Okanagan Wine Tour

Helen and I took off one day while Bob played disc golf and Bill fished and relaxed. We visited three wineries and an artisinal goat cheese manufacturer. The top two photos are Mission Hill Family Estate. We took a tour here. The owner made his money from inventing Mike's Hard Cider and invested $35M in building this winery. Interestingly, in Kelowna the wineries are in the midst of subdivisions (or vice versa). The cellar is dug into the volcanic rock and kept at a constant 80% humidity by misters spraying the walls. There is also a bell tower open to the sky with the above circular drain for the water that comes in. After that tour we headed to Quail's Gate because they had a Marachel Foche made from 40 year old vines. We tasted that and had lunch in their restaurant over-looking the lake. It was called Old Vines and was delicious. Later I noticed that the cover of the Kelowna tourist guide had that restaurant and our waitress on it. I had a panini with chicken and goat cheese and pesto made with pine nuts. We then continued across the lake to the east side in search of more wine and goat cheese.

Camilla's Artisinal Goat cheese south of Kelowna is amazing. It sits in the midst of an area that was burned about 5 years ago. When we got there the goats were clambering on the rocks and the logs. They make about 20 different kinds of goat cheese. We tasted them all - from soft chevre types with various flavorings to soft brie-like flavored cheeses to hard cheeses soaked in pinot noir, goatganzola and a goat gruyere. They were all delicious. The proprietors are from Israel and came five years ago, though the place has existed for many more years. They spent ten years travelling around Europe learning to make cheese. They also make goat milk gelato, but we were too full to try it.

This is the view from the goat cheese place towards Kelowna. We finally visited Summerfield Pyramid winery, the largest organic winery in North America. It has delicious wines (compared with other organic wines I've tasted). They are cellared in a white pyramid and there is some new-age sort of beliefs related to the energy of the pyramid. They are known for their sparking wines and their ice wines.

Fortified with various selections of wines, we ended our day back at the campsite.

Travels with Helen and Bill

Helen and Bill Schuckel live in Maple Bay on Vancouver Island. One day friends of theirs took us out on their 35' boat in its shakedown cruise of the year. That's it in the top photo at the end of Musgrave Landing. We motored from Maple Bay through the narrows to Cowichan Bay and tied up at the public wharf at Musgrave Landing. After a short walk we returned to the boat for lunch and a leisurely motor home past this island with the seals sunning themselves on the rocks.

Helen and Bill always have lots of activities planned. We took a walk out to an estuary in Cowichan Bay with Victoria and Oscar (our niece and her son). After the walk we went into Cowichan for lunch at the Rock Cod Cafe (excellent), followed by ice cream at the Udder Guy (truely outstanding). It has all sorts of natural flavors including rum raisin (where the raisins are soaked in rum), mandarin chocolate (orange ice cream with Belgian dark chocolate flakes), fresh cherry and ginger. We also went to Jena Gogo's birthday brunch in Victoria where all Helen and Bill's children were present for a quick visit. Bob played disc golf in Nanaimo twice.

On Monday June 16 we got up early to catch the 7:45 a.m. ferry from Nanaimo to Tswassin. As we headed off I realized I had left my purse at Helen and Bill's and we couldn't catch their attention ahead of us. Finally we turned around, went back knowing that they hadn't locked their garage and retrieved it. We made it to the ferry on time. Snoopy is very handy as he fits on the car deck instead of the oversize truck deck. Helen and Bill were the second-to-last to get on.

We started driving east on Canada 1 through lots of construction, eventually making it to Hope for lunch (mediocre), but a delightful side trip to the Othello Quintette tunnels. There was a race to build a railroad to keep Jim Hill of Northern Pacific fame from continuing his domination of railroads in Canada. The problem was that there was a canyon. The Kettle River Railroad hired an engineer who figured he could blast four tunnels through the granite by lowering people on ladders where they set the charges and then scampered back up. The top photo shows the tunnels, all in a line. The railroad is no longer as it was heavily destroyed in floods and landslides in the 60's and it is now a trail. After walking the line, we continued on to Pinticton where the above steam boat is a museum.

It was built in 1914 and sailed until 1936. It has a huge steam boiler which powered a large paddle wheel. The boat was very grand inside (teak and mahogony). At the stern end was the men's lounge with spittoons, while in the bow the women had their lounge. In between was a beautiful dining room. The wheel is so large that in bad weather, of which there is quite a bit, two men had to hold it. The timbers sticking up through the roof are the stabilizing system for the boat.

We continued on to Bear Creek Provincial Park opposite Kelowna. Unfortunately it was quite cool and windy.