We decided to take a few days off after an out-of-town wedding to enjoy some late summer days in British Columbia. It had been over 18 years since I did a road trip to the interior of BC, and I was long overdue. September seemed a perfect time to go as all schools in Canada had returned to in class learning during the preceding weeks. Since it is not a very busy tourist time, I was able to make a reservation close to our travel dates. We had to wait on confirmation we could board the dog short notice before I made any reservations.
Are we up for a 8 hour drive?
Since we were already out of town, we had a shorter drive than had we left from home. However, decided to do a long drive the morning after being at a wedding might not have been the brightest idea. I’m very thankful my boyfriend loves long drives and took care of the driving that day. I had the opportunity to navigate and play photographer as we drove through the incredible Rocky Mountain scenery. Thankfully traffic wasn’t bad, and we had good weather. The only negative was the amount of smoke obscuring the views. There were wildfires in the area and at times the smoke was quite thick. We didn’t let it bother us as the scenery was still stunning. We encountered some road construction but even that was pretty good for mountain roads. We had a few comfort stops along the way and arrived to our hotel around 18:30.
Our hotel for 4 nights
We stayed at Townplace Suites, West Kelowna. It is a relatively new hotel with small kitchen suites. We were upgraded to a Lake view room. We had a king bed, desk, pull out sofa. The kitchen had a 2 burner cook top, microwave, dishwasher, and full-sized fridge. Although we didn’t use it, it was nice option had we wanted to cook a meal in the room. Cooking supplies and dishes were provided in the room. The bathroom had a large shower. Our room was very clean and well appointed for what we needed. The hotel is pet friendly but we had left the dog at home so I cannot comment to much on the amenities for animals. I did see water dishes in the lobby near the front doors. One for dogs and one for cats. Currently housekeeping services are every 2 days, but that worked fine for the two of us. I’m glad I didn’t have to spend the money on the lake view room because the view was obscured by the smoke. We did enjoy the view we had but could have been even more stunning without the smoke. There is a pool with water-slide and a hot tub. They also have a BBQ area outside that guests are free to use. Breakfast was included everyday and had your basic, omelette, sausage, oatmeal, cold cereals, slice cheese, sliced peaches, pancake station and toppings for the oatmeal. Coffee and wide selection of tea was also available. Cold water was available near the front desk and the hot water for tea was available all day. Staff were incredible friendly and welcoming. We thoroughly enjoyed our 4 nights here and would happily stay when we return in the future. There was an Irish pub within walking distance and a few other fast food type places nearby. The location was excellent for touring Kelowna wine country
So many things to see and do, so few days
We knew we wanted to go to some wineries, fruit stands and for some nice meals. Beyond that we didn’t really plan out too many of the details ahead of time. We decided to do more of a go with the flow type vacation. Pick a place on the map and see what was around there. I had a few places I knew I wanted to go to but beyond that, they were mostly our starting points for the day. We mixed in some walks along the beach, or in a park and even a waterfall and canyon walk. As someone who usually tries to plan everything, I’m really learning to embrace the more loosely organized days! It’s important to have an idea of the things you’d like to accomplish but beyond that, let those ideas be a jumping off point for your day. That being said, maybe we should have paid more attention to the opening hours of some of the places, so we didn’t waste our time driving only to find out they were done wine tastings. But we only had one negative experience on the whole trip. This was also our first vacation together and we are still speaking, so I think it’s safe to say we had a good time!
