Two days in Osoyoos, BC
After spending a week at Bear Creek Provincial Park in West Kelowna following Cathy’s arrival from Whitehorse, our first day on the road with the whole family back together was a very short one, just 142 km to Osoyoos. This was Day 26 of the trip – Thursday, May 19th. I had decided to stay at the full-hookup Nk’mip Campground (that’s pronounced “Ink-a-meep”) on the eastern shore of Lake Osoyoos for 2 nights.
This was Tucker’s first day travelling in the motorhome with Cathy, and he very quickly discovered the best seat in the house. He really is happiest as a lap dog 🙂 The box on the dash contains Monty’s ashes – he loved our RV adventures.
I had a look at the campground when I was in Osoyoos in April, and when I called to reserve a site they said that they’d try to get me a lakeshore site. Site #82 was perfect for our needs, and by 2:00 we were settled. With full hookups, it cost $102.90 for the 2 nights, including taxes. Wifi through an outside service was $4.95 per day – it was quite fast the first day when the park was half empty, much slower when it filled up but still not too bad.
Lots of cactus have been used in the landscaping around the property – very nice.
We hadn’t gone to any wineries during our stay in Kelowna, and we weren’t going to let that happen again! One of the suggestions made by my Facebook friends was La Stella, and that was our first destination. Turning off the highway towards their vineyard, an immediate photo-stop was called for.
The experience at La Stella was excellent in every way – the building and location were both beautiful, the wines were all wonderful, and the sommelier was very knowledgeable.
The view to the northeast from the deck at La Stella, over part of the production facilities, and the vineyards.
The view to the southeast from the deck at La Stella.
Our next stop was at the Bordertown winery on the highway at the edge of downtown. While Cathy and I both enjoyed the reds we sampled, none the whites were particularly good.
We were back at the campground by about 4:15, and had planned to spend some quality time with one of the bottles of Pinot Grio that we bought at La Stella, but a nasty storm blew in just as we were getting settled, so we had to move inside.
I thought that the storm would blow through quickly, but instead it settled in, and with the occasional break, this was pretty much the view for the rest of the day.
There was lots of action at the campground to keep Tucker interested. He’s learned that barking isn’t acceptable in our family, but is always nattering away at people and dogs in particular, with quiet little growls and barks. After being pretty much mute her whole life because Monty was, Bella has now found her voice over the past few weeks, and it’s quite a shock to hear her.
The weather forecast on Friday morning didn’t look too promising – not at all what we’d expected from Canada’s only desert.
By 08:00, though, the view across Lake Osoyoos from the campsite was lovely.
Nk’mik Campground has a fenced dog beach, but when we walked nearly a kilometer to the north end of the property to run Bella and Tucker, we found that high water levels had covered the beach completely, right up into the heavy brush along the edge. So the next destination was the leash-free park beside the secondary school. It was an excellent facility – formerly a ball diamond – and Bella had a lot of fun. Tucker got picked on by a couple of dobermans who thought that he was a steeplechase rabbit as well as another large dog, so his experience wasn’t very positive.
From there, we drove to Haynes Point Provincial Park, which has a dog swimming beach. Neither of the kids were interested in getting wet, but it was a lovely spot to go for a long walk and watch some ducks.
Haynes Point Provincial Park is a very narrow sandspit that goes across most of the lake. When the campground at the end is full (which I expect is most of the time), RV parking is allowed along a section of the access road – probably long enough for 40-50 rigs.
We had a winery lunch date in Oliver with one of my friends from high school. On the way, we detoured off the highway to see what turned out to be Burrowing Owl winery. The road, Black Sage Road, was a superb detour high above the highway.
The number of wineries in the Oliver area is amazing – this signpost is along Black Sage Road.
There were a few cyclists along Black Sage Road, and we can certainly see why – a wandering road with spectacular scenery and a long list of wineries.
Our lunch date was at the Miradoro, located at the Tinhorn Creek winery, which must rank very high on the list of wineries with the most spectacular views in BC.
Cathy, Peg, and Bob at our table – the glass wall with the ground a loooong way below was more than Cathy could handle, so I got the best view 🙂
I chose the beef and pork meatballs.
A photo from our table as we started to leave at 2:10. It was an absolutely superb lunch in every way, and the 2+ hours passed very quickly.
That evening, I went for a long walk by myself, to get some photos of snake signs. The first was up at the north end of the campground, which is the area for boat-owner RVers, with a launch, and boat/trailer storage. Throughout Nk’mik, there are many sites with long-term tenants.
Rattle Snake Territory! Cool 🙂 It’s been many, many years since I’d seen any snake, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a rattlesnake.
A couple of minutes later – snake! I thought that it might be a baby rattler, as it was only about 20 inches long and had no rattle, but posting a couple of photo on Facebook got the response that it was a bull snake. It was a great addition to the walk anyway.
All afternoon, RVs had been lined up at the campground office to check in for the long weekend (Victoria Day), and at 5:40 they were still coming.
I had noticed some steel sculptures in a garden at the entrance to the campground, and went to have a look at them all.
This is the other snake sign I wanted a photo of, on the exit road. Cathy’s response to it was “like hell I’m slowing down!” 🙂
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