Monday Sept 2nd - Driving and wineries.

Monday Sept 2nd - Wineries and driving around.

Viewpoint on Hwy 3 above Osoyoos

And again

Osoyoos from viewpoint

Today we went on a drive up above Osoyoos to the two viewpoints, then we did some winery tours.Janice's Favourite winery (as far as the wine goes) is Young and Wyse... their Cab Sauv is stellar..... Derek's favourite wine is from Desert Hills Winery.  But to be very hoenst we are both blown away by the quality and uniqueness of the wines produced throughout the Okanagan... there are so many and each have their own style and blends.  We also visited Gehringer Bros Winery and hoped to see Walter Gehringer who Janice worked with in her earlier life working for a winery in Ontario many years ago... he wasn't there, but maybe we can drop by again to see him. Our stop at Tinhorn Creek Winery was great .. they have a small area of vines with different varieties growing and at this time of year visitors can taste the grapes. A bonus of visiting this time of year.

Campsite is white row in foreground

Upper viewpoint

Tasting at Tinhorn Creek Winery

And again

Sat / Sun Aug 31 - Sept 1st - Hanging out

Labour Day Weekend Sat Aug 31- Sun Sept 1 - Hanging out and visits

This weekend is a bit of a blur... we didn't take any photos. We did some shopping, did a couple of laundry loads and basically hug out locally. Derek did manage to get in a 38km bike ride on Saturday, as Janice kept her foot up and tried to improve the ankle. He rode up through the wine country and stopped for a tasting at Desert Hills Winery and came home bursting with enthusiasm over their wines, with a determination to get Janice back there for a tasting too. It is labour day weekend and almost everything is busy. We continue to enjoy this RV resort for it's great location and the size of the individual sites. We have been eating lots if local fruits and continued tasting some wonderful samosas (or is that Samosae?) at the local fruit stands. 
On Sunday Sept 1st our good friends Dave and Mark who were driving through after visiting family in Nelson, came by the share a glass of wine and a few snacks. It was so good to see them. They left to go to their B and B in Okanagan Falls and we settled down for a relaxing evening playing Backgammon and chatting. Great weekend. Sorry no photos... gotta remember to take some. having too much fun!!!

Wed Aug 28th - Friday Aug 30th - Nk'Mip, Osoyoos and a mis-step!!

Wed  Aug 28th - Thurs Aug 29th - Nk'Mip (pronounced Inkameep)
We packed up as planned and took highway 97 into Osoyoos arriving mid-day at the Nk'Mip RV resort and settled in to site c-100. Very nice resort.. great for people of all ages. Nice beach area and the upper level where we are backs on to a vineyard and the sites are huge.. lots of room and beautiful views of the surrounding mountains. We basically set up and relaxed and went a long walk around the site and drove around the upper "resort/winery/golf course" area to check it out. 
The difficulty with not keeping up with the blog and not taking any photographs is that I forget what we did on certain days and Thursday is one of those days, so I should get to the only part that I remember...
We went for a stroll after a lovely steak dinner and as we were returning to the rig,  Janice somehow managed to go sideways on her ankle and after a few colourful words, relaized that she could not out any weight on the said ankle (without more colourful words), so Derek helped her back to the rig, trying to persuade her to go to the hospital, but we decided that she should just ice it and see how it is in the morning..... 

View from Hwy 97

Friday Aug 30th

Elephant Island Orchard Winery

NICE HOSPITAL in Penticton... Xrays revealed a chipped bone and, together with much swelling and bruising, it was decided that crutches were the order of the day. With our UK visitors arriving in a week, Janice is not happy to be hobbling on one foot..... so time for a treat. We left the hospital and headed out to visit Elephant Island Orchard Winery for a tasting (recommended by 'best people' at the wedding).... what a great place... all fruit wines... the Cherry wine is amazing and Janice fell in love with the apple based champagne with a hint of Black Currant ... Pink Elephant. We also dropped in a couple of other wineries and had some late lunch at the Red Rooster Winery Bistro... lovely. So despite the setback we continue to enjoy this absolutely fabulous area of Canada

Smiling again.. Lunch at Red Rooster Winery

Tuesday Aug 27th - Kelowna and Wineries

Tuesday Aug 27th - Kelowna and Wineries

Today was such an amazing day. One of those days when we sit back and just feel very blessed and lucky to be on this adventure of ours. We headed in to Kelowna and stopped on the way to look at Summerland and Peachland... both lovely towns. After checking out an RV resort (Holiday Park) on the North side of Kelowna... (which was nice, but a bit of an RV jungle - many permanent spots etc).. we decided that we wanted a 'winery lunch'. Heading South of Kelowna and after a brief stop at Quails Gate, 

Vines at Quails Gate

View from Quails Gate

which looks lovely but was fully booked we back tracked a short way and stopped at Volcanic Winery for lunch and were totally blown away by the fantastic food. Wild Coho Salmon on a bed of curried risotto with fruit salsa, beet and other veggies..... every bite was a taste sensation. All quaffed down with a beautiful crisp Gewurztraminer. 

Lunch at Volcanic Winery

Delicious, Dry, Crisp, Aromatic

 





We then drove around looking at properties... this area is to be taken seriously folks!!!! A stop at Mission Hill Winery confirmed all the reports of fabulous architecture and beautiful setting... a definite return is in the plan!!! 
The drive between Osoyoos and Keremeos yesterday was gorgeous, but today's drive between  Penticton and Kelowna also had us oohhing and aahhing our merry way North and again South. The drive takes you along several lakes with small mountains rising either side... very picturesque. It sure helps when the weather cooperates. A balmy 25 degrees today.
When we returned to camp we had a quick look at the deer and took a couple of photos before getting some snacks together, sat  outside and played a few games of Backgammon. Just a wonderful day. Looking forward to the next leg of our journey as we move to Inkameep RV Resort tomorrow.

