Sun, lake beaches and wineries in the Okanogan

The Okanogan, the big north-south valley behind the coastal mountains in British Columbia, is in my mind an ideal vacation spot: it has a dry warm reputation , has some huge lakes + beaches and is filled with orchards/fruit stands and wineries. Each year I watch with some jealousy the vacation pictures of Jenn 

However I've never visited the Okanogan during my exchange (one of the only black spots in southern BC, I would think). 11 years ago,  we spent 1 day driving along some wineries and the desert center, which was way too short. 4 years ago it was raining when we stopped in Osoyoos, which is quite ironic if you've booked a hotel with private beach.

We made up for all of that this time and the sun was supporting us. We arrived just in time for a fantastic beach picnic at the gorgeous Oka Beach Provincial Park....a spot where I could have simply stayed for the next couple of days.

Okanogan lake near Penticton




But we didn't stay at Oka Beach as there was so much more to do during our stay in West-Kelowna: there were other small beaches nearby the hotel to explore and conquer (incl playgrounds), we had some wine to taste and discover the other local food products (beer, cheeses, ...), visit Kelowna itself  and chill! 


Beach time: 








Visit of Volcanic Hill Estate Winery:



Lots of swimming in the hotel pool: 

Visiting Carmelis goat cheese farm, south of Kelowna:    really excellent cheeses, yumm yumm!



Strolling the waterfront at downtown Kelowna
Kabouter meets Ogopogo!



Prime real estate location downtown Kelowna at beach/waterfront


We also had a surprise reunion with Julia, my Canadian host sister who had to be at a conference for work in a hotel that turned out to be 100m from the beach where we were hanging out. Woooohaaaa, what a superb surprise (in a huge country as Canada :p) and fun unexpected evening together.

The next day we left the Okanogan via Vernon to head for the mountain peaks and glaciers :)


Kalamalka Lake

Comments

yab said…
Jammer, staat niet op ons lijstje met bestemmingen. Misschien voor een volgende Canada-reis?
Goofball said…
@yab: volgende trip zigzaggen tussen Hwy 1 en Hwy 3 langs de grote meren in de opeenvolgende noord-zuid valleien.

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