Our Second Day – July 21, 2009
Awaking in Canoe (just before Salmon Arm) I laughed about the previous days adventures. Mike made history and drove in the last spike at Craigallachie! Then we met Ricky the raccoon down on the docks… a pet of one of the Canoe locals …
Oh and just so you know… I have decided that blogging every day is not going to happen – finding a coffee shop, library or hot spot isn’t at the top of my list of things to do… so instead I will upload my blogs every couple of days…
OK so Kelowna… that was our next stop and we found some nice summer weather there. There have been fires in the Kelowna area and we found out that the day we wanted to go was the day the highway was open…. Lucky us. We
could see some haze in the sky and definitely one small fire burning (no flames) and the helicopter dumping buckets on the smoke. I guess the night before we got there, people could see the flames in the hills. Supposedly 15,000 people were evacuated from their homes but only three homes were lost. Anyways on to the humour… and the fun…
Mike’s magnetism to the water meant our first stop was the beach – so we took a dip in the lake at the city park before hitting up this Bread Company for lunch – which was REALLY good. We walked around looking for retail, but didn’t see anything and wanted to head over to his friends Eric, Jack and Adam’s house. Once there, Jack chucked us in his truck and took us down to the water to go boating on his friend Rob’s boat. It was awesome to be out on the water and we got to try wake skating. It was easier than I thought too and tons of fun. Next we met up with my friends Teresa and Katie for some drinks at the Eldorado – the best patio in Kelowna. It sure was and these Gewertzerminer Slush drinks that we had heard of did not disappoint (well the girls) – the boys and Teresa drank beer!!! Mikes friend Bryan was also there with us – they hadn’t seen each other in close to two decades!!! As Mike and I are searching for a place we might like to live I did a good job of interviewing the girls about Kelowna – Katie was good at convincing me Kelowna might be the place with all the snowboarding and mountain biking in the area… and of course the hot summer nights – YAY I actually got to sit outside in my shorts at night. I miss that!
Our Third Day – July 22, 2009
We camped in the backyard of a friend’s place – which was nice as with the privacy we left the fly off the tent and could see the stars. Early to rise, we had breakfast with a friend of Mike’s family at the Bohemian – YUM – what an awesome tasty breakie. I highly recommend it…. Then we had to work – time to find retail and take pictures. We dropped our calendar off at a couple stores, and then stopped in at CBC 88.9 just to give them a calendar. To our surprise they asked us to stay for an interview. (See facebook group for the picture). Marion did an interview with Mike and if anyone hears it please let me know. Marion hosts Daybreak on CBC Radio One. We met some great people at the station – it was funny because when we stopped in they had noticed our vehicle and seen us at the Bohemian for breakie…. Anyways it was time for our Kelowna famed photo – it was a toss up between the white sail statue and the Ogopogo – but I like the Ogopogo better. I did an exchange trip to Kelowna for Canada 125 back in high school and I still remembered the Ogopogo. Trying to be subtle mid morning during heavy traffic Mike again had to hold his sarong to his front as to not offend anyone (he forgot his glove… we need to get one of those) – we snapped a quick pic then B-lined it across the bridge to wine country!
I have never toured the wineries of the Okanogan and I wish we had more time to do so. We stopped at Quail’s Gate and had some good tastes. The Gewertrzerminer (however you spell that) and Botritis (sp??) sucked me in. Particularly since they are served in Bernard Callebau chocolate cups. We went for nice walk through the winery and eyed up the patio for lunch. However a friend told me I should go to Mission Hill for their patio – so we did (but I am tempted to say I preferred the QG one). Mission Hill winery was ultra fancy and super pretty. We sat on the terrace overlooking the water tasting cheeses and dips and sipping wine – A tough day at the office!!!