THE Most Amazing Lunch

View at Mission Hill

Roses at Mission Hill

Back at Twin Lakes RV Park.. Apricot Tree

Our Site #7 At Twin Lakes

Last evening Here at Twin Lakes..

Sun/Mon August 25/26th 2013- Twin Lakes Rv Park, Penticton, BC

Sunday 25th in the morning we lingered over breakfast (fried tomatoes on toast … yumm!!) and headed over to play golf. What a beautiful course. No one in front, and no-one behind, we took our time and played a very relaxed game. Back at camp we made a Sunday roast lamb and roast potatoes, mint sauce, gravy etc etc ….. SO GOOD!!! Lovely day.We then went and watched more deer going through the RV park and eating apricots and apples off the trees in the park

Lovely course, great views

Deer Crossing... 12th Tee

Yummy Apricots

And Apples

Apricots are the favourite -- YUP!!!

Sheesh these things are high up

Monday 26th was spent driving down to Osoyoos, which is on the southern tip of the Okanagan Valley and on the northern tip of the Sonoran desert. After looking at a few RV parks, we ended up at The Inkameep Rv resort and immediately knew that this was our style of place. There is a desert cultural centre on site as well as a winery, a beach, and a golf course. The lake front sites were tempting but we chose a site with a view of the mountains and lots of open space. Booked from this Wednesday for 2 weeks. On the way back to camp we stopped and bought some fresh local fruit and a snack of homemade samosas (actually we stopped twice and did a samosa taste comparison … fun)  Many of the fruit farms are run by people originally from East India.

Back at camp Derek put on the ‘chef’s’ hat and BBQ’d up some steak, stir-fry veggies and fresh corn on the cob..... compliments to the chef!!!! A very successful day.  Janice’s back playing up a bit… kind of annoying for her.

Sun Aug 11 - Sat Aug 24th Burnaby and Vancouver

Sunday August  11^th – Saturday Aug  24^th

After a late start to the day we all did our best to rally round.  Nephew Jordie came round to take Braden and Grant to Wreck Beach for the afternoon… and Derek and Janice chilled at the camp. After the guys got back in the evening we ordered our favourite pizza and wings and enjoyed sharing it with the three lads.  It was good to know that they had a good day. They deserved it.

Monday 12th we (reluctantly) had to take Braden and Grant to the airport. We had a breakfast with them at the White Spot, before seeing them off … It was so tough saying goodbye. What a treat to have them with us for the last few days.  The one drawback of this lifestyle is missing family and friends… thankful to have Braden and Grant here and also grateful for all the friends we have been able to catch up during our time here in Vancouver. 

Bye Guys.... sob sob!!!!

Tuesday 13th was spent getting the place back in order and cleaned up, and doing some shopping for the week ahead.

Norm and Sue came over from the island to visit on the Wednesday 14^th and we had a great meal and lots of laughs before they headed back for the 7pm ferry. 

Friday 16^th Sue and Praj came over for dinner and we had another great night comparing notes on favourite wines and places to visit in the Okanagan.

On Sunday 18^th we got the Skytrain in to Yaletown to have lunch with friend Beverly and afterwards we walked with Bev and Coco along the seawall. 

Terry Fox Sculptures

Little Beached Baby Seal

Bev and Janice - Seawall Vancouver

Monday 19th was gloomy and rainy…so the laundry got done

Tuesday 20^th we decided to take the trip up Grouse Mountain. We had an amazing day. We went up on the Gondola to the main area and then took the chair lift to the top to see even more fabulous views across Vancouver and the islands. We saw the grizzly bears and then went to Altitudes for a late lunch. Felt like another vacation sitting in the sunshine on the patio looking out over Vancouver and eating Mussels,  Watermelon and beet salad  with Ahi Tuna…. Fabulous. 

Wooden carving of Grizzly bear

On Chairlift

And me!!

At the top of Grouse Mountain

We drove to Stanley park on Wednesday 21^st with the bikes on the back and rode the seawall route around the park, not a tiring as expected and certainly lots of fun…so…we did it again!. Then off to Bard on the Beach to watch Measure for Measure. A wonderful performance and a great day.

A Human totem.... No comments!!!

Janice and Derek... acting like fools

Thursday 22nd, friends from Derek’s work days  came over and we had a bit of a red wine session, great company and learning about Buddhism and picking their brains on the Okanagan. 

We spent Friday 23rd tidying up and preparing to get mobile again, more laundry and then had Mich and JP over for drinks and snacks. So off out of Vancouver tomorrow to see what the lower mainland and Okanagan is all about.

Saturday 24^{th - Leaving Vancouver}

Packing up to Leave Burnaby-Cariboo RV Park

With mixed feelings we left Vancouver, but were looking forward to new adventures. We had already booked a site at Twin Lakes RV and golf resort and were pleasantly surprised at this small but lovely RV resort, surrounded by the golf course. We were told on check in that tomorrow that the roads will be a mess with a triathlon going through the area… so decided to make the best of it and play golf.!!! We immediately set up and went to book a tee time for tomorrow.  We settled in at camp and enjoyed our traditional glass of bubbly stuff before watching a whole bunch of deer walking through the area, we soon made friends with the folk in the next 2 sites (from Yorkshire and Newfoundland) … and we laughed the evening away with them.