BCAA

Yasodhara Ashram, Madeleine Deaton/Flickr, SkyTrek Adventure Park FALL 2017 BCA A .COM 19 MEMBERS EARN BCAA Members earn up to /L on fuel and on non-fuel purchases in CAA Dollars at Husky. Plus, collect • more Petro-Points at Petro Canada. bcaa.com/rewards Before the first dusting of snow transforms this region into ski heaven, with crowds clambering to hit the hills, sneak in a fall drive from Revelstoke to Creston to see some of the area's offbeat attractions. Start about 32 km west of Revelstoke at SkyTrek Adventure Park and explore the old-growth – vertically. The park's new Sky Climb lets visitors aged five and older scale ancient cedars for eagle's-eye views. From there, head east through Mount Revelstoke and Glacier National Parks to the Northern Lights Wildlife Wolf Centre in Golden. Take a tour and commune with the furry residents, such as Moab, the snaggle- toothed wolf. Next, drive south, stopping to practise your downward dog with the "taste of the ashram" day program at Yasodhara Ashram, one of the longest established spiritual communities in North America. The program includes a yoga class, lunch and guided tour. Continue south along the east side of the lake toward Creston, stopping at another unusual landmark along the way: a castle-like house made out of 500,000 glass bottles near the community of Boswell. TRAVEL (this page, top to bottom) The new Temple of Light building at Yasodhara Ashram overlooks Kootenay Lake, its petal-like structure resembling an asymmetrical lotus; the ashram hosts lakeside yoga; a wolf pup greets a visitor at the Northern Lights Wildlife Wolf Centre in Golden. Ghost Towns of Vancouver Island: Victoria to Port Hardy on Highway 19 More than a dozen ghost towns dot the east coast of Vancouver Island, making for plenty of spooky stops on a northerly drive. Most are remnants of a time when remote towns sprung up to support the gold and coal mining industries. Before departing, get in the ghostly mood with a stroll through Victoria's Fairmont Empress Hotel, which just underwent a $60-million renovation, yet hasn't shed its rep as a haunted hotel (one supposed resident is the moustached apparition of the building's architect, Francis Rattenbury). Then hit the road and drive about 100 km north to Cassidy, a quiet rural community. A coal town called Granby once existed on this spot, built by the Granby Consolidated Mining, Smelting and Power Company in 1918. The original buildings were auctioned off in 1936, and now the ghost town consists of little more than crumbled concrete. Continue north to Nanoose Bay to find the remnants of a boomtown with an explosive past. In 1912, the Giant Powder Company built Powder Point, a massive industrial site, to produce dynamite, nitroglycerin and gunpowder. A stately home that was once the gatekeeper's cottage still stands where Powder Point and Northwest Bay Roads converge. Offbeat Kootenay Rockies: Revelstoke to Creston

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