Late afternoon Day One and Day Two | Penticton, B.C. Canada | C+C Weekend Getaway

Just to let you know, the photos go from bottom to top. Sorry about that! The rest of our mini get-away to Penticton, B.C. 

(P.S. you can click on the photos to enlarge their size)

Me standing in front of the big peach aka big huge concession stand in Penticton at the beach. And this was my *ahem* hiking outfit later in Naramata!

Perspective on just how huge this thing is! You can see it for miles away!! I just think it was so cool. You can see the car off in the distance. Behind there, were the AMAZING homes that were facing the lake front. BEAUTIFUL.

Of course, we had to hit up the Starbucks. I think there were atleast three in Penticton, that we counted anyways. This one had just opened, and was within walking distance to our hotel. Everything is happier in Penticton. They even drizzle the caramel on as a happy face :D (This was Cliff's drink)

Flowers that were growing in abundance on the mountain sides. These were near the big P E N T I C T O N sign, at the bottom of the hill.

OK, you see that white stuff on the side of the mountain. That is the edge of the big N. I wanted to sit on the top of it. But I got too scared. It was steep and I was in a skirt, wearing flip flops and had my good camera. I chose no. Well actually FEAR chose no. 

This is looking down. You can see just how large the N is!! HUGE!

Looking towards the city of Penticton. 

This rock caught my attention, as did the beautiful blue sky and white clouds!

These fruit crates were all over Naramata. So beautiful in red, contrasting the brilliant blue sky. 

A sign in an orchard. We THINK an apple orchard. I am so not a fruit grower. But I love how it grows, and how it tastes. 

Backtracking a bit to Saturday afternoon. We also found the big PEACH on the beach of the City of Penticton. It is actually a peach-shaped concession stand. We thought it was really unique and cool. It certainly could not be missed. We also saw this. But I didn't take any photos. 

We then decided to get out of the city, because there was a Children's Festival going on. So we decided to go to Naramata. It was our absolute favourite part of Pentiction. I believe there are about 22 wineries there. So beautiful to see! And a beautiful drive, and up so high, able to look down on the lake. Gorgeous. A feast for the eyes and the senses that is for sure. 

Sunday  morning, day two, and also our final day I actually got up around 7 a.m. (anxious to get a move on and get back home to see my kids!) and got ready while Cliff slept in until 8:30. I had most of the bags packed up, and Cliff showered and we gathered our bags, and checked out. We decided that we would hit the drive thru at Tim Hortons for a BELT, a coffee and a two cookies. We got that, drove to the beach and ate at the beach. Our BELT's were only BE's LOL. They left of the LT part. We enjoyed it anyways. It was another gorgeous day. We finished up, looked at the beautiful waterfront homes (reminded us of the beautiful Vancouver homes) and started our journey towards Oliver, B.C. aka as Canada's Wine Country or the Golden Mile. We drove around, we headed up around through the residential, the main road. We drove up to Cliff's favourite golf course there. Cliff told me he golfed there a couple of times with his Dad. So, some nice memories for him. I am glad he has those.

We then decided, to head to Osoyoos. Desert wine country. Yes I said desert. Sage brush and everything! A very awesome hot climate. Osoyoos is our VERY favourite spot in the Okanagan. MANY childhood memories of Haynes Point Provincial campground. A very unique campground that juts out into the middle of the lake. A beautiful warm lake.  And of course a couple of family trips there in the last 11 years. So, we parked on Main Street. Looked at the real estate. Had a few dreams of just staying there. We then drove to the motel we will be staying at in August with our kids. Looks good! We cannot wait! Then, we grabbed some fast food and drove home. I took lots of photos of fruit stand signs. I just love them. And we had a couple of stops for gas, and also snacks a long the way. A quick stop in Manning Park for a rest stop, and home. 

A great weekend away. We are thankful to my Sister Amy, and Tyler and K for helping us have a belated anniversary away together. 

