Canada Day weekend in Penticton!

Slowly, but surely I'm going to finish blogging this summer! We were excited to spend the Canada Day weekend in Penticton. I always scour social media and local tourism sites to find out everything that is going on wherever we're going.

Penticton promised a spectacular market day along with other activities all day. So we headed down to the peach, where we found these two mounties posing for pictures with anyone who wanted one. OF COURSE I WANTED PICTURES!

The market wasn't too interesting (since we weren't buying foods and weren't interested in anything else). So we got ice cream instead. After all, it was HOT out!)

 Then of course we had to stop by our favorite bookstore. I think this may have been the time I met the man who is cataloging all the stories of local veterans. We bought a copy because I think that's a noble cause, and some of the stories sounded so interesting.

And then I think we spent the day at the beach. I already blogged about the underwhelming fireworks.

The other highlight of our trip was a visit to the Grist Mill. Grant, my boss, had told me about this place.

They're in the midst of updates and renos and we happened to visit on training day.

So I wouldn't say we had the primo experience, but you could still tell this place is going to be amazing one day soon.

I love interactive exhibits. I hope one day this is a little like Fort Langley. Where you don't just wander around accidentally discovering things, but get the inside scoop thanks to volunteers who love history.

My favorite is always the animals.

Penticton Round Two: Day Two

Another day, another bike ride. Langley is really hilly. And there's lots of traffic. It's scary trying to bike around here. But in Penticton...

In Penticton we can do this every day.

And it is glorious.

We set up a tent over a picnic table and stashed our stuff.

And then we headed to the Grist Mill.

It's really pretty there...

And they're doing a lot of work there, it's going to get a lot better.

Plus, there's this amazing pig.

And these pigs.

So let me see. We had lunch in the cafe. It was staff training day, so I'm not going to lie. The service was slow and there wasn't much to choose from. But the prices were affordable, the staff were friendly and the food was good.

Then we wandered through the exhibits. And up the hill to see an orchard...and the views.

And then, of course, we did the the photo ops. Always with the photo ops.

We went back to the beach. And Elisabeth thought it would be a good idea to put mud all over her face.

There was a food truck on the beach. Pizza cones of all things. Well, how often do you have the opportunity to try a pizza cone? So David did.

The verdict was, it was decent.

Well, David thought so anyway.

Penticton Round Two: Day One

 My favorite part of going to Penticton, well, one of my favorite parts, is riding our bikes everywhere.

 Even dad got in on the action. Plus, if the beach gets crowded, we don't need to fight for parking. That kind of backfired when we kept getting forced to drive the men to the beach then go back to the house and bike back. But hey, lots of exercise :)

 After the bike ride, we headed down to the other beach to see what kind of July 1st activities were going on. The peach was looking particularly patriotic.

 This bench is pretty cool.

 I'm still just blogging phone pictures. Seriously, I don't think it's ever going to end. But after wandering around for a while, we stopped for ice cream. It was REALLY REALLY HOT out. In our defense and stuff.

The boys arm wrestled.

I take the same pictures every time. But I love the murals in the back alleys.

 Somebody come paint my house like this.

Then it was back to the beach. I mean, that's why we come, right?

 We went home for dinner.

 And then it was back to the other beach again to watch the fireworks. They kinda sucked, but the sunset was amazing.