I have the best husband! Each summer for the past 6 years he has taken me on a surprise trip. He tells me what the weather will be like and what activities we will most likely be doing. In the past he has taken me to Jackson Hole, WY, Sun Valley, ID, Anchorage, AK, Lake Coeur d'Alene, ID, and San Antonio, TX. This year he took me to Kelowna, BC.
I always try to guess the final destination from the clues he gives me, but I'm usually wrong. My friends also try to figure it out and can't wait for my text saying where I'm headed. This year I thought it might be Victoria, BC since I've never been there. I was close! The only one I did have right was Anchorage. (The weather kind of gave that one away). I found out about the Sun Valley location because the hotel we stayed at left a message on our answering machine. (That was the last time he used our home number when making reservations). I also found out about San Antonio because a few days before we left he said, "When we get back for San Antonio...." Oops!
Before arriving at the gate I had never heard of Kelowna so I got out my iPad to see what I could learn. It's in Eastern British Columbia so its a warmer, drier climate like Eastern Washington. It sits on Lake Okanagan and has about 125 wineries near by. There's also some hiking and biking to be found! We stayed right on the lake at the Delta Grand Okanagan. Look at the little snack that was waiting for us when we arrived. Yum!
Here's the view from our room. Pretty!
I'm embarrassed to say that we didn't do any water activities. I'm not sure why, but we didn't. I love kayaking and it would have been fun to try paddle boarding, but I think we were just too worn out after our morning activities of biking and hiking. Next time!
The first day we rented bikes and biked around the waterfront and on a bike path that took us through a pretty nice residential area. On our way back we heard an ice cream truck in the park and just had to stop to get a treat!
Day two we biked the Myra Canyon/Kettle Valley Railway Trestles. This is a rails to trails project that's up in the mountains and overlooks Kelowna. Along the trail there are signs telling how it was built and showing points of interest. I would highly recommend this activity for the whole family!
This ride took us over 18 trestles and through 2 tunnels.
Peter would like to go back with the whole family and take this trail all the way into the town of Penticton. It's about a 55 mile ride but mostly downhill. I think I better get my backside use to a bike seat before I do that!
After breakfast the next day I went into an outdoorsman store. I brought with me some Keen sandals for hiking, but saw some NorthFace light hikers and decided to get them. After our first hike I told Peter that they had already paid for themselves. I would have had a hard time in my sandals.
The girl working there suggested we hike to Crawford Falls. This hike wasn't as much physically challenging as it was mentally challenging! You see, I don't like heights! At all! The trail started off going downhill into a canyon. The whole time I was thinking, this is going to be fun hiking back up! Then we came to a ladder! A LADDER! I have no problem going up a ladder because I'm not looking down, but if I ever climbed up on a roof I don't think I could ever get myself down. And that's kind of what this was like.
He made it look easy!
It took me about four tries to get down. The first time I got one foot on the ladder and thought I might freeze so I scurried back up real fast. Finally Peter came back up and talked me through it. When I got down my legs were shaking and I said, "I don't think you realize what a big deal this is for me." He said, "Well, I know you had a hard time." Sheesh!
Waterfall #1
We hiked up the canyon a little further to the second waterfall. It was fun climbing along the rocks in the creek, but then we had to rock climb up a cliff. My fear of heights clicked in but I made it. There were a couple of times Peter tried to give me his hand to help me up but I wouldn't take it. He started laughing and said "Did someone push you off a cliff when you were little? You won't let me help you". I think I was just afraid to let go so I could take his hand. Actually when I was five I did fall over a short wall into a pit of sorts. When I got out my hair was falling out by the handfuls because I was so scared. Maybe that's when my fear of heights developed.
Waterfall #2 - I think the pictures of the 2nd waterfall are really cool. I see a person in both of them. Most people see it right away, but there has been a couple of people who can't see it at all.
It's a lot easier coming up the ladder! :)
I felt that my fear was justified when the concierge at the hotel said, "Oh wow, you did Crawford Falls? There's a lot of places there that if you fall you WILL get hurt!" Thank you!
Our next hike was to the top of Mt. Knox and had gorgeous views of the lake and valley. This hike taught me that I really need to up my cardio! Yikes!
