Thursday/Friday in the Okanagan

Two posts in one day?  An abundance of reflections and photos, indeed!

It wasn't too far before dinner when we got to our hotel on the Thursday.  Once settled into our rooms at Predator Ridge, we got ready for dinner

and headed up the hill to what I have to assume is a sister resort property:  Sparkling Hill Resort and Spa. 

No, no spa for us.  Alas.  That is so often welcome.  No, we were headed there to dinner at PeakFine.

PeakFine was, well, fine.  For a resort that wasn't inexpensive (I had explored that as an option for staying), it really banks on the view more than anything.  The service was alright - pleasant but young and not polished.  The drinks were fine.  The food was fine - my zucchini starter was more of a green salad than I had thought it would be,

but the burger was delicious (and sorry to Van and the others - burgers in Canada are well done, that's that). 

I thought the decor could have been a little less generic.  But the views over Okanagan Lake were wonderful,

and we did have a good time.  We grabbed shots of the surroundings before

and after dinner

as well as a few of the hotel itself

- I know that Conrad was really into some of what he saw.  It was a nice evening, though, truly. 

Once we came back down the hill, Robert, Conrad, and I headed to The Range and sat at a corner of the bar for a nightcap.  And then, finally, it was to bed.

Our plan for Friday?  Next to nothing.  I mean it.  We're past the age where we have to do do do and go go go while on vacation.  So my morning consisted of a walk

by myself,

then another when Robert joined me. 

I snapped some shots of the resort

and of the flora

(Saskatoon berries!!)

and enjoyed a moderate little bit of exercise before and after my morning decaf lattes.

Eventually everyone was up and at 'em, and I think I may have then napped, but the day was underway.  So we had Robert and Courtney come to our room where our balcony was more spacious, and among the five of us, we spent a few enjoyable hours from about 11ish onward drinking

the wines we had picked up from Monte Creek the day before,

enjoying what sort of "charcuterie" we could cobble together from the little resort store,

plus some local white chocolate. 

By mid-afternoon, it was naptime again.  We really made the most of the cloudiest day on the trip!

Dinner was a short drive away, down the hill to Lake Country for dinner at Block One, the restaurant at 50th Parallel Estate Winery. 

It was easily the best meal of our time in the Okanagan:  good cocktails, an interesting menu, good service, a cool setting, lovely views, tasty food.  I'd happily recommend it, and it was interesting that, by coincidence, one of Robert's colleagues back in Colorado had done so!

We took vineyard photos before heading to our table. 

A black Manhattan for me, their version,

and some bread

and olives

and a tomato/plum/burrata salad for us all to start with. 

Since the restaurant recommended family style, we took it to the extreme, ordering the ribeye on the bone for the five of us to share. 

It took a little while to come out, but it was a great choice - and a good value!  We may not have needed the carrot dish on the side, but it was far from unwelcome. 

I didn't get a clear shot of dessert, alas.  The dinner was wonderful, and the drive home on a dark country road with deer making appearances was only moderately harrowing.

That brought Friday to a close.  No nightcaps for anyone, that was it.  To bed, and a last full day in the Okanagan to come. 

first weekend in August

I'll be getting to the BC trip blogging throughout the week, but I'm chiming in quickly with the weekend update for this past weekend first.  Some of the usual suspects, you will be SHOCKED to read, I am sure.  

Friday night, as you might guess, was at Maestro.  Our friends there kindly and belatedly celebrated my birthday with a shot for each of us

and then a candle with the tres leches carrot cake. 

That was lovely of them.  The mezcal negronis were delicious,

and the quesadillas and the burritas were satisfying. 

The three of us came back to the condo after that to watch another episode of the most recent Stanley Tucci in Italy season, and then Van headed home to take care of the LG.

Saturday morning I did a moderate walk without Conrad, then had him join me for a short walk together.  Which means a block or two extra before getting to Amara for breakfast.  As is the case recently, I ate lighter, just the chicken empanada for me while Conrad had his favourite, the breakfast croissant,

and then it was home with us so he could get packed.