Next stop – Penticton. We tried a new angle and hit up the visitor centre first. They took 10 calendars and I have a feeling will need more soon – so in Penticton we are selling at the visitor’s centre. We decided to stop by the radio station The Giant to give them a calendar too then it was tourist time. I had always heard of the float down the canal in Penticton and always wanted to try it. So we rented the gear and bus ride with Coyotes and Jumped In. The water was great, the sun shinning and we had a nice mellow float. I am tempted to say I personally prefer the float down the river in Calgary – however I can see the appeal of not requiring a life jacket and much warmer water. One would have to try both themselves!
Next me, Mike and Mike’s cutout went for dinner along the main street in Penticton. We ate at Salty’s Beach House. The view of the lake, the people watching, the food, the stares at Mike’s second half…it was all-good. What was better was the next item on the agenda was our Penticton picture – we were told to try either the Peach or the sundial… so we walked along the waterfront towards the Peach. WOW it was busy and not as easy to take a shot there, but we did it none the less (again see facebook, I love this one – the lightening, the multiple cheeks and cracks – if only we had the glove….).
We headed further south to find a campground for the night and go for a sunset swim. The water/air was super warm and we had a great summer night.
Day Four – July 23, 2009
With the amount of things we have done, contacts made and calendars we have given away it seems like we have been gone for weeks. I can’t believe its only Thursday.
Mike and I have decided that we need to start a Travel Guide called Get Your Ass Out There. We want to get one of those Coleman Evolution Series Adventure Camping Trailers – if you haven’t seen it, look at it, it is awesome. A heavy duty off road folding camping trailer. I could get it in yellow and it would match my LandRover Discovery Perfectly. Load it all up with Get Your Ass Out There paraphernalia and we would be hard to miss. Then we could stay at least 2 weeks in every location (we have decided a couple hours isn’t nearly enough with all the cool things we want to do in all the towns we have visited – towns we didn’t even know had cool things, so I am sure most people don’t know) and write a travel guide on things to do (adventures, places to eat, activities etc.). There would be no accommodations, no advertisements just a fun things to do with ass pictures!!! Maybe we could get Coleman to sponsor us!!! Hmmmmm
OK so we are on the hunt for fruit – the Ranier cherries to be precise. The red cherries rock, don’t get me wrong, but the white ranier ones are even better. They can only be harvested for something like one and a half weeks…. And people are running out!
So today we visited Okanogan Falls. We discovered there are no falls, but it is a beautiful town just south of Penticton. We didn’t have much time as we want to get to Chilliwack to see my dad but we did come across See Ya Later Ranch Winery and had a nice 9am sample and bought their amazing desert wine. Then Mike went for a swim on the nicest beachfront we have seen so far. Our reason for going to OK Falls though was to visit Blaster Church Winery. We had heard that they are famous in that patrons take Blasted Church wine travelling with them and take photos which they send to Blasted Church to post on their website. The church, which is now in the town of OK Falls, had to be moved and in order to do so they used dynamite to loosen the nails… Loosing only a steeple it worked! At first the church wasn’t too keen on the winery using the name Blasted Church and having wines like Mixed Blessings (a wine depicting 2 males and 2 females of different races and no one can tell which of the 4 people are getting married). Check out the website to read more about it and order some of your own wine. Check out our facebook page for a little bare assed Mikey at the Blasted Church.
Our next stop was in Princeton for lunch. I had no idea there was so much to do in Princeton and sort of sad we were just driving through. They have this music festival coming up with Celtic, Fiddle, Accordian, Sea Man, music. It looks wicked! We had lunch at a little mom and pop shop just as the hail and thunderstorm came. Its great to get moisture in the area but I hope the lightening stays away!
OK I’m done for now as its Mike’s turn….
OK wait... I am not - cause I am in Chilliwack now and we went blueberry picking this afternoon. 26 pounds of blueberries for $20... at the Columbia Valley (Constantin and V Winnery). That is cheap. I have eaten too many blueberries... if that is possible...
No comments:
Post a Comment