23 June 2013

Canada Wine Country & Mountain Anniversary - Part Two

So we had just downed breakfast at the B&B we were staying at and it was time to hit the road once again.  From Golden it was on to Kelowna, but not before taking in some more breathtaking scenery and enjoying a stop in the awesome mountain town of Revelstoke.

Let's just say this...I loved Revelstoke.
I could spend a lot of time there.
Beautiful scenery, lots of cafes and shops, and a lovely spot for Dave and I to take a break from driving and stretch our legs a bit.  We walked the neighbourhoods and just enjoyed being outside in the fresh mountain air.  
Revelstoke, I hope to see you again soon!


We pushed on from Revelstoke into Kelowna, passing mountains and then fields along the way.  At one point, we came to this awesome road-side market where "Dave's Goats" reside.  We had to stop.  You could feed the goats by putting some feed in a tin can.  When the goats hear you filling up the tin can, they pull up the can by pushing a pedal with one of their hooves.  It was a sight to see!  The market was full of all sorts of goodies including fresh-baked pies, salsas and chutneys.  It took a lot of self control not to purchase any of the goods on display!




A little further and we found ourselves arriving at our VRBO locale and heading straight out into town to do a bit of grocery shopping and planning for our dinner that night.  As readers of the blog know, Dave and I like to rent apartments in the places we go as opposed to staying in hotels.  This way, we can cook what we want, save a bit of money along the way and enjoy spending some quality time in the kitchen together (one of our favourite things).

We made dinner, ate it up and then headed out for a walk.  Kelowna is a lovely little town that sits right on this amazing lake.  It was a little chilly (still early in the season), but we enjoyed our time out and about.


Our first day out we toured a couple of wineries and did some tasting.  We purchased a few bottles and had a lovely lunch out on the deck of the Quails Gate winery.  We feasted on a lovely lunch of a light vegetable soup and some yam fries.  It was warm and breezy out and our service was fantastic.  




That evening, we headed up a steep hill near our rental with our new camping stove and gave it a first try by boiling some water for tea.  From the top of the hill, you could look out and far down the valley.  We also read about the 2003 Okanagan Mountain Park fire that burned for many days (a read that would prep us for one of our next adventures in town).


For a special anniversary dinner, we dressed ourselves up and headed out to RauDZ Regional Table - a local restaurant that focuses on farm to table dining.  We had an amazing sample of their food and felt overly sated by the end!

For our anniversary, we always like to re-create a little bit of our special day.  As such, the next day we drove to a spot where we hoped to rent kayaks, but alas, there were none to be found.  Instead, we drove down to Penticton (site of the Ironman in Canada) and then up the other side of the lake.  We drove through little towns and passed vineyards, all the while enjoying each others company.  When at last we got to the end of the road (literally...we could not go any further), we had to figure out how to get back to town.

And so began our crazy adventure.  There are no pictures from this day as we were not expecting to be driving as much as we did (we didn't want to bring the camera on the kayaks).  We decided to take this other route over Kelowna Mountain.  The dirt path that ensued through tons of burned acreage was something out of a Tim Burton film.  Twisted and charred remains of old trees poked their way into the sky.  Swaths of land remained barren and just the faintest of life returning was visible.  It was a fascinating drive and our little old Chevy Cavalier did quite well...we certainly thanked her when we made our way back down the mountain.

Needless to say, after a long, unexpected day in the car, we were hungry and Dave wanted to take me to a place that had great pizzas so off it was to Mama Rosa's.  The pizza was delicious and we ate more than our fill!

I'll leave with thoughts of pizza and will be back with more soon!

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