Fairmont to Nelson: bad advice can lead to good places

It is unclear why we chose to follow su casa man’s recommendations once again, but we did so, even after saying, we would no longer trust him with travel decisions. We finally found the recommended road which was a rock strewn, one lane logging road over the mountains. The flag man doing construction on the road slowly circled our car and said “yeah I think you could make it, but I sent a van yesterday and they came back after a couple hours”. Our constant fear was needing to turn around 3 hours into it then have an 8 hour drive. As he said though, something you shouldn’t miss. And it gave us street cred with the locals (incredulous that is).

We did make it to the ferry with 2 minutes to spare (excellent as it would be over an hour before the next ferry). The folks on the ferry advised us on good restaurants etc.

We were surprised to find vintage cars in the parking lot of our hotel which was vintage (but perfect) as well. This was first car show on Baker Street since COVID (SC) and really could see why folks enjoyed. Of course my favorite part were the colors…. That and finding Brants’s original college car, a Chevy Nova. His however did not have bucket seat. My first car, a dodge Polaris, did not make into the classic car show.

Nelson had a great young vibe. Lots of wonderful artisans, music, great bookshops…. Definitely a place I could live (in the summer). This town is also famous (or infamous) for being home to many draft dodgers. Many many never returned to the US. And became a part of the community.

This country has grab and go right! Grab (a lunch) and go (to a park).

Another beautiful drive and a cable ferry and we will be in Vernon. I n the US, when we say we live in Baja they never know what to say. They look shocked or act like they are sorry for us. Incredibly different here, they want to know exactly where we live because they go kite boarding in La Ventana. Or they miss going because their grandparents lived in Todos Santos. Another guy told his family lived in Belize for 3 years with Mennonites. Finally another got very excited saying it was his dream to live on the beach in Mexico. I gave him our condo listing. Such a clear difference but one that made us feel much better!