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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We had a lunch date in Sooke with a relative who lives close by and the question came up, “where to go?” In my recent experience (see Stickleback West Coast Eatery in Sooke) there can be a hit-and-miss aspect to random dining in Sooke. So, we did the smart thing and asked the front desk at the Best Western Premier Prestige Oceanfront Resort. We were directed down the road to the Edge Restaurant which apparently is run by a former chef from the Sooke Harbour House, which is a swanky B&B/Resort/5 Star Restaurant. Perhaps the most challenging part of the […]

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For this particular side trip, we were based in Sooke. Port Renfrew is a slow 72 km (45 mi.) east of Sooke. I say slow because Highway 14, also known as the West Coast Road, winds a lot and is comprised of a mixed quality of roadway. It’s best to leave at least 90 minutes for the trip so that you can add on a couple of minutes to reach the Botanical Beach Park parking lot. To make our trip more challenging, we did this in March and the road changes elevations and also a couple of degrees in temperature. […]

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It was snowing in Sooke on this mid-March day and was not conducive to vacationing, which is what my wife, I and our two children were trying to do. (This Spring Break felt more like Winter Break.) We arrived, checked in to the hotel and then had the usual eventual question: what about dinner? Our search for dining options in Sooke became a bit comic. Our first random choice of a pizza place turned out to be take-out only. The recommended grill across the street was closed for a private function. The third option taken from the 2011 local guide […]

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It wasn’t until I started working on this piece that the West Ender newspaper in Vancouver renamed itself to WE. I’m not sure where I’ve been … Regardless, WE is a free newspaper that is not mainstream and concentrates on local arts and culture. It’s the kind of paper that I try to find when I’m travelling as the content and ads are more real than mainstream papers. In the February 23-29 issue, WE published its “Best of the City 15th Annual Readers’ Choice 2012” survey results. The survey covers many subjects, not of all of which is of interest […]

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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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For many Vancouverites on a visit to Jericho Beach, there is a hidden gem of a museum sitting peacefully at the corner of a park with a view onto the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club. The Old Hastings Mill Store Museum is located at 1575 Alma Street at Point Grey Road. Many people speeding along Point Grey Road tend to veer left to head south on Alma and never know the museum is there. What makes this 1865 building a true rarity is not just its age, but also the fact it survived The Great Vancouver Fire of 1886, which destroyed […]

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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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