DAY ONE:
The theme is Arts, Culture & Heritage. Your day begins with a close-up look at a completely restored 1914 sternwheeler. Visit colourful Front Street. Explore galleries, bookstores, & shops before lunching at your choice of one of the many Front Street restaurants. After lunch, take a scenic drive along Okanagan Lake to the quaint village of Naramata. Bike a portion of the Kettle Valley Railway and visit your choice of artists studio, or garden, or a spa treatment, before dining & staying at the Historic Naramata Inn & Spa.
9:30 a.m. SS Sicamous Marine Museum
An historical look at life in Penticton & Wine Country, and an overview of the Kettle Valley Railway.
10:00 a.m. Colourful Front Street
Explore funky shops & a variety of galleries. Get lost in our renowned second hand bookstore – a collector’s dream.
12:00 p.m. Lunch at your choice of Front Street Restaurant
Choose from the Front Street Wine Bar & Bistro, the Dream Café or Front Street Java.
1:00 p.m. Scenic drive to Naramata
1:30 p.m. Trans Canada Trail
Enjoy a downhill cycle along the abandoned railbed of the historical Kettle Valley Railway. Explore the history and relics of the railway era including the Adra Tunnel and Rock Ovens.
3:30 p.m. Choose from an artist’s studio tour, a garden tour or a spa treatment
Jewellery, pottery, cottage crafts & painting studios, a lavender farm, a garden tour or a spa treatment – your choice!
7:00 p.m. Dinner at the Cobblestone Wine Bar in the Naramata Heritage Inn & Spa
Savour the cuisine of Executive Chef Grant deMontreuil.
DAY 2:
Home to the British Columbia Wine Information Centre, Penticton & Wine Country features over 50 wineries from farm-gate to large. Tour the British Columbia Wine Information Centre, and our wide-range of wineries and orchards. Learn about the long-standing history and tradition of our agricultural industry, and the transformation of many orchards to the new economy of wine. Follow the process from vine to award winning wine. Meet our unique “wine” personalities. Learn how to pair your food and wine, and experience BC’s new wine cuisine. Savour the vistas, kick back and immerse yourself in Wine Country!
9:00 a.m. Breakfast at the Village Grounds Coffee House
Enjoy a hearty “Okanagan Valley” breakfast before you begin your day.
10:00 a.m. Elephant Island Winery
Where wines are crafted from fruits other than grapes! They have won several awards for their wines. Meet the winemakers, and listen to their story. “We have married a generations-old family tradition of crafting fine fruit wines with modern wine-making expertise and premium Okanagan fruits to produce a line of exceptional dinner and dessert wines – uniquely Okanagan wines.” Miranda & Del Halladay
12:00 p.m. Lunch & tour at Hillside Estate Winery
An award-winning winery boasting remarkable views of Okanagan Lake and warm, friendly staff. Learn about the history of one of the original wineries in the valley, check out the view from the tower, and enjoy a lovely lunch in the Barrel Room Bistro.
1:30 p.m. British Columbia Wine Information Centre with the BC Wine Institute
Enjoy the architecture of this beautiful building and sample the daily tasting, while you are surrounded by nearly 400 varieties of BC VQA Wines.
3:30 p.m. Matheson Creek Farm
Participate in an orchard tour and an afternoon sampling from this uniquely constructed fruit stand!
7:00 p.m. Dinner at Sumac Ridge Estate Winery
Enjoy an exquisitely paired dinner featuring local cuisine in a relaxed setting at the Cellar Door Bistro.
DAY 3:
Take part in an eco-adventure educational experience. Meet passionate conservationists, observe unique flora & fauna, and participate enjoy our unique wildlife and habitat. Take an interpretive walk, see birds rarely seen in other regions, and learn from naturalists, botanists & biologists. Visit well-know bird-watching sites such as Haynes Point, Vaseux Lake and Road #22, Canada’s National Desert Centre, and the Nk’mip Desert & Heritage Centre, where the history & culture of the First-Nations of the South Okanagan Valley is explored. Dine at Theo’s, voted British Columbia’s “Restaurant of the Year”!
8:00 a.m. Elite Restaurant
Family-owned since 1927 this restaurant is a local Penticton landmark. Last renovated in 1964, it is in pristine condition, complete with a circa 1960 neon sign. The food is big, homemade, and very good. This is a must-visit!
9:00 a.m. Skaha Rock Bluffs
Explore one of North America’s top 5 climbing locations on your own or with a guide from Western Canada’s largest rock climbing school. Enjoy spring wildflowers, views of snakes, Canyon Wrens and White-throated Swifts. Learn about the wildlife and human use issues at this major rock-climbing destination, and if you are so inclined, sample the climbing.
11:00 a.m. Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory
There’s more to the universe than meets the eye! Learn more about the only Radio Observatory in Canada, and discover what the invisible radio waves that come from objects in space tell us.
12:00 p.m. Boxed Lunch
Enjoy a lunch of fresh deli meats with all the fixings along with local fruits and cheeses from Il Vecchio’s Delicatessen in Penticton on the drive to Vaseux Lake. Watch for signs of Mountain Goats and possibly Bighorn Sheep.
12:30 p.m. Birding at Vaseux Lake
Enjoy a birding adventure at Vaseux Lake. Follow the boardwalk to the bird blind. Take in the scenery and the birds.
1:30 p.m. Osoyoos Desert Centre
Look at the world of insects and animals in the South Okanagan, learning about the incredible bio-diversity of our region and the rare and endangered species that live here as you enjoy a guided interpretive walk along the mile of boardwalk at the Osoyoos Desert Centre
2:30 p.m. Haynes Point
Another hot birding spot in the South Okanagan.
3:00 p.m. Nk’Mip Desert & Heritage Centre
Learn about the unique flowers, grasses, lichens & mosses of the Okanagan sagebrush grasslands, and come to understand why sagebrush grasslands are a fragile and threatened habitat in British Columbia and the Okanagan. Learn about the history and culture of our First-Nations at the Nk’mip Desert Heritage Centre, guided by First-Nations Interpreters through scenic antelopebrush grasslands, riparian creeks and desert habitats.
7:00 p.m. Dinner at Theos Restaurant
After many years and many adventures traveling the world by sea, Theo Theodosakis finally anchored in Penticton. Here in Penticton, Mary and Theo built their restaurant as if it was their home on the island of Crete. Courtyards of giant flowering plants, secluded balconies and vast skylights inviting Okanagan sunshine to spill onto stucco walls and stone, tile and wood floors. Step off Penticton’s Main Street and into a world of Greek enchantment, beauty and outstanding flavours. |
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