Friday 22nd June - Meeting friends

Going shopping

Waterfront Inn Motel, Penticton

Okanagen Lake

After breakfasting in the motel reception area at Princeton, we set off on Highway 3 and 3a to meet up with friends in Penticton. Little did we know that when we planned and booked the trip, some friends had done exactly the same, but were travelling in the opposite direction! Today was the pre-arranged day to meet up.

Leaving Princeton behind the scenery once again changed as we made our way through the Okanagan Valley. Princeton is nestled in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains in the heart of the Similkameen Valley - a place for outdoor activities. Penticton, like other places in the Okanagan, has fruit and wine in abundance and families can have fun in the sun on the beaches of the Okanagan and Skaha Lakes.
 On our journey we passed the Nk'mimp Aboriginie Winery & Indian Reserve. We stopped at one of the many farm shops to purchase fruit, so fresh it tasted wonderful. We met our friends at the RV Park where they were staying and after lunch there headed off to Penticton.What a day to arrive, by coincidence it was the Peach City Beach Cruise and Penticton Elvis Festival. The Beach Cruise Festival - a festival of classic cars and trucks. The city streets were lined with all manner of classic vehicles, around 800, and on Friday night there was a parade of show cars, some of which would be auctioned. We paid $2 for a badge that was the entrance fee to the park for the entire weekend and part of these proceeds go to B.C. Children's Hospital.
We sat in the park for part of the afternoon and listened to live music, how nice to relax and how friendly everyone was. Later we saw the cars and trucks get into "parade position" on a car park that was very close to our motel and what a sight it was - amazing. Inbetween all of this we managed to have a very quick visit into Penticton to visit the BC VQA Wine Information Centre, spying wildlife just snooping around the shops! Back to the lakeside motel for a quick shower and to re-arrange our bags, then out for a meal with Malcolm and Judy. How lucky we were to have planned this meeting at Penticton beforehand and to both be on schedule to actually achieve it. The day was lovely sunny and warm but as soon as we headed back after our evening meal there was a terrific thunder storm.