We had an awesome end of summer road trip up to Canada! I can't remember how or when we decided on this trip - I just know that I wanted to go international, Banff has been on our list of places to visit, and our friends, Edmund and Kathy, are from Calgary and offered up so many suggestions that we finally decided to go with them. We are so glad we did because it was lots of fun and we can't wait to go back when the kids are older to try doing other stuff that they were too little for this time around.
Our main destination for the drive was Banff, but since that's about an 11 hour trek from Seattle, we agreed to first make a stop in a lake town called Kelowna. Edmund has fond memories of going here as a kid for weekend getaways and we can see why. It's a fairly good sized city along the shore of the ginormous Lake Okanagan surrounded by vineyards, orchards and mountains. The city itself is okay, with a small downtown area but it's very culturally diverse and has a lot of public beaches and a waterfront multi-use trail. In our few days there, we did everything from watersports (Evie and I did stand-up paddleboarding for the first time, and Evie even went solo kayaking!) to mountain biking on a really cool old train path to wine tasting and orchard picking.
People recommend Kelowna and the Okanagan valley as an cheaper, Canadian alternative to Napa and we would go back in a heartbeat!
Walking along the lake-side path
Lake Okanagan has a lake monster named Ogi Poggi.
Orchard picking! We were able to pick peaches and plums.
The apples were not yet ready for picking.
Evie on the farm
Peach picking went fast - you pick 5 and your bucket is full!
The peaches passed Scott's taste test. They were so juicy!
The picking crew
Wine stop #1: Mission Hill. It was a beautiful view!
We bought a bottle and enjoyed it outside on the patio
Stop #2: Quail's Gate. This one also had a spectacular view!
and very pretty grounds.
Fancy lunch at Quail's Gate
Afterwards, we took the kids to a spray park to cool down
Popsicles!
We also biked around the downtown area. See the kids in their swimmies?
The next day, we went to the Myra Canyon Trestle "rail trail". It was awesome! 12 miles on an old rail route, over 18 trestles and through 2 tunnels.
We didn't do the whole thing, but did more than half of it.
Just one of the trestles we biked over.
Nora loved being on the back of Daddy's bike.
Coming out of the first tunnel
Her biker name was "wee ride"
On the way back we stopped by Winery #3: Vibrant Vines
All the labels are in 3D!
Hanging out while Mom and Dad did a tasting
The next day, we went to a bike skills park for the kids to get used to mountain biking. They are hooked!
And then cooled off in the afternoon at Rotary Beach, one of 30 (!) in the city.
We did stand up paddle boarding and kayaking! Evie even went on both by herself!
Goodness, it's already 2025! It's been a really long time since we posted! We had a very lazy new year. We flew back from LA on the evening of the 31st so spent the last remaining hours of 2024 cozying up on the couch and then fell asleep before it even hit midnight! On New Years day, we slept in, cleaned up the house and then did a quick hike the next day. All in all, a good start to the year! Nora's new blanket hoodie. Cold and muddy trails. We're not in LA anymore! We hiked the Primrose trail that follows Coal Creek.
With all the COVID restrictions on restaurants and Scott not liking takeout service, we've gotten pretty good at planning meals for days we are out and about. We've basically taken to tailgating... a lot! It is nice though that it means having a hot meal to warm up after a day of playing in the snow and I'm not going to lie - it is also a good excuse to eat instant noodles because it is fast and easy and warming! For overnight stays, we end up doing instant pot meals like one-pot spaghetti or chili, or easy meals like a cheese plate or sandwiches. It does save on $ so that's definitely nice but man, I can't wait to go out to restaurants again! Beef and barley soup lunch at Mt Baker. Chillin' with Chili at Crystal Mountain. Beautiful but cold picnic in Wenatchee Little girl loving her hot ramen over Blewitt Pass Jook after sledding at Crystale Springs Chicken Noodle Soup in the snow at Salmon Ridge. Pho bowls under the ferry awning at Diablo Lake.
We picked up our finished creations from the glass blowing class we took a few weeks ago and I think they came out great! Can you tell who made which one? Nora's sunset pumpkin, May's bluebird and Evie's snow pumpkin.
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