Now to the good stuff! What we ate! For breakfast on day one we asked the valet guy where we should go and he recommended the Bohemian Cafe in downtown Kelowna. I forgot to take pictures the first morning but we both ordered the same thing a couple of days later. I had a small two egg Mexican omelet and Peter had the larger 3 egg ham and cheese omelet. The service was great and the food was local and very fresh.
The second time we ate there I had the Eggs Benedict and Peter had a combo breakfast. My eggs were delicious!
Don't they look pretty!?!
The other two mornings we just ate at the hotel breakfast buffet. It was OK, but nothing special. One thing we like to do on vacation is eat a big breakfast later in the morning, skip lunch, and then have a little something (like ice cream) around 2:00. However, we did get these fresh peaches from a roadside stand one day. I'm so glad we went during peach and cherry season!
When I'm on vacation or somewhere I'm not familiar with, the first thing I do is check out Yelp.com to see where to eat. I found a restaurant called Raudz (pronounced Rods) that did not disappoint! We thought if we got there early we would beat the crowd, but there was already a 45 minute wait so we ate at the bar. It was fun watching the bartender and chatting with him a bit. It was obvious by the volume of orders that their Bloody Mary was quite popular. That's not what we had though. On their board they had a list of fresh fruits of the day that they made martinis with. Peter had strawberry and I had raspberry. I preferred the raspberry!
The flower was a nice touch.
For an appetizer we order the Handmade Parmesan Gnocchi with watercress pistou and sundried tomato tapenade. How fancy does that sound?
Peter ordered the Oat Crusted Atlantic Char with spinach and potato saute, crisp Italian bacon, vegetables and maple butter. I had one of the specials which was halibut with a bunch of yummy stuff I don't remember and can't look up since it was the special. The food was good and the presentation was great as well.
Mine
Peter's
The second night brought us to the Cactus Club Cafe which was recommended by our concierge and Yelp.com. This location, which was right on the lake, had only been opened for 2 weeks. It was Friday night and quite a happening place! All the waitress were super friendly PYT's wearing little black dresses. Of course we started with a cocktail which they had a fun selection of. I had the Flirtini and Peter ordered the Nothing but Pink. This time I liked his better.
I forgot to take a picture, but we had the Szechuan Chicken Lettuce Wraps for an appetizer and they were so good! I could have had just those and been happy. Our waitress suggested two menu items and I took her advice and had the Butternut/Mascarpone Ravioli and Prawns with truffle butter, pine nuts and crispy sage. Can you say YUM! I'm not usually a squash person so I was a little out of my comfort zone with this one, but I'm glad I took her advice. Peter had the Thai Red Curry Lingcod. The sauce was to die for!
We changed things up a bit on Saturday and went to the Memphis Blues Barbecue House. We ordered the Memphis Platter to share so we could try a little bit of everything. We could have used a couple more people to help us out. The food was good. Nothing outstanding, but good. With that being said, our waitress was a delight. Helpful, happy...
We liked the Cactus Club Cafe so much that we went back there for our last night in Kelowna. This time we both ordered the Pretty in Pink. Peter took the advice of our first waitress and ordered the Soy-Dijon Salmon (which was actually Steelhead) with whole grain barley, snap peas, shiitake mushrooms, soy butter sauce, grape tomatoes and cilantro. He said it was good, so I'm just going to have to take his word for it. I always enjoy a filet and chose to go that route. I ordered the Millionaire's Cut which is a 7 oz filet mignon, white wine sautéed jumbo prawns, buttered mashed potatoes and roasted asparagus... And then we ordered dessert! It was our last night after all. :) I had Key Lime Pie and Peter had the Peanut Butter Crunch Bar. We went to Key West Florida a couple of years ago and I'd say my pie rated right up there with the ones I had there.
Oops!
One thing I really enjoyed about Kelowna was the pianos. Along the waterfront, there are pianos just sitting here and there that anyone can sit down and play. How fun is that? Too bad neither one of us knows how to play.
So, go to Kelowna! You'll enjoy it! At least we did! You don't even have to wait until next summer. There's a ski resort called Big White that looked pretty good.
Blessings,
Julie
