Directions To Penticton

First issue, tunes. 104.9 - Alternative, 101.1 Classic Rock, 99.3 New Rock, 105.7 Classical and/or Jazz, 1130AM - All News. I only know one Seattle station, 107.7 The End. This is alternative. Now you have music you can start driving. When leaving the Vancouver airport there are a million routes to take and even more opinions about which is better. I have shown two choices for their simplicity and efficiency. The urban route will show you a bit of Vancouver itself and probably take a little longer. If it is between 3-6 pm during the week, I would not go urban. The rural route will be slow as well but not as bad. The rural route has way fewer stop lights as much of it travels through farmland. If you are driving in the dark, the urban route will be just as fast and a little easier to sort out. Have fun and see you there.

Follow signs to Vancouver, then City Center via Granville Street. The first major intersection is 70th Ave. and you are going to 12th Ave.. It will be 10-15 minutes. Right on West 12th Ave., This is it for about 15-20 minutes. The road does a few curves but just carry on. Once you get to Rupert Street - there is a PetCetera on the corner- you need to make your way into the middle of the 3 eastbound lanes. The next light is Boundary and just past this you veer right, onto the freeway. The sign says #1 East - Hope. It will take about 1.5 hours to get to Hope so enjoy the drive. You can skip down to the section titled Hope to Penticton.

Follow signs to Richmond - Seattle via Hwy 99. Right now there is a right turn and a left turn shortly after leaving the airport. The signs are very clear. There is a lot of roadwork in this area. I don't think it will be finished before August but will keep my eye on it. You go over a small bridge and look for signs saying Seattle - Victoria. Hwy 99 South. Once on the highway it will take about 20 minutes to get to your next turn. Take exit 20 which is for North Delta - Surrey - Hope. You want to be on Hwy 10 East just on the other side of the overpass. Hwy 10 is only sort of a highway. It is 58 Ave then turns into 56 Ave, then Langley Bypass then Glover Road. This all happens automatically. Look for signs saying Surrey. There are also distance signs along the way that show Hope. Drive through Surrey into Langley always staying on Hwy 10 East. After about 30 minutes you should be seeing signs saying - Highway 1 or Hope. Once you get to Hwy 1 go east to Hope then skip down to the section below labeled Hope- Penticton.

I don't know the highway number but when you leave Seatac Airport look for signs saying I-5 North and Seattle. The airport is actually south of the city. Once you get on I-5 you are good for a while. You will pass through Seattle then Everett then Mount Vernon and then Bellingham Take exit 256 off I-5 onto Guide Meriden. This is at the Bellis Fair Mall. You should be about 2 hours into your drive depending on Seattle traffic. Drive Northeast until you get to the Canada-US border at Aldergrove- 30 minutes. There is usually very little traffic at this border. You also get to skip all of the Vancouver traffic, which can be pretty slow at times. Once in Canada you will be on Hwy 13 which is also know as 264th. Go North until you get to Highway 1 and then East on Highway 1 towards Hope.

This part of the trip is really easy. As you approach Hope you are given three choices. Do not stay on Highway 1. This is the only wrong choice. My personal favorite is the Hope - Princeton route, Highway 3. I think they also call this Crowsnest. It is a very nice drive, not many Mounties and not a lot of traffic. The bonus is you get to drive the last third of the bike course including the climb to Yellow Lake, which I think should be called the climb to Twin Lakes. The toll highway is called the Coquihalla, Highway 5. It is about 20 minutes quicker but very busy , not as much fun, lots of Mounties, costs 10 bucks and you don't get to drive on the bike course. Since no one will go that way I won't spend any more time on it. The drive from Hope to Penticton is great. It is about a 3 hour drive. You go through the Hope Slide area into Manning Park, expensive food if you stop, and into Princeton. Make sure you have gas because stations are few and far between. Just before Keremeos is a passing lane and then it goes back to a single lane with a speed reduction to 60kmh. You can take the next left, the sign says Keremeos By-Pass, or continue into town. I have never gone into town but I would guess that there is a sign saying Penticton - left turn. If you take the Bypass then just follow that road over to meet up with Highway 3, actually the Keremeos to Penticton part is Highway 3A. You are now on the bike course. After about 30 minutes you turn left back to Highway 3. The sign shows a left turn to Penticton and 5 minutes later you are there.

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