Highway 13 from Hope (where they filmed Rambo) to Nelson (film location for Roxanne) is one of the most beautiful drives we know. So many mountain passes. And each one dumps you into a different valley. The Okanagan might be the prettiest. It is practically overflowing with wineries and fruit stands runing north/south from Osoyoos to Kelowna. Almost equally stunning is the heavily forested Kootenay Valley. A small detour there led us back to one of our favorite towns.

We love Nelson. Maybe it’s all the underground quartz. Per our friendly Airbnb hosts the town sits on one of the largest quartz deposits in the world. They stated that sometimes you can practically see the town residents buzzing with quartz fueled energy.

Whatever the reason, there is some magical quality that keeps drawing us back to that town. Home though calls us too. And stops us from spending more than a day at any one place. I would talk more but the car needs to be packed. We have places to go.