This morning, Dave and I enjoyed a walk along the beach of our campsite, Bear Creek Provincial Park - the views of Okanagan Lake and both Kelowna and West Kelowna were gorgeous! The homes that look out onto the lake - with all of the windows to maximize the view - really caught my eye. Yes, we would absolutely move to Kelowna...but the sticker shock killed that dream! Apparently, Carey Price's home is for sale there - if we had more time, maybe we could have pretended to be potential buyers and got a viewing! I wouldn't have, but it's fun to think about!
There are soooo many wineries in Kelowna, so it makes it difficult to choose which one(s) to go to. Since we didn't have a lot of time, we chose Quails' Gate - Dave had talked to one of the campsite workers last night and he recommended it. What a gorgeous winery - it is the oldest family-owned winery in Kelowna, from what I can remember (and that's not because I overindulged - it's just that we were given so much information on the wine tour). Situated on a south-facing slope above Lake Okanagan, the unique terroir of their vineyards contributes to the rich character and intense flavour of their award-winning wines. Dave and I were with one other couple for our tour so we weren't in a huge group - but the woman with us REALLY knew her wines, and I don't, so I was a bit intimidated. More than anything, I wanted to ask if they ever do that massive foot-stomping of the grapes (remember, that I Love Lucy episode?), but I was too shy to ask. I guess I needed more wine!
Below are some photographs of the beautiful locale. Their wines were lovely, but I can't say I found "the one" for me yet. My quest has not been actualized! We sampled a Pinot Noir (my favourite of today), a Merlot, a Chardonnay, and a Rosé, among others (don't think we were drinking glasses of each - they really were mere samples). We bought two bottles to bring home, as the LCBO doesn't have Quails' Gate as part of their offerings, although I think that is about to change in the next little while. I will have to ask my expert, Sheila, about that!
Our drive towards Vancouver was interesting, to say the least! Highway 97C was on the scary side at times, if you ask me. I leaned in to the left quite often as we were in the mountains and sometimes there wasn't a guard rail where I would have liked one to be! We saw a number of those runaway lanes - for trucks, I assume, that have brakes that are failing to slow them down. That tells me I was not overreacting and that these were indeed some steep inclines and declines! We read a number of signs that told us that weather in the mountains can change quickly - boy, are they right about that! One minute we were in the middle of a snowfall - with everything covered in the white stuff, and five minutes later, there wasn't a flake to be had!
We are staying at an rv campsite in Burnaby that we will call home for four nights. It's so nice to know that we won't have to be driving Roberto for a little bit - no offense, of course! My high school friend, Jenny, who lives in Surrey and I are planning to get together tomorrow. Can't wait to see her! It has been such a long time - we have a lot of catching up to do!
Can't wait to explore Vancouver tomorrow!
Thanks for reading my "winey" blog entry!
Much love! xoxo
Can you believe that only five minutes passed between shooting these two photographs?
