August 12 – August 20: Biking, Hiking & Wine…and Smoke

We found that wine tasting was still perfectly lovely despite the heavy smoke, although there is concern that the smoke will affect the grape’s taste after harvest. These are photos of our two favorite wineries:

• The first one, 50th Parallel, we loved their Chardonnay, which was sold out other than the restaurant AND we loved their architecture. We asked about the architecture while we were having dinner there (for the second time) and the architect happened to be sitting at the bar having dinner himself. So we got to talk to him about the Fibonacci Series affect the building has and note the amazing cantilevered roof over the tasting room.
• The second winery was Mission Hills, which we liked their wine, but LOVED their architecture as well, which was done by a Seattle “starchitect”, Eric Kundig, who Grace told us about.

These are a few scenes from our hikes/walks in the Okanagan Valley. Usually you can see full and lush hills full of vineyards and orchards. Note the lower edge of the sun in the first photo–you can see the tree tops silhouetted as the sun set.

View from our campsite

View of downtown Kelowna

Wood Lake

Okanagan Lake log storage

Falls near Okanagan Lake

Boardwalk to top of falls

We biked Myra Canyon on the Kettle Valley Rails to Trail route. One way included crossing 18 trestles and cruising through two tunnels. We also road around Wood Lake and down the west side of Kalamalka lake.

Revelstoke National Park–so much that we couldn’t see due to smoke, but still beautiful in what we did see.