Harrison, British Columbia: Where To Stop Along The Drive
Hello, friends! I’m finally able to catch up on some writing about what I did while I was up in Canada for the past few months. Besides spending time with my elderly father, my brother and his family, I was also able to explore my great home province of BC and other parts of Canada. I’ll be sharing a lot of my finds and experiences, first up visiting Harrison, BC!
After I ran the Vancouver Sun Run a few months back, I went to Harrison Hot Springs. Even though I had grown up and spent most of my life in Vancouver, I had never been out that way. I also felt like having some company on my travels (very rare!) so I asked my friend Paul, who is semi-retired if he wanted to join me.
The day after the Vancouver Sun Run, Paul picked me up and we were on our way. The drive to Harrison only takes an hour and a half. When we were passing through the downtown area of Agassiz, we decided to stop and pick up a few things like snacks and water. When we were walking in the town, it gave us a really strange feeling. We asked some of the store staff about the shops since they were all closed across the road and they said that everything across the street was fake.
Fake?
It was a tv set! All the buildings were made out of styrofoam and just a facade. They told us the show is called Wayward Pines. I had to Google it because I don’t have tv or cable but it’s on FOX and stars Matt Dillon.
Check it out:
Left side is fake, right side is real
A tv set town!
After downtown Agassiz, we stopped at two stops along the Circle Farm Tour.
What is the Circle Farm Tour?
From the site: “It’s a self-guided tour around southwestern British Columbia that takes you to farms vendors, open air markets, charming eateries, heritage sites, fairs, and other special events.”
We stopped at Canadian Hazelnuts first. I walked around the orchard and shot photos of the trees. Canadian Hazelnuts grow, process, and sell organic hazelnuts and hazelnut products like chocolate, roasted nuts, flour, protein powder, cold press oils, butter, chocolate spread, and gifts. You can pick hazelnuts yourself in September and October.
Hazelnut trees. Love the symmetry
After the hazelnut orchard, we were driving towards to a cheese farm when Paul pulled into a shop called the Happy Prospector. He’s into crystals and precious stones and wanted to check out the shop. The owner is a geologist so he’s not just some hokey person. At one point someone came in and was asking about panning for gold in the area. He gave them advice about where to go. Paul said it was a really great shop. He is an avid researcher and always knows about places like this whereas I would probably skip it.
Some quartz
The owner of Happy Prospector gave me and Paul rock that he got in India. I shrugged it off and just took it home to my brothers. I left it on the dresser in my room and forgot about it for a few weeks. I was going to toss it out one day when it cracked in half and this happened:
A cool surprise. It’s called a geode!
After buying stones and crystals, we stopped at The Farm House Natural Cheeses, a small family run dairy farm and cheese shop in Agassiz. They don’t use any antibiotics, pesticides, or hormones. All the cheese is handmade on the property and is sold in their shop or at stores around the Vancouver area. They also sell gelato in the shop.
Yum! So cheesy!!
After perusing the store, I went to take photos of some of their cows and sheep on the property.
I’m in farm country for real!
Mooooooo
I may have lost my mind when a little lamb popped out behind I’m presuming its mother. EEEEEEK! This is a great place to go with kids if you’re headed to Harrison or beyond. Great cheese, snacks, and the cutest animals.
While it seems more of a family thing to do to go to farms, I do enjoy visiting and going straight to the source for food or seeing where my food comes from. Do you enjoy going to farms??