Do we ever learn? This morning we walked 10,000 steps on our early morning 6.15am stroll around Kelowna when the weather was lovely and cool. This afternoon, in the heat of the day, 32degrees and with absolutely no wind, not even a whisper, we walked 11,000 steps without wearing a hat or sun-screen and we are, lets face it, exhausted. Our legs ache, our fingers have swollen, we’re hot, we’re sweaty and we’re thirsty. We regrouped on the sofa when we got home and berated ourselves for being reckless. We knew before we travelled that the weather here had been in the mid-30’s since June which is why we packed our hats and sun lotions. So why then didn’t we wear them this afternoon? We’re definitely not thinking straight and as this is so out of character for us we’ve put it down to the fact that we are suffering from a severe bout of jet-lag!! The weather is only going to get hotter over the course of the next week so we need to take heed. Hopefully we’ve learnt our lesson!
Staying at Myrna’s house our sleeping arrangements are as such; as the ‘guest’ I’ve been given the double mattress blow-up bed which is nice and snuggly, a bit like a water-bed and is located in the bedroom in the basement and Maice, the non-guest has been allocated the sofa in the lounge. The basement is this huge area that has numerous rooms and cubby holes with doors leading to secret passages! My bed is in the largest of the basement rooms and the ceilings are so low I have to duck to avoid hitting my head so am forever stooped when navigating the rooms. Maice of course doesn’t have this problem, she being a lot shorter than me! There are no wardrobes down here so all our clothes are hung along the pipework and resemble a Chinese laundry, but it does the trick and our clothes are nicely displayed in a regimental order.
It was an ‘up-and-down’ kind of night that took us from our travel day into Wednesday. As the evening had worn on we found it a struggle to keep our eyes open, a combination of being jet-lagged and consuming Prosecco and by 10pm we were tucked up in our beds and sound asleep. By 11.50pm we’d both made a trip to the loo and by 2.30am, after another trip to the loo we were both wide awake. Maice woke suffering from a nosebleed and I had a Moth in the lampshade next to my bed which kept me awake. We managed to snatch a few hours sleep before stepping out at 6.15am for our early morning walk.
Ah, a Wednesday morn in Kelowna where the air was fresh, the temperature was perfect, the roads were quiet and the lake was very serene and tranquil. Our lovely two hour walk was complemented by a most delicious cup of cappuccino in the Marmalade Cat Cafe, the only one open at that time in the morning.
Back home we deliberated over our ‘activity’ spreadsheet. We’d spent most of the evening before updating it with things to do after Maice and Myrna had spoken to the ‘family’ and considered the options. It would appear that our itinerary is getting quite busy! After brunch Maice and I took a walk to the Tourist Information Centre to enquire about the possibility of partaking in a SUP (stand up paddle-boarding) session and also look at boat trips on the beautiful Lake Okanagen, which is where Kelowna is situated. We were quite disappointed to find that they don’t offer SUP training sessions and there didn’t seem to be any boat excursions. We did however book six of us in for a spa treatment next week; thats the three of us plus Maice’s sister and two nieces. Pedicures, massages and reflexology it is then……aah, nothing beats a bit of pampering like a spa day!
Needing some down-time after being out in the heat of the day we re-visited the spreadsheet, added to it and looked at what was next on our itinerary. A trip to Dairy Queens it was then; a surprise visit to say hello to Katana, Myrna’s granddaughter and Maice’s niece who works there. Without further ado we headed off in the direction of Highway 33, by car I may add! Myrna driving, me in the front, Maice ‘navigating’ from the back seat. Myrna hadn’t been here before, Maice had an idea but is no good at navigating and I just didn’t have a clue. Needless to say when we did find Dairy Queen, which we could see from the road, we couldn’t find how to get into their carpark. Try as we might we just could not find the entrance. Having traversed the highway and driven round in circles for what seemed like ten minutes, on the third attempt we found it and managed to park up. I say ‘park up’ literally. Most people park their cars within the two white lines that indicate this to be a parking space, but no, not Myrna. She parked with half the car in the next car space and a quarter of the car invading the space in front. I’ve never seen parking like it!! After a few ‘tut-tuts’ she admitted it wasn’t her finest attempt at parking and moved it. All I’m going to say is…..’like mother like daughter’!
When we finally made it inside we placed our order; vanilla ice-cream in a cone for Maice, vanilla ice-cream dipped in chocolate in a cone for me and Poutine for Myrna….that’s chips with curds and smothered with gravy and believe it or not is a national dish of Canada. It’s absolutely delicious. I was quite enjoying my ice-cream until I looked down on my dress and realised that half the chocolate from my cone was now on my dress! Now how did that happen? The more I rubbed it the worse it became. Oh well, that‘s one for the wash!
We took a detour on the way home to wander around Costco, the warehouse supermarket to see if we could find any bargains. We didn’t and although we left empty handed look at the money we’ve saved ourselves! Back home we enjoyed a lovely salmon supper, a glass of wine, updated the spreadsheet and by 9.30pm, unable to keep our eyes open we retired to our beds, all the travelling it seemed had finally caught up with us.
On that note, we shall bid you goodnight until the morrow!
M&A xx
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