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Published: September 13th 2013
September 10, 2013 - Kelowna
I feel like we're flying through our time here in Canada, which is worrying. I’m not sure any of us will be ready to go home. We’re getting very used to the routine of enjoying different places on a weekly or more frequent basis. We’ve been especially lucky this week with the weather being as good as it is combined with the fact that it’s so quiet here. It will be difficult to leave and I’m just glad we booked the 5 nights here. Apart from the flying insects that is. Those we will be glad to leave behind! (It's always handy when you have one little annoying thing that makes leaving a tiny bit easier!).
Today we explored Kelowna, a pleasant little town on the edge of the Okanagan with a very cool floating (pontoon) bridge connecting our side of the lake to Kelowna.
We satisfied our hunger for more sushi (not as easy to find in the Rockies) followed by a visit to the Kasugai Japanese garden (seemed fitting after our lunch). The garden is a tiny oasis within the downtown area with a pond full of colourful Koi
carp and a couple of terrapins to grab the boys’ interest. It’s funny how fish seem to fascinate them. Be it the leaping salmon in the rivers, sea and at the hatchery or the tiny fish in the lakes. (But it certainly helps when trying to sell your idea about visiting a ornamental garden to two young boys).
We then moved onto Myra Canyon, a restored section of the Kettle Valley Railway Trail, originally built in 1916. The views down into the valley and out to Kelowna are very impressive, especially on a lovely blue sky day.
We walked over the first few trestles (bridges built into the side of the mountain) and through the first tunnel, about 2.5 kms and then back again. The area around Kelowna suffered from bad forest fires in 2003 destroying 12 out of the 18 trestles in this canyon (as well as a great deal more - including 200 houses - in the surrounding area). These have since been repaired and make quite a remarkable stretch for walking or cycling for about 12 km.
A nice day finished off with another dip in the lovely warm pool on our return.
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Kasugai Japanese Garden 
