We left early today, planning to stop for breakfast on the
road. It turned out we were closer to Kamloops than we thought and good
restaurants on Highway 5 are a thing of the past. Most were closed and the open
one had only two cars in the parking lot. We have found this to be a bad sign.
We decided to stop at the Costco in Kamloops for water and a few items. We also
planned on a cheap gas stop. We were surprised to find that Costco in Canada
only accepts MasterCard or debt cards with a chip. We did our shopping with
cash but the gas station only uses cards so gas was another stop. Breakfast was
a Costco hot dog. Yum Yum.
We headed south on Highway 97 to Vernon where I
listened to Karen (not always a good idea) and stopped at the Visitors Center. A
few minutes later, with a map of the local wineries in hand, we set off into
the hills on the Wine Tour route to Kelowna. We only stopped at two wineries so
it could have been a lot worse. Two hours later, with Karen in good spirits, we
completed the 50-mile drive to a beautiful campground, The Orchard Hill RV
Park, near Kelowna. With only one of the nine sites available, we were glad to
have a spot for the night. It’s a self-register campground so we grabbed the
last site and dropped our fees in the bucket. As we walked out, a forty-foot
bus with tow pulled up and the driver informed us his wife had called and
booked the site a few minutes earlier. This didn’t look like it was going to
end on a happy note. As we were discussing the situation, the owner of the park
arrived and straightened everything out. The other party had booked a site at
the orchard next door. The names are similar and being a bit older than me he
was a little confused. I know my day is coming soon. Fortunately, we all found
a peaceful spot in the orchard to spend our night. As I am writing this a small
deer walked by, maybe twenty feet away. She stopped to look our way and then
continued into the field.
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| Grey Monk Estate Winery |
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| Surrounded by fruit trees |
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| Cherries ripening at Orchard Hill RV Park |
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| Our evening guest |
