Hedonism in the Okanagan - Oliver to Vancouver

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Our epic trip is drawing to an end - we are now back in Vancouver after a day of living it up in the Okanagan. We spent most of the morning getting accidentally intoxicated in local wineries around Oliver, most of which give out free samples. It is amazing how quickly a few sips here and there add up. In fact, I had to confiscate the car from Quin because you know how quickly he gets drunk! The beet-red face is a dead giveaway.

Most wine we've tried in Canada has been atrocious, but we did manage to find a few nice reds in some of the local, family-run wineries we visited. Our real find, though, was ice wine. Oh sweet nectar ambrosia! This is an incredibly good, rare (and expensive) dessert wine made from special grapes picked after the first frost of the year. It looks like liquid gold and is as rich as honey.

After the effects of our winery touring had worn off sufficiently, we made our way to the city of Penticton but, not finding it particularly alluring, soon decided the time was right to head home at last. On the way, we entertained ourselves by stopping at more roadside fruit stalls, including an incredible barn between Kaleden and Keremeos. I've never seen anything like it. It is fall harvest, so the whole place was filled with hundreds of ripe, orange pumpkins in giant piles and squash vegetables of monstrous proportions. There was a zucchini almost as long as my arm.

Back on the road, we made brief stops at the Vaseaux Wildlife Centre (strangely devoid of wildlife), Manning Provincial Park (where the road was in the process of being snowed in) and the Hope Slide (a giant rockslide site where tourists tempt fate by foolishly getting out and having a gawk), before settling in for the long drive back to Vancouver.

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