Kelowna and the wine tour surprise

BC is so dry that one of the fire departments added this to their message….the little white sign says it all.

Keremeos fire hall

Keremeos fire hall insert

We headed up to Kelowna for a wine tour with Distinctly Kelowna Tours…managed to score a site at a very tightly packed campground called – Todd’s RV – in Peachland on Lake Okanagan.

Peachland Todd's RV campsite

It was a narrow site and a staff member was able to guide me in to the camp in such a way that it felt effortless. Once relaxed, we realized this was a lakefront spot…walking out the front to the lake was a treat.

Peachland campsite view

We took the bicycles off the trailer and went for a beautiful ride along the lake and into Peachland.

We had dinner with my sister-in-law’s sister and her husband at a place called the Gasthaus – great food and lots of it! We didn’t take any photos…we did think about it…but some things are just nicer without thinking about the picture and should be quietly enjoyed.

We now had to find another campground – this time near Kelowna, on a Saturday with a festival in Downtown Kelowna to boot…we found one at West Eagle campground. In overflow again in a field…we would get the full service site the next day.

West Kelowna field camping

Our company and others had told us that the Myra Trestles and Tunnels would be a cool bike ride, so we unhitched and put the bicycles in the truck…I hope that we didn’t do too much damage to the truck.

Kelowna Myra Linda and Pierre

Kelowna Myra pierre taking trestle photo

Kelowna Myra Trestles Linda arms out

Linda riding off the trestle

Lots of fun on the trail with some good spans to ride the bicycles. My commuter bicycle had some issues in the sand and the rocks but did fine.

Myra and Trans Canada Trail

When we returned to the field the solar panel had fully charged the battery and the trailer’s fan that we had set on automatic was pushing air out and keeping it moderately cool with the high temperatures in Kelowna

Kelowna Wine tour vinyard

We were ready for the wine tour and the van was there on time…very happy…a fun tour guide/driver…we had only two other people on the tour with us! Off we went. We visited Mission Hill, then Kalala after which we stopped at a fresh fruit stand. Lunch was on the agenda then more wine touring – John and Heather, the other couple had wanted to go the a winery called The Hatch – and our guide made arrangements for all of us to go.

Mission Hill barrels with linda

Kelowna wine tour the Hatch

The Quail’s Gate winery…then Heather asked if I went to a certain middle school in Toronto…we realized that John, Heather and I had gone to the same middle school and the same high school together and had many friends in common, we started recalling each other and some of the experiences we’d had…

Kelowna wine tour with the 4 of us and Bryce the tour guide

Kelowna wine tour with Heather McNair and John Huckle

so much fun to catch up! What a small world…we continued to the Little Straw winery. It was a delight to buy only one bottle from each of the wineries and figure out who picked the one bottle…otherwise we wouldn’t be able to carry all the wine, even in the trailer. It was great to meet up with John and Heather.

We returned to our trailer, found our full hook up space was open and we moved.

West Kelowna camp site

The next day was a trip to Trail…over the Kootenay Pass Summit we went.

Kootenay Pass Summit copy

The 4Runner worked very hard at this.

On the Kootenay pass roadway checking out the sights

At the end of the day we found a sign directing us to Champion Lakes Provincial Park.

Linda taking photos

Hoping for availability…we were greeted by a wonderful camp host who suggested a quiet site and there we set up.

Champion Lake Campsite

The host even lent us her canoe so that we could explore the lake.

Pierre in a canoe on Champion Lake

Champion Lake Linda in a Canoe

We found some Western Painted Turtles….they looked retired.

Champion Lake Four turtels on a log

Three turtles on a log

Champion Lakes was an unserviced campsite and we had been without full sun so we had to be careful with our electricity…and once again…no signal to be found.

Kimberley Cuckoo

Something didn’t go Cuckoo in Kimberley…so we kept moving….

2 thoughts on “Kelowna and the wine tour surprise

  1. It’s been very enjoyable tracking your progress. I’m also trying to live vicariously thru you guys and trying to imagine what it would be like to live retired like the turtles.
    Thanks for sharing your experiences with us guys!

    Joseph L

    • Thanks Joe. We are happy that you are enjoying tracking us…it’s a lot of fun discovering new things, places and people…

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