Round The World and other travels
A frequent flyer's collection of trip diaries
This is: Canada & Hawaii 2016
The plan that went up in flames
As I lay in bed awake at 6am, evidently having failed to settle fully into the Pacific time zone, little did I realise that today would deviate from plan in at least two respects. The first of these was revealed when I eventually took the customary peek out of the curtains. Based on the forecast at bedtime, I was expecting to see another day of sunshine, tempered by occasional high cloud. Instead, I saw dense, low cloud and soaking-wet roof tiles on the neighbouring building.
I had a light breakfast in the hotel's Starbucks concession. The plan for today was to see some more of the town on foot, then make a scenic circular drive round the northern part of the Okanagan Lake, going up the Westside Road via Fintry, round the northern tip of the lake to reach Vernon, and returning via a fast run southwards on Highway 97.
I began with a stroll around Kelowna's small Cultural District, a six-block area forming an eastern extension of the waterfront area that I had enjoyed so much the previous afternoon. It had once been the centre of the Okanagan's fruit-packing industry. As I strolled around, it was good to see that the weather seemed to be brightening up considerably. I soon found myself back in the City Park and, like many other people, watched a fleet of small planes make water-bombing runs on the other side of the lake, where a sizeable wildfire was burning. It didn't actually occur to me at this stage that this would soon be affecting my plans for the rest of the day!
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| ABOVE: Kelowna Cultural District |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| RIGHT: City Park and watching the aerial firefighting |
I decided to set off on my car tour around 11am. I crossed the lake to the west shore, took the appropriate exit from the highway ... and found that the road was closed because of the fire! Hastily re-planning, I decided to head off towards Vernon, and if possible continue to Fintry; in other words, I would begin the tour in the opposite direction to the one originally envisaged. If the road re-opened during the afternoon, I would complete the circuit in this new, counter-clockwise direction. If not, I would have to retrace my route the long way back to Kelowna. It wasn't ideal, but I felt it was a whole lot better than cancelling my plans altogether.
So I set off northwards on Highway 97 and after leaving town, passed the small Ellison Lake and then the twin Wood and Kalamalka lakes, separated only by a thin strip of land at Oyama. I made a few stops and short diversions off the main road to capture some of the views. In due course, I stopped for lunch at a totally forgettable diner in the busy little town of Vernon.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Continuing north for a bit, I found the Westside Road and drove down the western shore of the Okanagan Lake towards Fintry. The weather was showery, but I got some reasonable photos of views across the lake. As the road closure was still in place, I then had a lot of backtracking to do in order to get back to base via Vernon.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
For dinner, I tried to find a reportedly excellent Italian
restaurant just along the street from the hotel, only to discover
that it was closed on Mondays. So it was back to OAK+CRU with a
slight feeling of anxiety in case I wouldn't feel the same about it
second time around. I had a pre-dinner 'Old Grandad' (a variation on
the classic Old Fashioned), then local salmon served with fettuccini
and accompanied by an
Okanagan rosé wine, followed by an interesting variation on apple pie
for dessert. I needn't
have worried: once again, this was a quite fabulous experience!
 |
 |
 |
 |