Category: Thompson-Okanagan

Davison Orchards has been a fixture in Vernon, BC for decades. It is a family run farm and market that has opened its doors and welcomed the community in and the result is a wonderful family friendly attraction. For my children it is a must whenever we are in the area. They love the Crazy Cow Kids’ Corral with its fantastic playground. Their favourite activity, however, is the rubber duck races. Pumping the old fashioned handles as fast as they can to send more water down the chutes and make their ducks go faster. It makes for shrieking and often […]

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Cameron Lake, which is about 22 km from Port Alberni and 20 km from Qualicum Beach is supposed to have a strange creature that’s silvery and serpentine, but no one is sure what it is. Such mysteries fall under the category of cryptozoology and in keeping with British Columbia’s tradition of nuttiness, there’s an actual organization called the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club (bcscc.ca) that takes a serious approach to various mysteries. Given the lake monster Ogopogo in Kelowna and Sasquatch having its naissance in Harrison Hot Springs, you could create quite an interesting travel itinerary. This local Vancouver newspaper […]

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Daniel from Chase Country Inn says that his five secrets of the Shuswap are: The long pier that extends into the Little Shuswap. The salmon run that peaks every four years in the Adams River The hiking trail directly across the street from the Chase Country Inn The Sunshore Golf Club – 9 holes, but scenic The Little Shuswap restaurant with a Red Seal Chef in charge

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If someone picked you up and dropped you off in the height of summer at the lakeshore in downtown Kelowna, you’d probably be hard pushed to identify where you were; and I’m sure that Canada would be the last place you’d guess! The fact is, with its hot and sunny climate, lakeside setting, sophisticated cafés and restaurants, mountains abound, and vineyards hugging the hillsides, Kelowna really is more European than Canadian! So how come Kelowna has ended up this way? Well, the climate is actually typical of the southern interior of BC, where you average around 2,000 sunshine hours per […]

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Wells Gray Provincial Park is the fourth largest park in the province of British Columbia, covering a vast area of wilderness that stretches for 1.3 million acres, or 5,250 square kilometres. It provides a wonderful place to get out and experience the wilderness of Beautiful BC, yet it has convenient access from the town of Clearwater and so its highlights can be enjoyed just in a day trip. Of course, if you come with your tent or travel trailer there are many places to stay in campgrounds within the park itself, and if you really want to enjoy what Wells […]

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Sun Peaks isn’t called Sun Peaks for nothing you know! Along with the surrounding region, including the city of Kamloops, this is one of the sunniest places in Canada, and like the rest of British Columbia it features beautiful mountain scenery and soft, powdery snow that provides some of the world’s best skiing conditions. Sun Peaks Resort may be best known as a ski resort, but I’m here to tell you that it’s also a fabulous place to visit in the summer too! Often ski resorts are like ghost towns over the summer months – they shut down completely, leaving […]

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Nestled between the mountains and the shores of the Okanagan Lake, the small town of Peachland has a friendly and welcoming atmosphere that goes to make this one of the Okanagan’s popular summertime destinations. Peachland is about half an hour’s drive from the city of Kelowna, and it’s in the heart of the Okanagan Valley; an area renowned for its wonderful summer weather that’s perfect for growing plenty of fruit and vines. Talking of fruit, yes, it was peaches that inspired the name of the town when one of the first settlers tasted the wonderfully tasty peaches and decided to […]

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Travelling around southern BC there’s a strong chance you’re going to go through the city of Kamloops at some point in your journey. After all, it’s a meeting point for both rivers and highways, with the South and North Thompson Rivers converging here, and Highways 1, 97 and 5 all congregating, only to split out again. For many travellers Kamloops is seen as just a stopping off point; somewhere you can rest your head for the night before setting off again in the morning. Admittedly there are many hotels in Kamloops so you’ll have plenty of places to rest your […]

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When you stay in Kamloops there are numerous hotels, motels and inns to choose from and they are mainly concentrated within three different parts of the city: downtown Kamloops, Sahali and Aberdeen, and along the Highway 1 corridor. The hotels on the highway are great for a quick getaway in the morning but not recommended if you want a more peaceful retreat. Up in the Sahali and Aberdeen areas of Kamloops are some of the city’s larger hotels and the benefit of being higher up is that many rooms come with a great valley and city view. Access to the […]

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I recently had the pleasure of taking a trip on Via Rail from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan to Vancouver, British Columbia.  Via has some amazing deals available this year, offering fares that are 70% off the regular price.  The train fare was less than it would have cost to make the trip on the Greyhound bus! After a visit with family in Saskatchewan, my daughter and I greatly enjoyed the train trip home to Vancouver.  The train we took was Via Rail’s flagship Western Transcontinental, the Canadian.  It travels from Toronto to Vancouver and Vancouver to Toronto three times each week.  The […]

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