What to do when you have both a travel bug and a running bug? Travel for a run of course!! We're off the Vegas for the Rock'n'Roll marathon weekend where I'll be running my first back to back race....5k Saturday evening and 10k Sunday afternoon; Z is doing the 5 and then the half. This is one of only two times a year when the Vegas Strip will be closed to traffic so that thousands of runners can run down the strip to the finish line.
Our trip started with Air Canada moving our original seats so that Z and I were not sitting together. How annoying.....we've been fortunate not to have experienced this before, thankfully it wasn't that long of a trip. Unfortunately I couldn't entice my seats mates to trade aisle for window either. The flight was an AC Rouge flight which is very crammed in the back. It's interesting that AC has moved so many of their flights to Rouge....I guess it's all about trying to save costs and cram more paying customers into a plane. Too bad customers just accept this as the norm. In flight service is provided through their app which you have to download prior to flying and the entertainment selection quite frankly sucks! No recent movies available for my viewing pleasure. Again thankfully it wasn't a long flight and it was a means to get us to our destination. Not only did we no get seated together but somewhere along the journey Z's suitcase handle got broken....we're blaming AC!!
Hello Vegas, it's been a few years!! Let's see how you've changed (if at all) since the last time I visited. Had a very pleasant taxi driver take us to our hotel, The Cosmopolitan. Turns out he'll be volunteering at the race this weekend in one of the medical tents; really hope we don't see him again!!
Our check in was easy and we managed to get ourselves a pretty stellar upgrade. At first the desk clerk indicated that hotel management was cracking down on upgrades and people were losing their jobs by giving upgrades that weren't allowed but as we went through the process. We asked for a Bellagio fountain view room which he agreed he could do but it would be two queen beds...we preferred a king bed and as we continued talking and he remembered we were here for the runs, he decided it would be better to put us in the east tower as it was closer to the strip and where the runners' exit would be. Turns out he ended up putting us in a king sized terrace suite with an awesome view of the Bellagio water fountains. Oh yeah, one of the cool things about the Cosmo is that the rooms have balconies, something you don't find at other hotels.
After settling into our room we went for lunch at Milos, one of the many restaurants at the hotel. Here we enjoyed a pre-set three course lunch....the service was fantastic, our server was ever so friendly and made some really great recommendations that we throughly enjoyed. We each started off with a tomato salad which turned out to be a very tasty take on a Greek salad, I had the chicken skewer as my main which included immensely moist chicken breast that was seasoned to perfection, Z enjoyed the sea bass....they fly their sea food in fresh in every day and they actually display it on ice in front of the kitchen area, along with other fresh ingredients....Z really enjoyed his fish, and for dessert we shared the fresh fruit plate and the walnut cake which was one of our server's recommendations. The walnut cake was heavenly......so moist and difficult to keep up my end of the bargain in sharing, but I was good and did somewhat to Z's surprise.
Z had bought a discounted ticket for the High Roller, so we made our way there after lunch. The High Roller is a relatively new attraction in Vegas and is like the London Eye, a big ferris wheel but with enclosed cabins that can hold up to 40 people. It wasn't really busy when we arrived so we only had 9 people in our cabin. The ride takes about a half hour and gives some of the best 360 views of Vegas as you ascend to the highest point of 550 ft. I wasn't entirely sold on doing this when Z first mentioned it, but very glad he bought the tickets anyways because it was a pretty cool experience. The views were stunning and we hit it just at the right time and got to experience the sun setting. Just absolutely breathtaking and hard to describe the light effect on the dessert mountains when the sun sets and you can see that from up high.
Leaving the High Roller we strolled along the Linq pedestrian street and enjoyed some ice cream despite the cool weather. This ice cream place also had cookies and cupcakes and because we are in the city that "never sleeps" they even have a 24-hour cupcake ATM just in case you have a need for a cupcake at 3am.
