Osoyoos at last!

Sept 9,2009
Here we are in Osoyoos. Nancy and I left Everett about 9:30 this morning, after somewhat amazingly fitting all of our stuff into my car: 2 bikes, a kayak, a bike trailer, camping gear and a week’s worth of supplies for two people. We drove over on the north cascades highway, not the fastest but certainly the most scenic route. Stopped for lunch in Winthrop and made it to the border by about 5, where the guard asked us the usual (where ya from? Where ya going? Why? For how long?), told us with a perfectly deadpan face that it was going to snow here next week, and then waved us through, without ever asking for our passports or even our drivers licenses!
We tried to get into Haynes Point provincial part for the night, but, as had been my experience on a previous trip, it was full. The campground host says you must get there “much earlier” in the day to secure a spot. It’s a very popular place, on a long, narrow spit jutting out into lake Osoyoos, where practically every campsite is waterfront.
Oh well, of we went to the other, very touristy side of the lake, The nice, grassy-field campground that I stayed in a few years go has been pa paved over and turned into an rv resort, like most of this side of the e lake. We found 2 or 3 little run-down looking tent campgrounds. The first on e we stopped at had no one manning the office and no information whatsoever posted, so on we went. We are now at a tiny (11 sites) place squeezed in between apple orchards and rv resorts, with no electricity, a sign warning us to boil water before drinking. And for sale signs posted out front… so I imagine it will be gone to condos or rvs on my next visit. On the plus side, its just us and one other tent here, and we have free pickings of the loaded apple trees in the camp.
We drove into town to a\the ridge brewpub for dinner )really excellent beer and good food., and then took a drive up Anarchist mountain to watch the sun set over the lake. A good day.
Sept 10, 2009
14 males biking, 750 feet elevation gain
6 miles kayaking
Sunny and 80 F, perfect biking and kayaking weather!
After lingering over our campsite breakfast of coffee, tea, and oatmeal with apples from the trees hanging over our tents, off we went on our bikes to explore the town. A stop at the visitors center scored us some good information on bike routes. We stopped at the bike store hoping for some nice Canada-themed socks, but none to be found.
We then road out to visit the Nk’mip cultural center, which, although not a casino, certainly must be dragging in big bucks for the tribe. It’s a huge and beautiful place on the hillside overlooking Lake Okanagan. Many very nice sculptures, a huge campground on the lake, a large condo development, a very pricey restaurant. There’s a museum which we elected not to visit due to the $12 admission. I forgot to ask how to pronounce Nk’mip. “Nik Mip?” “Unk Mip?”
From Nk’mip, we took hillside roads through orchards and vineyards, back to our campsite. I was so energized I hopped right in the kayak. I paddled into a brisk breeze for about an hour, enjoying bouncing in the small waves and watching the “stink boats” zoom by. There was a hobie cat just flying around the lake, making me wish that I still had my little sunfish sailboat. Turning back with the wind behind me, I made it back to camp in 40 minutes, hardly paddling.
September 11, 2009
I got chilly during the night last night, so dug out my sleeping bag liner, carefully unfolded it, and climbed inside of t and into my sleeping bag. Awhile later, I noticed I was still cold, and felt around.. No liner! I guess I dreamed it all! So once again, I dug it out, unfolded, climbed in, ahh, that/s better. But when I woke up this morning, I my liner was still packed away in it’s little stuff sack! (This makes me think of the dream sequence in American Werewolf in London, but not quite so scary.)
After another long, leisurely camp breakfast, with more of those fresh apples in our oatmeal, we decided to take a short drive. We took the Crow’s Nest highway , up ( and I do mean UP) into the fabulously scenic Similkameen valley. This is some of the prettiest scenery I’ve seen anywhere. A narrow valley with a bucolic green bottom full of orchards, vineyards and gardens, closely surrounded by steep, rocky mountains.
We stopped in Karemeos for lunch, and then drove an very steep road full of hairpin curves up to the Apex ski resort. The resort looks like it’s fallen on some pretty hard times, lots of of stuff for sale and nothing open.
Back down the mountain to Penticton, where we found a starbucks.. I asked an other star bucks customer abut the “jazz” placard she had hanging around her neck, and it turns out there’s a big Dixieland jazz festival in town all weekend. She told us to walk “just a block or two” over to the convention center to get more information. It turned out to be more like a mile, but on the way we found a big bike store where we once again could not find cool socks, but I did buy a shirt on sale. We finally made it to the convention center, picked up schedules, and each bough last year’s festival t-shirt. A worthwhile walk!
Our short drive ended up taking all day, and we finally got back to the campsite about 5, expecting Cheryl and Gerry to be there, but no. When they still weren’t there at 6, we headed off for dinner. When they STILL weren’t there, we started to worry. Much to our relief, they finally arrived at about 9:30.