Driving over four hours to Kelowna for merely two nights may seem like a long way to travel for such a short trip. What could you possibly accomplish in such a short amount of time?

Well, let me tell you, I made my time count.

Here is a blog style itinerary of my weekend getaway to Kelowna, BC.

Friday afternoon:

I departed Vancouver around 1:45pm to attempt to beat the rush hour traffic. On the way I picked up my sister in law, Faith, in Langley before arriving at my parent’s house in Abbotsford. We loaded into my mom’s new Subaru and were ready to go!

Friday evening:

We arrived in West Kelowna around 6:30pm – just in time for dinner. We were all feeling adventurous and found a hole in the wall, mom-and-pop, Lebanese restaurant online that had solid reviews. We were not disappointed. It was clearly the kind of place that you had to know about because the owner seemed confused about why we were even there. Have you been here before? How did you find us? Someone needs to teach Gaby about the power of the Internet. Anyways, we thoroughly enjoyed our platter of deliciously spiced rice, chicken skewers, humus and pita even if we had to wait a while to get our food. After all, Gaby’s Grill is only staffed by two people. We gave it a 5 star review and will definitely be back.

So good that I dug in right away…

Saturday morning:

We woke up bright and early Saturday morning at our lovely host’s house (my Aunt & Uncle) ready to start our epic day of relaxation.

A solid brunch is the best way to kick off any weekend and so we headed to the Bohemian Café in downtown Kelowna. We were really original and all three of us ordered the same thing – Blueberry Oatmeal Pancakes with real maple syrup! Our meal success continues!

Now, no trip to the Okanagan Valley would be complete without a little wine tour and so our second stop of the day was Mission Hill Winery in West Kelowna. Check out the full post here.

Saturday afternoon:

After such a lovely morning enjoying stunning views of Lake Okanagan, we were ready to get a much closer appreciation of the lake life. Fortunately for us, my Uncle has a boat and managed to free up some time to drive us to my other Aunt & Uncle’s waterfront property. We jumped aboard the boat for a 45 minute boat ride where we could soak up the sun while using the breeze to beat the heat – perfection!

We spent the afternoon visiting with family and sipping ciders lakeside. Not too shabby.

Saturday evening:

After a quiet dinner back in downtown Kelowna, we set off to explore the waterfront boardwalk at my most favourite time of day – twilight – or what I affectionately coined “magic hour.” We also wandered through the grounds of the Delta Grand Hotel and enjoyed the colours of the setting sun before heading back to our place for another glass of wine.

Sunday morning:

Once again we were up early, but honestly it still felt like sleeping in compared to my work schedule. We were leaving Kelowna behind now and made our way to Peachland for our sweet fix at Bliss Bakery. Sitting lakeside (is there even another side?) while eating pastries and drinking coffee is definitely my idea of a blissful Sunday morning. I didn’t even question the sign that stated We Bake Naked because maybe that’s just what people do when they are this happy.

We soon left Peachland behind for yet another foreign land – Summerland! Now that name sure sounds heavenly. In reality, Summerland is such a sleepy little town that I would probably go stir crazy in one day but we had very good reason to be there – The Kettle Valley Steam Train. It was such a lovely way to enjoy the valley and canyon views and definitely felt like we had travelled back in time. Check out the full post here.

After an ice cream cone lunch in town we were back on the road – destination: home! All in all, it was a pretty great weekend. We packed in a lot of activity but all of it was relaxing enough that I didn’t feel tired. The toughest part is deciding where to go next year…