Ah, the Okanagan

Here we go again – back to Canada for another summer vacation! Our past few summer vacations have been some of our longest ever, ironically thanks to Covid (there was at least some quarantine required which we added onto our vacation time). This year was back to normal, however, with us spending only a few weeks in the Great White North. Time for plenty of fun though!

First stop this year was Vancouver for a few days with Jenn’s sister’s family. Cousin Ruby showed us around a sweet video game arcade for a few hours one day, and another afternoon was spent at our now-usual VR establishment! We hadn’t been to Granville Island for a few trips either, we found some time to hit the Market for some fresh fruit and some of the best donuts ever! Another highlight was Wendy’s homemade pizza in her new little pizza oven – so good! Always find the best treats in Vancouver for sure. Before we leave for the Okanagan we caught some distant fireworks, courtesy of the Honda Celebration of Light, from Wendy & Tim’s cool roof top patio. No traffic = win!

It was pretty much ‘vacation as usual’ in the Okanagan, this year’s venue was a decent house in the West Kelowna area, mid-way between the wine region near Penticton and Lake Country north of Kelowna. Jenn’s folks joined us along with Wendy’s family – no Andrew & Sarah this year as they were busy preparing for the arrival of baby #2!

Jenn’s Favorite Place

This year we didn’t schedule a ton of activities, just went with the flow – though one thing Jenn did schedule was an alpaca walk, which was hilarious. Jenn seemingly couldn’t stop giggling the whole time. Everyone, including the kids, got their own alpaca on a leash to walk around the property. They all had names and their own little personalities – some were totally chill, others a little less so. All good fun.

Other days were filled with time around the pool at the house, or little day trips for shopping or to a winery. We paid a visit to our animal friends at the Kangaroo farm, and took an ill-fated boat ride for a stormy afternoon on the lake (not the best day). We found some skate parks, the Wibit in Peachland, did a Park Run in Kelowna, and after some downhill mountain biking we spent a night up in the Feathertop neighborhood at Big White after where we have purchased a vacant lot to develop in the coming years…!

Before heading over to Alberta for a week, we were also able to hang out with the Gilberts at Cactus Club while around Kelowna and we also went up to Mara Lake to visit the Von Waltons during their vacation (good timing)! They gave us a tour of the lake in their new wakeboarding boat, with the kids in tow in / on a tube – good times!

Then it was over to Alberta to hang out with my folks and my sister’s family in Canmore. Always love the mountain scenery! The kids’ cousins Cameron & Scotty are great hikers, they took us up the Heart Creek trail to the falls and back with no problem, pretty impressive considering Scotty is not quite 5! Josh and I got a double dose of the mountain air during our round of golf with Papa and Kent at the Silvertip Golf Club while enjoying the amazing vistas anywhere you look! There were also a bunch of moose on the driving range when we first got there, it was really cool. We had a few of Nana’s favorite ‘game nights’, and before we knew it our visit was a an end – but we didn’t leave before having Nana & Papa’s famous french toast brunch!

Not a Bad View

We drove up to Stettler next to see Jenn’s folks again for a few days, as we had tickets to the Heartland Long Table Dinner, where we ate a fantastic meal at a super long table in the middle of Main Street downtown. It was pretty cool, actually (but very hot in the sun!). Over the next few days we did a little touring around the area; we met some cool people and lots of animals at the Spirit’s Respite Ranch just north of town and we went to Red Deer to zip down a ski hill on the Canyon Coaster. Grandpa Boys took Josh on a ‘quick’ little tour of his own on his motorbike, too – Josh enjoyed that little rush!

That was about it for yet another great summer vacation… time to go home! Or was it?