Lilloet, BC (Guest post by @lisamedia) #TravelTuesday
Inspired by Minna Van’s recent post about getting away from the constant barrage of work and online chatter, my partner Gregory and I decided to take up the challenge of finding a quiet place to spend the weekend. We chose to drive to Lillooet, which is only about 100 km north of Pemberton.
Lillooet is one of the westernmost points of the Canadian Sonora Desert, and was a major stop during the Gold Rush. According to the city’s small but interesting museum, Lillooet was once the largest city west of Chicago due to the influx of miners into the area over several decades. At present, it is a small, clean community which boasts one of the world’s largest reserves of jade gemstones, which are displayed throughout the town.
We arrived in Lillooet after a stop for lunch in Pemberton and a harrowing drive along twisting mountain roads through Joffre Lakes Provincial Park. Driving through the mountain passes can vary between thrilling and frightening due to the lack of road shoulders and high cliffs. Nonetheless, Lillooet proved to be a calm and relaxing retreat. We chose to stay at the Retasket Motel, which, as Trip Advisor had stated, was beautiful and well-appointed on the inside despite its 70s exterior. The motel’s beds and bathroom were lovely, and the proprietors provided delicious and hot homemade muffins and coffee in the morning.
During the evening we spent in Lillooet, we walked down into the town from the Retasket’s hilly heights, and had dinner at Dina’s Restaurant, which served tasty Greek food on a lovely patio with mountain views. We particularly enjoyed the local wine from Fort Berens, which was a smooth chardonnay with vanilla overtones. We watched the sun set over the mountains as we had our fantastic desserts.
The next morning after a peaceful sleep, on our way out of town we stopped at the Fort Berens winery and picked up six bottles of wine, including their last bottle of Pinot Noir. The winery was launched three years ago by Dutch immigrants, Rolf de Bruin and Heleen Pannekoek, who chose the site after finding it difficult to secure a suitable and affordable property in the Okanagan. Their risk paid off as the winery has won 14 medals since its inception, including Gold at the New World International Wine Competition, and has since expanded to 85 acres of vineyards.
We chose to drive home along the alternate route through Lytton, down to Hope and back to the city on Highway 1, which was a much less difficult drive, if you ignore the 5 minutes spent driving through a one-lane junction just outside of Lillooet in a rockfall hazard zone. Stopping in Lytton for a coffee around 11 am, we were treated with the annual First Nations festival including drumming and dancing. After that, it was a quick and easy drive home, with just enough time left in the day for a walk around the Stanley Park Seawall and dinner at the Teahouse.
We had such a relaxing time in Lillooet that we are definitely planning a return trip. We may be returning for the 2nd Annual Lillooet Beer and Wine Festival, hosted by Fort Berens on September 17th, which promises to be spectacular. The local Lilwat First Nations band is said to be presenting a deer to the winery as a sacrifice for the harvest feast, and there will be an entire day of music and free food and wine.
Disclosure: I covered every single expense I incurred during this travel, including (but not limited to) breakfast, lunch, dinner, and wine, and I wasn’t paid to write this review, nor was I required to do so.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Lisa Thomas-Tench is an entrepreneur, writer, educator, and policy analyst who (amongst many other projects) has worked helping set up a number of non-profit organizations in Uganda. Lisa is also is a very dear friend of mine. You can follow Lisa on Twitter here. All photos on this post are to be credited to Lisa Thomas-Tench. Thanks for the Travel Tuesday post, Lisa!
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[...] but the area is interesting; desert-like and built up on the side of the Fraser River. It seems my buddy Raul has a recent post about Lilloot which shows some nice photos of what Lillooet looks [...]