
We had an excellent late-lunch at Monk’s in the Vancouver airport, then went over to our gate to wait for the next leg of our trip, on a Dash 8 to Kelowna.
Taxiing to the runway at 4:26 pm.
A lovely calm evening on the Strait of Georgia (a.k.a. the Salish Sea).
Climbing past Howe Sound.
A nice calm evening at Kelowna airport (YLW). We picked up an Avis rental car, and we’ll be having words about this transactions. It took a very long time for the agent to show up (all other rental desks had 2 agents waiting for people), the car was dirty inside and out, and my supposedly-full fuel tank took $9.50 to get to actual Full.
It’s now almost 8:00 am, and we’ll be starting our Kelowna touring shortly. We’re staying with Dad for 3 nights and then we’re moving over to the Delta Grand Okanagan Resort for a couple of days of pampering 🙂
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