P.S. I have a couple more photos, but I will blog them hopefully tomorrow!

Cathy xo

Day One | Penticton, B.C. Canada | C+C Weekend Getaway

Cliff and I smelled these flowers, and they brought us back to our childhood. 

That is always a nice feeling. Fond memories.

And the LILACS. There were lilacs EVERYWHERE. Huge gigantic trees of them. Every colour. The smells were amazing. And so beautiful.

We could have stayed here, in our very own lakeside private cottage on the private beach for $200 a night. Beautiful huh! Next time maybe. This was directly across from the historic hotel. 

Cliff took this of me on the historic steps of the hotel. 

The ride, and my hubby rocking out to some tunes. Behind the car is the 1912 historic Kaleden Hotel. 

The only photo of us together. Too bad it is a blurry oh well. 

We hit the road, after dinner on Friday night. We hit the Dairy Queen in Hope, B.C. and then drove the rest of the night until we reached the Ramada hotel in Penticton. It was about 10:20 p.m. when we got there. We got our hotel room, and soaked the night away with a bottle of local wine and some chocolates. And then to bed.

We arose on Saturday after a big sleep in of 8:00 a.m. wake up call, and a continental breakfast "in bed" delivered at 8:30 a.m. but we ate it on the deck. The morning was absolutely beautiful. So hot and sunny. By 9:30 a.m. we were showered and ready to hit the sights of Penticton. We drove all around, sunroof open. Local radio station playing. It didn't take us long to drive through, as it is not a very big town. We saw the Penticton river channel where you can float down the channel in inner tubes and floaties in the hot summer sun! We though that would be fun to do when the kids get a bit older! IT is a man made channel. So we decided to drive to Kaleden. It was 15 minutes outside of Penticton. A little bedroom town, not very populated, one small elementary school. And lots of hills. We were glad we had a small car, and not the 12 passenger van! Much easier to get around. The photos above were taken here. I sat on the same steps as those girls in the pdf. Pretty neat story behind the hotel. 

We also hit up Tickleberry's, which was another 15 minute drive past Kaleden. It was darn good. I had cherry cheese cake, and mint chocolate chip. Cliff had three other different scoops. DELISH. We drove around, we found some second hand windows at a garage sale. We got two heritage windows for $15. They are for the playhouse here at home.

And then we went to the pub for a late lunch. After lunch we went to Naramata. *Beautiful there, but I still have to work on the photos. We also climbed up to see the big *PENTICTON* on the side of the Munson Mountain. Just scroll down through the images, and you will see the letters sort of Hollywood-ish sign. I have some photos, and I will post them on the next blog. I got scared. I never get scared! It was too high up for me. I will do it on the next blog* Then for dinner, we ended up at the White Spot, a Canadian classic, and really how Cliff and I met each other. (At the Richmond White Spot.) So we usually go there when we can. It brings back great memories of when we met.  I had a chicken burger, a glass of wine. Cliff had some REALLY hot Indian dish, and naan bread. Then, we went back to the hotel, and walked off our dinner, as we were VERY full. A hand in hand walk along the lake shore. And then after that, a walk to Tim Hortons for a donut each. Then the hot tub, and some Pink. And then to bed. 

I will blog about Sunday hopefully this week. Some neat stories, and photos to share.

Back to Life

You see off in the distance, on the mountain. Well that says PENTICTON. We climbed up there.Me not so prepared to hike. I wore my breezy blowy girly skirt, my bright pink flip flops and carried my work camera with me in one hand.  More on this story to come. These are a few off of the camera phone only.

The beach.Lovely.

Ah, a jacuzzi room for two. Two evenings of relaxing with either a bottle of wine or champagne. Awesome.

Driving in my Sister's car...(my Dad's old car) with the sunroof open. Sunshine all around us. Beautiful weekend.

Reconnecting with your spouse of 11 years, and six kids later. 

PRICELESS.

It was a great weekend away, and I will blog more about our two night adventure. It was awesome.