Fruitful in Unity - Kelowna, the last stop on the road

Our road trip is almost over, but not before we finish our journey in the beautiful city of Kelowna. Over the  mountains we go, taking the long route of the Crowsnest Highway which takes us through plots of farmland and picturesque mountain views. Located at 49°53′01″N 119°29′36″W, Kelowna is in the interior of BC, specifically the Okanagan Valley. Kelowna is a semi-arid climate due to it's higher altitude and lack of rain due to the rain shadow of the mountains. It;s type of precipitation is orographic, although the city receives very little precipitation. The topography of the area is very varied, with large mountains to the north, desert-like conditions in the south, and a fertile belt of land in between which produces much of the provinces fruits and wines. Kelowna has more of a desert-like topography, because of it's higher elevation. A network of lakes and rivers stir air currents in the valley, creating varies weather conditions.

Kelowna has a varied culture due to it's slight isolation in the interior of British Columbia. It was settled in 1859 when a missionary came and called the place "L'ance au sable" (Bay of Sand) due to it's sandy shoreline. However, it did not officially become part of British Columbia until 1905. Some people claim that the nearby Lake Okanagan is home to the sea monster Ogopogo, although no sightings have been confirmed (maybe we will be the first!!). Kelowna also has the claim of having the highest building in between Vancouver and Calgary, which they built in the early 2000s. Many famous people have come from Kelowna such as Dany Heatley, Ryan Getzlaf, Trevor Linden, Jarome Iginla from the NHL, MLB players Jeff Zimmerman and his brother Jordan, as well as the World Champion Curling Team of Kelly Scott.

However, Kelowna also has many problems. One major issue is the large number of forest fires that occur every summer during the dry season that destroy thousands of acres of forests, as well as threaten communities. Because of climate change and the increase in temperature, the fires are only getting worse and will most certainly continue into the future. Another problem is the loss of jobs and emigration from the Interior of BC. Many youth are leaving Kelowna because there are more appealing job offers in larger cities such as Vancouver and Calgary, creating a shortage of people staying in the city. Because Kelowna is a desert climate, water shortages are also a problem and summers are often very difficult on the local water sources, especially when they are also being used to put out forest fires although the nearness of lakes helps to alleviate this issue. One final problem facing Kelowna is the rapid expansion of Kelowna that has lead to urban sprawl. Because of the warm temperatures, Kelowna has become a partial retirement city, creating a housing and land crisis that they have yet to find a solution to.

Driving up to Kelowna, there is the picturesque back drop of Lake Okanagan. It's blue waters seeming perfect to cool off in form the heat. We stopped the car and swan for a bit, relaxing from our long hours spent in the car. Reading a good book on the sandy beaches, making sand castles were all things we wouldn't expect to be doing in the interior of British Columbia. But wait - in the distance we saw a large grey shape begin to take form. Could it be the legendary Ogopogo - no, disappointingly on closer inspection it proved just to be a large log floating in the water. Continuing on with our journey, we stopped at the quaint Arianna Café, known for having the best blueberry pancakes, before stepping onto the road again to visit our last stop - The Mission Hill Winery.

Opened in 1966 by Kelowna locals, it is widely considered to be one of the best wineries in the Okanagan Valley - not to mention the world. As well as offering wine tours and tastings (non-alcoholic for us of course), they also have one of the top rated winery restaurants in the world, called the Terrace. After spending the rest of the afternoon wandering through the grape bushes and sinking our hands into the red earth, we returned to the estate and the restaurant to reflect on our cross-province road trip. Our favorite highlights, new experiences, things to do again - and we were left wondering... which province should we do next?