We capped off our first day with O....an aquatic performance by Cirque that combines Cirque's astonishing acrobatics with a giant water pool that also turns into a dry(ish) stage at various points in the performance. This show is unlike any others I've seen before.....the cast consists of acrobats, synchronize swimmers and divers, all of which end up in the water at some point and usually in a very spectacular fashion. This is definitely a show to be seen. I was amazed at every aspect of it. The only criticism I have is that at time there were so many cool and amazing things going on it was hard to know where to focus my attention. I would highly recommend this one and suggest a seat higher up in the venue so to have a better view of the show without having to constantly be looking up.
Our supply of canned peaches was running low and so to replenish we needed to make a trip up to the Okanagan. But not just any trip would do.....it would have to be at the right time when peaches were in season...but not just any type of peach would do...it had to be redhaven or glohaven peaches which are the best for canning.
So very early Saturday morning on the first Saturday of August, Z was awake like it was Christmas morning!! The alarm didn't even go off! After a quick breakfast at home we set off on our road trip. First stop....Starbucks for a venti flat white which we shared after all that would have been a lot of caffeine for just one person. The drive was pretty non eventful - traffic was pretty good - until a miscalculation of gas to km ratio required doubling back to Merritt to fill up. At least we were only 40km past Merritt at the time this miscalculation was discovered....and we found some pretty cheap gas there! Oh what fun that was!!
We reached Lake Country, our lunch stop, at around 1:30pm. Z had found a winery called Arrowleaf where we enjoyed a very fresh farm to table lunch from their limited, but very tasty food menu. I was pretty hungry by the time we arrived so I opted to do the wine tasting after eating. The setting was very picturesque with a fabulous view of Okanagan Lake in the background. The winery has a great patio and also a large picnic area in which you can enjoy your food. We opted for the patio because it was covered and provided some relief from the blazing hot sun. I had the vegan just like a BLT sandwich and salad....instead of the bacon it came with sun-dried tomato pesto sauce, dried coconut chips, lettuce and tomato. Z had the three cheese grilled cheese sandwich and salad.
I found their Riesling the best tasting wine and ended up buying a bottle whereas Z enjoyed the Solstice Reserve and bought one of those. Arrowleaf winery is just up the street from another favourite winery, Grey Monk and we just had to make a quick pit stop there to buy a few bottles of our favourites.
Another 1/2 hour drive and we were in Vernon and checking into our hotel. It was still early enough and extremely hot enough for us to head out to Okanagan Lake for the early evening. We ended up going to Ellison Provincial Park which is on the northeastern shore of Okanagan Lake. We accessed the beach through the the campground and a short hike from the parking lot. It wasn't busy at all when we arrived. The beach is more pebbly and rocky than I would like, but regardless it was a great spot to sit and enjoy the scenery. The water was very refreshing and really provided a much needed cool down from the heat. It was still like 30C at 7pm.
We were sitting minding our business when we heard some noises coming from the trees. When we looked over, we saw a deer making its way down to the beach. It headed straight to the shoreline and proceeded to drink the lake water. The deer didn't seem phased that there were people around, it didn't seem afraid and didn't get spooked as more people took notice of this visitor. It went about its business drinking water ignoring the photos being taken and when it was finished calmly walked away back into the forest.
That was the first deer encounter of three on this trip. I've got to say that I've never been this up close and personal with wild deer before in my life.
Not much else could top off that beach experience!!
Sunday was another hot day and it was off to another lake for some R&R. This time we were heading to Kalamalka Lake. But we didn't just want to go to the most popular beach where everyone else would be going. No we wanted to go somewhere a little more secluded. Z found just the spot....and it included having to hike there which bodes well for our desire to be active! Cosens Bay beach cannot be accessed by vehicle. You either have to hike in, ride a bike or horse, or have a boat. The hike was a relatively easy 4km one-way journey (mostly down hill) taking us through some beautiful forest and along the cliffs above Kalamalka Lake. The views were nothing but breathtaking and really make me reflect on how lucky we are.
The beach was practically deserted when we arrived and we got to enjoy this serenity for some time before more and more boats started to arrived. At one point the horizon of the lake looked like we were under attack with the number of boats making their way to shore. The beach here was sandy, much to my delight. The sand carried on into the water which again was extremely refreshing from the heat. There were a few logs scattered along the shoreline which made great resting/leaning spots and so we just scooped out the best one and set up for the day. Our only regret was not packing a lunch so that we could have spent the entire day here.
