Okanagan Valley
From Valemont and Salmon spotting we headed down to Kamloops, with the idea that we would spend a few days in The Okanagan Valley enjoying the lakes and scenery. Kamloops is a functional sort of town, a good link if you are travelling somewhere but not a lot for the tourist.
We headed out in the morning toward Vernon, the top town of the 3 sister cities of the Okanagan Valley the others being Kelowna and Penticton. We stayed down by the beach off of Kalamalka Lake and spent the day sunbathing and swimming in the fantastic blue waters of the lake (not like the Glacier fed ones of the north) .
The Valley of Okanagan is a wine growing region and sees about 2000 hrs of sunshine a year. The side of the lake looked picturesque with lines of orchards running up into the hills and the grass was all scorched brown in the summer sun. Not the scenery we were used to in Canada but in someways a welcome relief as it looked alot like some Sth of France Valley or Spanish hillside lake.
Down in Kelowna the buildings of the city are even coloured in that Terracotta colour the Spanish and Italians love so much. The downside was that the wildfires in Washington State US, were starting to blow the smoke north through the Okanagan, So while we had a sunny day in Vernon (30+ deg) , down in Kelowna the next day with not a cloud in the sky - the smoke almost choked and it looked like Cairo on any given day with an air quality index of just 51, which I'm told would be most definately not normal. Planning on spending the day in the sun again, swimming and taking in the scenery the smoke somehow managed to usurp all 3 options, through the haze it looked spectacular though.
We headed from the Okanagan Valley across towards Vancouver Island and had a few stops on the way - mainly to sleep or eat but still they were interesting.
First was Merritt the Country Music Capital of Canada and they have the rednecks and cowboys to prove it! The town has a Country Music Starwalk that scatters around town, the idea being that local business sponsor a star and then get that star to sign and put their handprints in concrete, It was great fun walking around spotting stars like Travis Tritt, The Dixie Chicks and Keith Urban (recently married to Nicole Kidman). Every radio station was of course Country and while in town we grew fond of such lyrics as "Give me two Pina Coladas - One for each hand" and "Hold my beer, while I kiss your woman". Country Music is great... These towns are nestled near the rockies, so surrounded by high peaks and often bordering lakes or Rivers like the Fraser River.
From Merritt the town with almost no merit we headed to Hope the town with almost no... Hope is where they filmed "Rambo - First Blood" and the first capital of British Columbia, its since dwindeled in size and stature to become predominately a truck stop through to the rockies. Which is why we only ate there then continued westward to Vancouver Island.
We headed out in the morning toward Vernon, the top town of the 3 sister cities of the Okanagan Valley the others being Kelowna and Penticton. We stayed down by the beach off of Kalamalka Lake and spent the day sunbathing and swimming in the fantastic blue waters of the lake (not like the Glacier fed ones of the north) .
The Valley of Okanagan is a wine growing region and sees about 2000 hrs of sunshine a year. The side of the lake looked picturesque with lines of orchards running up into the hills and the grass was all scorched brown in the summer sun. Not the scenery we were used to in Canada but in someways a welcome relief as it looked alot like some Sth of France Valley or Spanish hillside lake.
Down in Kelowna the buildings of the city are even coloured in that Terracotta colour the Spanish and Italians love so much. The downside was that the wildfires in Washington State US, were starting to blow the smoke north through the Okanagan, So while we had a sunny day in Vernon (30+ deg) , down in Kelowna the next day with not a cloud in the sky - the smoke almost choked and it looked like Cairo on any given day with an air quality index of just 51, which I'm told would be most definately not normal. Planning on spending the day in the sun again, swimming and taking in the scenery the smoke somehow managed to usurp all 3 options, through the haze it looked spectacular though.
We headed from the Okanagan Valley across towards Vancouver Island and had a few stops on the way - mainly to sleep or eat but still they were interesting.
First was Merritt the Country Music Capital of Canada and they have the rednecks and cowboys to prove it! The town has a Country Music Starwalk that scatters around town, the idea being that local business sponsor a star and then get that star to sign and put their handprints in concrete, It was great fun walking around spotting stars like Travis Tritt, The Dixie Chicks and Keith Urban (recently married to Nicole Kidman). Every radio station was of course Country and while in town we grew fond of such lyrics as "Give me two Pina Coladas - One for each hand" and "Hold my beer, while I kiss your woman". Country Music is great... These towns are nestled near the rockies, so surrounded by high peaks and often bordering lakes or Rivers like the Fraser River.
From Merritt the town with almost no merit we headed to Hope the town with almost no... Hope is where they filmed "Rambo - First Blood" and the first capital of British Columbia, its since dwindeled in size and stature to become predominately a truck stop through to the rockies. Which is why we only ate there then continued westward to Vancouver Island.
posted by Craig & Suz at 12:30 PM
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