Kelowna: BC's other perfect city
Friday October 08, 2004
On October 2nd and 3rd I had the privilege of visiting BC's other perfect city, Kelowna. (The first perfect city in BC is Victoria.) My reason for visiting this fair city is a few hour event, my good friend's Kathy and Kevin's wedding. Although short, this event will be one of the most important in their lives.
On our way up we took the Coquihalla Highway, which is a toll highway leading from BC's Lower Mainland. This highway passes through some of BC's most amazing and richest scenery. If you take this root, be sure to stop at the Yak Mountain rest area for spectacular views and wild blueberries! Just path the Toll Booth there is also a lake where Sasqatch has been sighted several times and pictures have even been taken of Sasqatch here. Beyond the natural, and paranormal, the Coquihalla also has a rich political history. The highway was built under the Social Credit Government. Oddly enough, even though it was greatly over budget, there was never a large controversy around it. Upon its completion, the toll on the highway was supposed to be removed once the revenue from tolls had paid for the highway.
Over a decade later, the highway has paid for itself more than 10 times, and there continues to be a toll on the highway. The government is hesitant to remove the toll because of the revenue it generates, yet the BC Lunatics that run the current government wanted to sell the highway. Because this would have increased the cost of maintaining and traveling on the highway, local residents demonstrated in large numbers and the sale was cancelled.
Once you reach Merrit, you take the Coquihalla Connector to Kelowna. Kelowna is a beautiful green city of 80,000 nestled between the rolling tanned hills of the Okanagan Valley. Kelowna's West side straddles the coastline of Lake Okanagan. Along this artery of life for the area hills are dotted with wineries.
The wineries are one of the biggest draws to the Kelowna area. Well-known wine names include Calona, Mission Hill, Quayle's Gate, Similkameen, Cedar Creek and so forth. To celebrate this Kelowna holds a wine festival during each season, and there are wines being produce at almost every season. The wine industry has become such a large and vital asset to Kelowna that the local university college is one of the only schools in North America to offered certified courses in wine development and tasting. A visit to Kelowna is not complete with a winery tour, the grandest of all being the Mission Hill winery.
While wine may be a big draw, one of the largest employers in the area is the fruit industry. The hills of the Okanagan are also lined with opulent ochards of fruit that produce great fruit for much of Western Canada and the Northern United States. Several local companies turn the fruit into valuable products like juice and syrup. Usually tours are available of the manufacturing plants where there juices and syrups are produced. Two of the larger companies include Summerland Sweets and Sun Rype. Fruits harvested in the Okanagan Valley include peaches, apricots, apples, cherries, pears and nectarines.
The city of Kelowna has become a very expensive place to live. Warmer winters than much of Canada and delightful summers, have made Kelowna a prime destination not only for vacation-goers, but for seniors. The city's size means that many of the amenities typically found in larger cities can be found here in a small city atmosphere. The average house in Kelowna will probably set you back around $500,000.
On my last day in the Okanagan, I drive through Manning Park on the Crowsnest Highway. The area looks terrible thanks to the pine beetle. Newly-dead trees shine a gleam of toxic orange, while dead trees are a putrid grey. The pine beetle is the result of global warming -- this insect requires temperatures around minus forty in order to be killed. These low temperatures have become rarer in recent times and if the pine beetle is not stopped it could cost BC's North over 3000 jobs in the logging industry.
Well, those were tidbits from my trip to Kelowna. I hope you enjoyed reading them.