A Night on Salmon Arm

Tuesday, June 5th – Peachland to Salmon Arm, British Columbia - Day 144 

We started packing up. A poo-mergency required a quick trip to the local gas station by Gen while I worked on getting everything ready to go. We hopped on the road and went to pick up Jo-Ce in Kelowna. With Jo-Ce back in the fold, we headed for the waterfront to check out a waterfront park. Kelowna seems like a nice place to live. It’s big enough to have all the amenities and has a beautiful lake with beaches and wineries. 

 We headed for the highway north through a convoluted route but eventually we were on the highway to Vernon. Interestingly, there are two lakes that are separated by a piece of land 30 m wide. Jo-Ce was distressed we weren’t making more stops but our plan was to get to Revelstoke today so we could see Mount Revelstoke National Park in the morning. We added in a stop in Salmon Arm to appease her. 

 We arrived at the park near the pier in downtown Salmon Arm and looked out over Shuswap Lake. Jo-Ce had cousins on Shuswap Lake, a few phone calls later and we had a place to stay for the night a 15-minute drive away. We ate some dinner at the park. The kids ran around before we picked up supplies and were on our way to see the Smith family – Gen’s grandmother’s sister’s kids, Jo-Ce’s cousins. 

 We were welcomed by no less then three of the Smith’s: Tony, Corinne, and Leo. We set-up our camper on Tony’s driveway and took the short walk down to the shore of Lake Shuswap. Corinne had a place nearby, Leo and his husband David were visiting. We spent the evening hearing stories about Aunt Pauli (Gen’s grandmother) and catching up. They were incredibly welcoming to a cousin they did know and some second and third cousins they did not (and one second cousin-in-law). Regardless, they felt like family.