Saturday, April 2, 2016 (Mk'Mip RV Park, Osoyoos, BC)

At 9:00 we all jumped into Doug and Sue's truck and headed off to Penticton. It was a beautiful day, even with a few more light clouds hanging around. We stopped at a viewpoint just before reaching Penticton. This is Skaha Lake and to the north barely visible is Lake Okanagan. Back in the day Steve spent many a summer here at the beaches with his buddies...

Our first stop was at a Telus store to pick up a sim card for our mobile hotspot. There also happened to be a BC Liquor Store in the same plaza, so I went in and picked up a box of wine paying the big bucks...yup, we're back in Canada now, no more buying cheap beer and wine at Walmart! Oh...and yes, I know we are planning on doing some tours of wineries this afternoon, but this wine will be my "everyday" wine...any bottles purchased from our wine tasting this afternoon will be for special occasions!  Next it was onto Walmart, where Steve went to an auto insurance place in the same complex while the rest of us headed into Walmart to get started on our shopping.

With the errands...and shopping done, it was lunch time, so I looked up local restaurants on Trip Advisor to see if there were any brew pubs close by.
Bad Tattoo Brewing Company was ranked #2...so Doug plugged that into the GPS and off we went. It is located in north Penicton close to Lake Okanagan.

I was expecting more of a pub-type menu with burgers, etc but Bad Tattoo only served pizza and salads...okay, that will work. The food and suds were good. They even brew a Root Beer that our designated driver said was very good...

After lunch we took a drive along the Lake Okanagan waterfront...Nice wheels!

Sicamous Paddle Wheeler on Lake Okanagon...

Both lakes have beautiful beaches that are packed come summertime...

We then headed south, taking the road on the east side of Skaha Lake. Time to visit some wineries!
There are 133 wineries and over 200 vineyards in the Okanagon Valley. Our first stop was at Blasted Church Winery...unfortunately it was closed! Saturday...and closed...go figure. Open Monday to Friday...we thought that was odd. Oh well...onto the next one.

Vaseux Lake...

Hidden Chapel Winery...

The woman pouring our wine was quite the character!

After tasting a variety of wines, I purchased a bottle and then we walked up to take a look at the chapel...very cute!

Obviously a very small congregation...seats 6...LOL!

Next stop...Road 13 Vineyards..."It's all about the dirt". The wine tasting usually takes place in the castle but it was closed for renovations...so the signs directed us to the Executive Tasting Room in the building next door.

Fabulous views from up here on the hill!

This time it was Steve who chose a bottle of wine...a bottle of red.
Then we were off to our next stop...across the river on the other side of the valley...


Church and State Wines...this winery started in Brentwood Bay, just outside of Victoria. Their location here is relatively new...

They have a line of wines called Lost Inhibitions...
Lost Inhibitions wines, by Church & State. Evocative wines, entertaining and brimming with personality. We let these wines speak for themselves, even if they’re a bit mouthy... 

Have a look at the website...Interesting labels! 

This wine tasting is serious business!





We got home at about 3:00...a great day...shopping, lunch at a brewery and then a wine tasting tour! Can't get much better than that! Thanks for a wonderful day, Sue and Doug!