Okanagan photos

Kettle Valley trestles

Myra Canyon forest fire scars

Hanging out by the trestles

Close up of one of the trestles

Quails' Gate wine celler

Wine with lunch at Quails' Gate

View of Okanagan Lake at Quails' Gate

Double rainbow after the lightening storm

Okanagan Lake beach front

Okanagan getaway

A year ago in July I started a new lifelong adventure with my best friend Z. What better way for us to celebrate this first year than taking a trip to BC's wine country - the Okanagan. We spent a day in Kelowna before heading a little south to Summerland. How can you not get excited about a place called Summerland? The name itself promises so much and it did not disappoint. 

When we originally planned this trip, we had not realized that the Okanagan wine festival was going on. It's rather strange that planners like us don't always find out what festivals might be going on at the time we're travelling to a certain destination. Anyway, it was an added bonus to find out the wine festival was happening and it helped us determine some of the wineries we'd visit. 

A relatively new winery called Volcanic Hills Estate Winery happened to be having a free tasting and BBQ lunch the day we arrived in Kelowna. So off to Volcanic we went...this winery had a nice tasting room and store and we found out during our tour that a lot of their grapes are actually grown in offsite vineyards. If I remember correctly, this family run business previously owned another vineyard before starting Volcanic and is now third generation owned. 

In 2003 a forest fire devastated Kelowna and consumed over 25000 hectares of forest and park land south of the city. 239 homes were destroyed and more than 30000 people were evacuated from their homes. The fire started on August 16 by a lightening strike, spread like wildfire in the desert dry conditions and was 90% contained by middle of September. Needless to say the area was devastated and the forest still shows her scars. 

We visited Myra Canyon, an area consumed by the 2003 fire. We hiked part of a trail called Kettle Valley Trail which is along the abandoned Kettle Valley Railway bed. This corridor boasts some very incredible scenery and views. One of the casualties of the forest fire in the canyon were 12 of the wooden trail trestles. Since then great efforts were made to repair, restore and rebuild the trestles and it's worth a visit for anyone planning a trip to Kelowna. 

We also visited Quails' Gate Estate Winery while in Kelowna. Here we did a tour and tasting before having a lovely lunch on the patio at the winery's restaurant. This winery is very picturesque as it overlooks Okanagan lake. Our tour guide was most pleasant and very informative making it well worth it. Lunch was fabulous with a great wine pairing of a wine I tried at the tasting that I really liked. 

From Kelowna we drove south to Summerland and stayed at the Summerland Waterfront Resort. This little gem was great! We stayed in a studio room which came equipped with a full kitchen. The resort had a small beachfront, but was only a short walk away from a much larger park/beachfront area. The resort had good amenities including a pool and gym area, both of which we didn't end up using. The deal we booked on included a voucher for the resort cafe and so we used that for breakfast for two of the days. The breakfast was really good with fresh fruit and home baked cinnamon buns, great coffee and toast. The deal also included a wine tasting and tour at Sumac Ridge Estate Winery and so on our official anniversary we went to Sumac Ridge for tour/tasting. How fitting we chose our anniversary because Sumac Ridge sparkling wine was part of our special day. 

The weather was extremely hot and the lake was refreshing. We decided to go for a run one afternoon and as we were about half way through the sky started getting dark with some rain clouds. That evening we got to watch a lightening storm while enjoying a nice dinner overlooking the lake. 

We stopped at one last winery as our trip came to an end. This winery is much different that the others we visited. Rustico Farm & Cellars was our last stop. This ranch features not only a vineyard, but also has horses. Going on the ranch theme the wine tasting is served by the owner decked out as a cowboy. 

All in all this was a wonderful quick getaway for the both of us. It was great to finally get around to visiting BC's wine country and being able to celebrate our anniversary over several days was really special. The Okanagan is a very beautiful place and we are fortunate to be able to visit. Life is good. 

Reflections of Thailand.....finally

It sure is strange how quickly life and all its responsibilities take over after you come back from a vacation, whether that vacation is long or short. So here I am, four months after returning from Thailand, finally getting around to posting my final thoughts and reflections. And for this to even happen I had to take a weeklong stay-cation and put it on my long list of things I must complete. 

Thankfully the memories remain fresh. That's the sweet part of travelling, always having the memories to take me back to the places I've been so fortunate to visit. Our Thailand trip was a truly amazing experience. My only regret was that we couldn't stay longer. The people are absolutely amazing, so friendly and always smiling. The food was fantastic and so flavourful. I really need to get on trying to recreate some of the Thai dishes we learned to make at our cooking class in Chiang Mai. The weather was hot, but not totally unbearable. Air-conditioning is a definite must for any accommodations. The sights we got to see are unforgettable and our week long stay on Samui was one of the best weeks I've ever had. The beach outside our resort was not busy and the water was so warm. It was all so tranquil. Besides a week long beach break, which would usually be my top experience, on this trip our adventure in being elephant owners for a day takes top prize. This experience was truly a once in a lifetime opportunity. To be able to get up and interact with the elephants and know that the elephants were not being mistreated for the sake of entertaining tourists made it even that much more special. And of course being able to share all these experiences with Z!!

Life is an adventure in itself. I have been very fortunate to travel as much as I have, but I'm not done yet. There is a new adventure waiting for me somewhere. So until this globetrotter sets out again, I'll enjoy life's daily adventures until the bug bites again.