Day 9, Tuesday, July 19: Victoria, British Columbia

Katie's new wolf.

I talked to Katie last night and she sounded great! She's not homesick anymore and she's looking forward to Victoria today and seeing us on Friday. She bought a little wolf stuffy and absolutely loved meeting the wolves yesterday.

I noticed she's using new expressions - clearly adopted from her new friends - and for crapsake, she sounds older! How can that happen in just two weeks? They had Canadian Barbecue last night and I told her I didn't realize the barbecued Canadians. She must miss my sense of humor!

They have a long bus ride today but that doesn't seem to be a problem. She just wants to make sure they have a chance to shop in Victoria! 

The kids at Rogers Pass.

The note from Lyly about yesterday:

Today was a long bus ride with activities interspersed throughout the day. 

Our first stop of the day was at the Northern Wildlife Centre. At the Centre they currently have 5 adults and 2 pups. The pups were safely hidden in the den and never ventured out so we didn't see them. After our interpreter gave his talk about wolves, one of the owners came out to see if we could howl. She informed us that unlike dogs, wolves howl one continuous long note, they do not bark or yip. So as a group, the students started to howl. Once the wolves listened for a minute, they joined in and we stopped. Maya and Wiley, a male and female, continued howling for quite some time. It was awesome to hear! 

Fun Fact: Wolves often eat only one large meal a week. They gulp their food (hair, bones, meat, etc.) down all at once. As a result, wolves are very fast eaters. Wiley has been known to wolf down an entire frozen chicken in 10 seconds. Hence the term "Wolfing your food down". When they travel in packs, the alpha male and alpha female run with their tails pointing straight up, while the other wolves run with their tails pointing down. This helps to determine the dominate wolves vs the rest of the pack. 

Our 2nd stop of the day was at Craigellachie. It is the spot where the Canadian Pacific Railway pounded in the last spike in 1885. This last spike represented the melding of the East to the West, thus providing a way to travel between the two territories. 

After dinner we went to a room at Kelowna University and an archeology professor taught us about "Stone Technology". Each student was given a piece of obsidian and a small piece of antler bone. The professor showed us how to work the rock to form an arrowhead or some sort of tool. The students seemed to really enjoy working the rock. 

Every few days the leaders collect the students' journals to make sure that they are writing about their experiences. So with the students' permission, I thought I would share a few journal entries with you. Keep in mind, I did not change any grammar or sentence structures. :)
 Excerpt from the journal of Andrew Nguyen: "Peyto Lake was named after a man named Crazy Bill Peyto. When Peyto had land, he dug holes and put bears in. Then he covered the holes with grass. If intruders sneaked into Peyto's land, they would be eaten by the bears. Peyto also liked to take mountain lions and let them go in bars to see what people would do." 

Excerpt from the journal of Sarah Dubbs: "...Next we played two Indian games. One was the Screaming Game and the other was a gambling game. They were really fun! I can't wait to show them to my friends. I especially loved the game where we ran while screaming. (A.K.A. "The Screaming Game") I'm sure everyone loved these games and if they do, add me to the list!"

People to People Itinerary

From Kelowna you'll travel over the scenic Coquihalla Highway making your way to Victoria. You will stop at the beautiful Bridal Falls for lunch.

From Vancouver, you'll hop on the ferry and cross the Strait of Georgia to Victoria.

Next up is a haunting visit to the aristocratic Craigdarroch Castle. Here you'll tour a spooky mansion built in the 1890's by the richest man in British Columbia.

Bridal Falls in British Columbia.

Not sure if this is their exact ferry, but it's close! Pretty awesome looking!

Does this castle look scary to you? It's gorgeous!