Sights around Vernon, BC

Friday, August 25, 2017

Today we are going to work in some sight seeing while getting some chores done.

 One of our backyard neighbors. Isn't she pretty!

Our first excursion was to Planet Bee Honey Farm and Meadery. They have 21 different flavors of honey available to taste. They also had several meads available to taste, all free. I tried several kinds of honey and Tic tried 2 kinds of meads. Mead (honey wine) is an alcoholic beverage created by fermenting honey with water, sometimes with various fruits, spices, grains, or hops. The alcoholic content ranges from about 8% ABV to more than 20%. The ones Tic tried were 12.5% alcoholic.

This is the winery corner of the store.

This was the beehive they have inside the store for educational purposes. The store owner was also a bee keeper. She pointed out the queen bee and a female pollen collector bee and how she communicates with the other collectors. It was all very interesting.

Next we headed out to see BX Falls. 

It was a short hike, but a whole group of people were just behind us. So you get to see some of them. It's been so dry here we were skeptical about whether there would even be a waterfall. We were pleasantly surprised. 

Next we headed to Allen Brooks Nature Center. The nature center was preparing for a "garage sale" as a funding activity. All items were donated. So we only walked around the outside of the facility.

 There is a wonderful view point at Allen Brooks. This view is of the Okanangan Lake.

 The city of Vernon is really spread out. It is amazing to see so many houses on the hillsides.

We are looking at Swan Lake now. We are camped on the south end of Swan Lake.

 Above shows both a  housing area and a farming area. Below is a closeup of the farm fields in the picture above.

There's a lot of cattle ranches around also. What beautiful settings.

After we left the nature center, we continued on down the road. We came across this pond with beautiful reflections.

We found an area called Predator Ridge which is a golf course community. It was beautiful! 

This log cabin was our near the golf course. You can see tables and umbrellas. It must be a place to get food.

This golf course is set in one of the most beautiful settings I've seen.

On our way home, we stopped at Kekuli Bay Provincial Park. Kekuli Bay is on Kalamalka Lake. Kalamalka Lake is nearly 27 miles long. Below is a look at the city across the lake from this park.

By the time we got home it was time to fix dinner.  It was such a beautiful evening, we sat outside waiting for the sun to set hoping for photo ops.

 We watched this duck doing duck yoga! Fun to watch!

There are no clouds this evening, so the sunset is not very dramatic. Still a wonderful way to end a beautiful day!