Ah, yes, Conrad is out of town.  In NZ.  For work.  For almost two weeks.  Darn him.  It was a slog to get to and from the airport on a Saturday afternoon, but he's worth it.  I fixed myself an Industry Sour cocktail

when I got home to sip while I did some stuff online, then I grabbed some sushi to go

from Mama M and had a night to myself, digging in to the new season of Project Runway before heading to bed.

I have no Sunday photos, alas.  A walk, some oatmeal, a bunch of decaf, some writing done, a chicken slow roasted in the oven, then over to Van's for the rest of the day.  It was a nice Sunday, though.  I felt accomplished, I felt relaxed.  That's a nice balance I feel I so seldom achieve.

Alright, on to the BC blogging....  

getting there

We're into August, and so the title of this entry has a double meaning.  It's documenting the getting there on our recent vacation, but it's also a reflection of my Christmas-mania and how much I yearn for the holiday season (and to escape the heat of summer).  I'm playing Christmas-adjacent music this morning while I write this blog and cards and such to friends.  Sorry, not sorry.  It puts me in a nice mood.

Anyway, the getting there, vacationwise.  Let's tackle that.  I'll break up the vacation into a few entries, as is my usual wont.  Shall we get going?

Going back a week and a half, then, we found ourselves not at Burbank Airport, our now-preferred starting point, but at LAX. 

Ah well.  A direct flight to Vancouver is a good thing.  We had lounge time,

then boarded,

and it was a smooth flight north.  A window seat for me for a change, and so I caught the view from time to time and enjoyed picking out familiar landmarks and locales from above. 

It was a quick transit through customs, a long wait for our bags, and then upstairs in the airport to the Fairmont Hotel there.  Our room

had a nice view over the airport itself,

and the next day I spent a little time just peacefully watching planes landing.

The trip was a birthday trip for two of us.  A mini-milestone for me during the trip, and celebrating a larger milestone for Courtney to come later this month.  She and Robert were due to land later that evening, so Conrad, Van, and I hopped onto the Canada Line and headed into downtown Vancouver

to meet Marie at the Club for dinner. 

What a gorgeous evening for sitting out on the patio. 

So good.  Cocktails and a nice meal (a poke bowl for me),

and catching up. 

We would see Marie again a few days later, and the day after that, but it was nice to have her just to ourselves. 

I'll see a lot of her this year, happily.

Back at the hotel, Conrad and I let Van go to bed early and headed to the hotel bar to meet up with Courtney and Robert and enjoy a nightcap.  That nightcap turned out to be a BC red,

from a winery I did not know, but I've enjoyed the Similkameen reds in the past, so we took a chance.  And enjoyed it!  It would have been better with some food, I admit, but it was otherwise good.

Thursday morning we checked out, picked up the rental car (the convenience of staying at a hotel built into the airport!), and the five of us were on the road.  I have seen the route before, and I am a little bendier than Conrad, so he did the driving into the Okanagan, and I was crammed into the very back. 

That's ok - uninterrupted napping!  We stopped for lunch in Hope (no photos, sorry) and then kept on to Kamloops, passing through that city an continuing along the river to Monte Creek Winery.

I didn't want to make this whole trip about wine tasting, I swear, though that is a very easy thing to do in the Okanagan.  I couldn't resist us stopping here, though.  First off, the modern building

in the Thompson Valley setting is quite something, especially with blue summer skies. 

Second, it broke the trip into thirds, which was nice - two hours for each segment, which was manageable for all.  So we stopped, and Courtney, Robert, and I sipped some wines,

buying a few bottles among us.

And then back on the road, taking the old route from Kamloops to Vernon, skirting through the western side of that town, then up into the hills south of the city and between the lakes to our hotel:  Predator Ridge.  A golf resort, curiously enough, and I'll comment on that in a future post.  But we were here, our destination for three nights.  With great thanks to our lovely driver, Conrad.  We settled in,

and started on the Okanagan part of our vacation....