When it was time to go we decided we'd take a different trail back. Seeing as our way to the bay was mostly down hill, the way back was mostly up hill. For the most part the trail is decently signed, however there were a few places where we thought better signage could have avoided us doubling back and adding about 2.5 extra km's to an already very hot hike. Not complaining though because along the way we once again encountered a couple wild deer. This time they were on the same path as we were hiking so after a bit of a stare down, they went on their way down the hill and we continued on our way up.
Vernon is home to Okanagan Spirits Craft Distillery. Here we got to sample some locally crafted liqueurs and spirits, and the tasting was free to boot! How sweet is that? It's a pretty cool establishment and worth checking out. They've won quite a few awards for their products.
Our last day we decided we'd spent the day at the popular Kal Beach. It wasn't too busy when we arrived in the morning and with the day being a little more overcast than sunny it didn't really get overly crowded; at least not compared to a previous day when we drove past it and said there was no room on the beach anymore. Z really wanted to SUP and he found a rental place by the beach and ended up renting it for 4 hours....because we could share it. My last SUP experience was OK, but it was in Maui on the ocean which isn't exactly the calmest of waters. Needless to say, I tried it there but couldn't stand up. So on a calm lake one would reason that I shouldn't have too much difficulty. And that's exactly what happened. So after Z enjoyed paddling around for an hour, it was my turn to give it a try. He's so patient with me, gave me a few pointers and helped me get on the board. After that it was pretty smooth paddling. It got easier the longer I did it, but it is tiring, or I'm just a wimp. Either way, I managed to stay out for about a half hour, didn't fall and really enjoyed it. It's a really cool feeling being on top of the water like that.
Strangest chance meeting happened one morning while we were having breakfast at our hotel. We bumped into one of our friends and her son while they were also having breakfast. The funny thing about this is they live in the same neighbourhood as we do and we've never bumped into them and it took Vernon to bump into them.
The morning we were leaving we decided to go for one last walk. Z found a trail by Swan Lake and it appeared that we could almost walk there from our hotel. But turns out we were a little incorrect. So after trying to walk there, we turned back and took the car instead. The cool thing about this area is that it's a wetland and is a breeding, nesting haven for many different bird species. We had the awesome pleasure of seeing an owl perched on a pole and it stayed there for quite some time before giving us a flying demonstration before disappearing in the horizon. This is also where we had our third encounter of wild deer. We were coming around a corner and lo and behold there were three deer on the path. They gave us the stare down again and if I could operate my camera a little better I would have gotten some better pictures, but instead they turned out blurry. Talk about frustrating. After a few minutes of trying to figure out whether we were a danger or not, they went on their merry way, bounce hopping away like only deer can do.
All in all this was a great road trip. And this about sums up our Vernon adventure. Our last stop before hitting the road back home was at Davison Orchards. We picked up some amazingly sweet cantaloup, a very tasty yellow watermelon, juicy nectarines, local pure apple juice, sunrise apples which were juicy and tasty, and difficult to have to share apple cinnamon bun and a peach pie. Of course, we also got the peaches I had come to get in the first place. These were some of the sweetest peaches I've ever had and I'm looking forward to being able to enjoy them throughout the winter.
Z had bought a discounted ticket for the High Roller, so we made our way there after lunch. The High Roller is a relatively new attraction in Vegas and is like the London Eye, a big ferris wheel but with enclosed cabins that can hold up to 40 people. It wasn't really busy when we arrived so we only had 9 people in our cabin. The ride takes about a half hour and gives some of the best 360 views of Vegas as you ascend to the highest point of 550 ft. I wasn't entirely sold on doing this when Z first mentioned it, but very glad he bought the tickets anyways because it was a pretty cool experience. The views were stunning and we hit it just at the right time and got to experience the sun setting. Just absolutely breathtaking and hard to describe the light effect on the dessert mountains when the sun sets and you can see that from up high.
