Is this really Canada?

Where is this? Dry, hot, almost desert:

Doesn't look like 'Canada', ay? Can it really be 15 minutes from this:

Yep! This is the Sun Peaks ski resort/mountain bike park which is just outside of Kamloops where the first two photos were taken.

Kamloops is a big city of 87,000 people located on the wide Thompson River in a semi-arid valley. Hang on, you say, 87000 is not very big. But - it is if it is by far the biggest city you've seen since leaving Vancouver 5 1/2 weeks ago! It actually feels like a big country town, a bit like Dubbo in NSW, except that it snows here in winter. Hard to imagine looking at the desert like surroundings and feeling the 30 plus temperature today.