A Wine Tasting in the Okanagan Valley

Monday, June 4th – Merritt to Peachland, British Columbia - Day 143

We bought eggs off of Carole and Greg and had a nice breakfast before hitting the road. Our destination was Kelowna. The Okanagan Valley is known for their wine, we found a Harvest Host winery and booked a stay in Peachland. We arrived and parked our trailer on a little dirt lot beside the vineyard with a foggy view of the lake.

A gentle rain was falling as we headed back to the Hainle Vineyards Estate Winery for our free wine tasting. We sat at a second storey balcony table that would have had a magnificent view of the lake if it wasn’t for the fog. The kids were ecstatic to get some screen time as the adults enjoyed an array of Hainle’s best wines. Their 1983 ice wine was sent by the case for William and Kate’s wedding. Our server was very knowledgeable and pleasant.

Jo-Ce had been in touch with a friend in Kelowna, we drove into town to drop her off for the night. We then started driving south around the lake to Penticton. The fog had started to clear so we were able to see the lake and the surrounding mountains. The east side of the lake is largely Provincial Park and undeveloped, while the west side is cascading layers of houses up the hills.

We arrived in Penticton and decided to go for dinner. We drove around and checked out restaurants before settling at Salty’s Beach House across the street from Okanagan Lake Beach. While we waited for a table the kids got their bathing suits on, the slight chill in the air ensured they didn’t get very wet. There were some fantastic public floating play structures. The meal was quite good. We ate and then wandered back to the beach to admire the view before getting back into the car to go to the trailer.

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