Exploring Okanagan valley

9^thSeptember 2019

Finally the jet lag is starting wear off, and we awake to an overcast but fine morning, after a better nights sleep. We slept in a little, but were finished breakfast by 9 am and ready for todays adventure.

The prospect of doing lots of driving today are quickly discounted, so we decide to explore Lake Okanagan, and drive South to the town of Naramata, which is a popular wine growing area and where an old work colleague’s son has a winery.

In no time we are back across to the East side of the Lake leaving Kelowna behind, and heading down the eastern shore of the lake. The scenery is quite stunning and we have not gone very far before we begin to see wineries and fruit orchards along the roadside every few kilometres. The Okanagan Valley is a very fertile valley with a relatively warm climate and produces lots of stone fruits, berries, apples, pears etc not to mention a lot of wine.

Along the way we travel through Peachtown and Summerland, nice little towns with extensive agriculture and “beaches” on the lake, supported by RV parks and picnic areas that appear well supported. Roadside fruit stalls are plentiful as are cellar doors.

At the Southern end of the Lake we arrive at Penticton, and major town that supports the smaller villages in the farming areas. We spent a little time in Penticton, doing a bit of shopping for essentials, and purchasing a sandwich for lunch, before continuing on.

Naramata is only about 12 km from Penticton (heading North up the Western side of the lake. There are around 40 wineries along this short stretch of road and a number of fruit orchards. Grapes are grown almost right down to the lakeside, and up the hillsides with the road passing between them. Naramata is essentially the end of the road, with only an unsealed logging road continuing further North.

Our main objective in Naramata is to visit Daydreamer Wines, owned and operated by Marcus Ansems. Marcus’s father Roeland, is an old CSR work colleague from many years ago. It was only by chance that Roeland was visiting recently and discovered a wine his son had made, won  the Best Red wine in Canada at their National Wine Show. He had sent an email out to everyone he knew, obviously very proud of his son’s achievement and it was just fortunate that we were only weeks away from visiting the region so put it on our list. 

Unfortunately Marcus was not there when we visited, but a very competent young man at his cellar door looked after us and promised to let Marcus know we had visited. The wines were very good, and we bought two bottles to enjoy on our travels.

Not an extravagant cellar door, but great wines

Wines we purchased to enjoy on our way

The drive back to Kelowna was essentially backtracking along the same road, but this time we were driving on the lakeside, so stopping at some of the picnic areas along the way gave us a chance to stretch our legs and take in the scenery.

One of the many roadside fruit stalls

Just before we arrived back at our motel, we had a call from some friends of Carole’s sister who live in Kelowna. We had tried to contact them this morning, but had to leave a message. Arrangements were quickly made to catch up with them later this evening.

The weather has started to look a bit ominous during our afternoon walk, having got back to the motel at around 3.30pm.

Fortunately, the rain didn't materialise.

After a bit of arranging to fit in with each other’s schedules we drove over to meet up with Lon and Marilyn (Kathy’s friend), after dinner, at their beautiful home perched up in the hills overlooking the township of Kelowna and the Lake. It was good to catch up, enjoy a few drinks and their hospitality before driving back to our motel for a good nights sleep and a new adventure tomorrow.