Kelowna is a middle sized town (population of 180k) a 4 hour drive East of Vancouver. It is located in the Okanage Valley next to the big Okanagen Lake. The hot weather in the valley makes the area a good spot to grow grapes for wine and the lake offers great views and opportuneties for some water fun. All great arguments to visit the place in the summer.
We decided to load our bikes and camping gear to head out for a long weekend to explore the region.
First stop on our roadtrip was the Abbotsford Tulip Festival. A huge field of tulips in all clours to walk through.
After spending some time here we started heading further East over the mountains to our destination. We didn't have anything booked for the night, so we just went to the first camping ground we found when we arrived in Kelowna late afternoon. What we found was a small place that was full of orchard trees and a few RVs. Wasn't the nicest place, but it would do just fine for us. There was no one overseeing the place so we just went to the location we liked best and started unpacking.
I remember that I brought the tent from my roommate for the weekend because I thought it would be easier to set up and save us some time. While that was true I didn't account for the weather that we had that night. It became stormy and was raining nonstop shortly after dark. The tent was flapping loudly around us and it was almost being blown apart, so I had to run out in the middle of the night to fix some lines. Needless to say: we didn't get much sleep.
After a short breakfast we started heading to Knox Mountain for our first stop. It's very close at the north end of the town and offers great views over it as well as a good opportunity to test out our bikes.
Over the next days we explored more of the city, biked around in different parts of the vally and stayed at a much nicer camping ground next to the lake in the Beer Creek Provincial Park.
Our time in Kelowna was coming to an end, so we started to get on our way back. This time we dind't go the shorter nothern route and instead took the way south. On it we visited a winery for a little wine-tasing and Penticton (where we stayed for another night).
The drive back is wonderfully senic and I would recommend driving there at least once if you have the option.
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