Before our departure for home, we wanted to tour in the Okanagan. Seeing that the balsamroot were blooming around Vernon, we decided to head south to Osoyoos where I thought these flowers would be blooming profusely. So on Thursday morning we headed out. We first stopped in Peachland for breakfast at one of our favourite cafes, Bliss Bakery.

_02A3781 This cafe is located on the shore of Lake Okanagan, across the street from the newly-developed beach area and walkway. After our coffee and breakfast sandwich, we  continued to the next town, Summerland. Here I visited this private museum which housed a collection of about 80 vintage cars. The majority were Fords and Meteors from the 1950s and 1960s. Here the owner is polishing a Canadian-built Meteor Rideau.

_02A3807 After spending some time perusing this collection (sorry Alex, but no airplanes or trains), we continued south, past Penticton to the south end of Skaha Lake. In the region of Okanagan Falls, we chose to visit two wineries, the first of which was Blue Mountain. Along the road to this winery I found numerous Balsamroot flowers in bloom on lands owned by The Nature Trust.

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_B0A9372 _02A3852 Cherry trees were also blooming along these hillsides. My other reward, aside from some good images, was a few cactus spines on my ankles.

_02A3868 Following a wine purchase at Blue Mountain (two bottles of Gamay Noir), we backtracked and stopped at Liquidity Winery. Here we had a great lunch in their bistro (potato leek soup and a duck breast sandwich, and surprisingly a glass of wine) and picked up a few bottles of one of their signature wines.

_02A3878 We passed through the town of Olivor, which bills itself as the wine capital of Canada because of the proliferation of wineries and vineyards around the town. I was intrigued by this vintage movie theatre which I had to stop to photograph. Then it was south to Osoyoos and our hotel.

_B0A9386 Much work was being done in the vineyard such as this one in Osoyoos, which is at the border of Washington state. But the disappointing part was that we found no blooms of balsamroot in the south Okanagan except for the above photographed ones at Okanagan Falls. But we did visit Moon Cursor Winery and came out with a couple bottles for good measure!

_B0A9443 On our northward drive the next day, we visited a winery where we heard about a private club racetrack on the outskirts of Olivor. From the viewing area I photographed some Porsches being driven but not raced. Apparently there are different times scheduled for specific cars. This was a Porsche time slot, so unfortunately no Ferraris or Lamborghinis today. Then it was back to Vernon with no photo stops.

On Saturday Veda and I drove north to Salmon Arm for a presentation by photographer Chris Harris.

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The best displays of blooms were in Kalamalka Lake Provincial Park just across the street from the house in which we have been staying. So I hiked up the hill on two occasions to photograph the scenery, the wild flowers, and the hikers and bikers on the park trails.

This photo shows a section of one of the trails above Cosens Bay of Kalamalka Lake.

Another day I drove into the eastern section of the park. Here I was able to photograph this Yellow-bellied marmot.

Tomorrow we will be packing the car and then beginning our homeward trek on Thursday.