It's a natural fit. I've loved being around and near mountains for as long as I can remember. Kelowna is a modern city, surrounded by mountains, on the shores of Lake Okanagan in southern British Columbia. When my nephew, Robert Stephen, tells me he's got another commission to create a new work for Ballet Kelowna, that gives me all the reason I need to pack my bags. I had no part at all in making Robert the wonderful artist he is. I'm just extravagantly proud of him, and go to see any of his work whenever I can manage it. Call me a "Robert Stephen groupie."
So this trip began with an overnight stay in a hotel at Toronto airport, followed by a morning flight to Calgary and an early afternoon connection to Kelowna. On the main flight to Calgary, I had put in a request for upgrade using my credits, not with much hope, but at boarding time I got the upgrade to the last available seat in the Premium Economy cabin. On Air Canada, this means that the flight is being operated by a wide bodied aircraft, normally dedicated to overseas service. The Business Class cabin has individual pods with lie-flat seats that turn into beds. Premium Economy is not unlike the Business Class on a narrow-bodied aircraft: wider seats (seven across instead of nine), much better legroom, with the same or similar meal offering as Business Class, and free alcoholic beverages.
That certainly made the flight much easier! The breakfast and coffee were delicious. And then, I walked off the plane in Calgary and my connecting flight was at the gate directly across the hall -- barely fifty steps' walking. Was I getting the breaks that day, or what? The 1-hour flight to Kelowna was on a commuter turboprop with 72 seats, so there was only a simplified beverage service, but that was fine.
I was soon checked into my go-to hotel in Kelowna, the Delta Grand Okanagan Resort. It has a splendid view over the waterfront park to the waters of the lake, especially so when you get an upgrade to a higher floor with the view. The view to the south from my room takes in the huge marina and waterfront promenade. You can also see the outdoor portion of the hotel's pool, the hot tub, and the covered outdoor pool which will be opened and surrounded with lounge chairs when the warmer weather comes.
To the east, you see more mountains with snow.
The view to the southwest gives a clear sight of the bridge across the narrows of Lake Okanagan. This vital link not only continues the highway southbound down the valley to Penticton and on to the U.S.border, but also leads to the freeway which runs west through the mountains to the Coquihalla Highway, the main route of the Trans Canada Highway towards Vancouver.
The resort has a lovely indoor-outdoor pool, plus a sizable outdoor-only pool which will open in warmer weather. There are indoor and outdoor hot tubs, although the indoor one was out of order. I'm not surprised. So many hotels are pulling the things out altogether. They're a royal pain in the you-know-where to keep running because people keep dumping drinks and food into them, "by accident" of course, and clogging the jet pumps. Nor does it help when people decide to bring the shampoo and wash their flipping hair in the hot tub! Yes, it happens.
As soon as you step out the door of the hotel, you see this view across the lagoon towards the mountains on the far shore of Lake Okanagan.
The hotel also looks impressive when looking backwards from across the lagoon in the park.
I did a lot of walking in that park, and along the waterfront walking path as a whole. Yes, the weather was a bit chilly, but with hardly any wind, the outdoor walking was a delight. Here are a few pictures of the outdoor park area north of the hotel.
On top of a small hill in the park is this artificial spring, which feeds two small streams tumbling downhill over rocky beds into the lagoon.
A panorama of the lake and mountains from the slopes of that small hill.
The trees show fascinating sculptural silhouettes in winter when stripped of vegetation.
What looks like clear, calm water at a first glance proves to be a very thin skin of new ice with an equally thin layer of liquid water lying on top of it. The true open water is riffled by the breeze.
At noon on my first full day, I walked north a bit from the resort, and at the first bend in the road found this impressive and evocative sculpture.
In another couple of blocks, I came to the Train Station Pub. I ate there twice, and highly recommend it as both meals were fantastic. So was the service. Here's the exterior of the old station.
Here's a better view of the delightful statue of an old-school train conductor standing on the corner outside the pub.
The interior of the pub shows a thoughtful mix of the old and the new.
In the area south of the resort, there are some further striking public art sculpture installations.
One of them actually appears as a location on Google Maps. "Ogopogo" is the name of the mysterious water beast which lives in the lake. Ogopogo is quite likely a first cousin of the Loch Ness Monster, and like Nessie is lengthy, serpentine in form, and shy to the point of being reclusive. The map label, "Ogopogo Statue", sounds impressive, but the result is better described as whimsical and user friendly. Parents are always coming to perch their little ones on Ogopogo's back or head for pictures.
There's also a sizable outdoor skating rink, and a sunny weekend day like this with the high temperature just below freezing was perfect for skating.
Just inland from the promenade lies the Kelowna Community Theatre, and here it is from the outside, with the advertising sign for the ballet's production plainly visible on the right.
Here's a picture from Ballet Kelowna's social media of the cast after the performance of Robert's new work, Mustard, inspired by the play of the same name by Kat Sandler. Robert is standing second from left in the back row. The entire show was fantastic, both Mustard and the other premiere, Delicate Fire, by the company's Artistic Director, Simone Orlando.
Ballet Kelowna photo.
The afternoon after the final performance, I flew down to Vancouver. The takeoff from Kelowna's airport showed both an intriguing cloud pattern in the sky and a clear and detailed view of the city centre on the shore of the lake.
I spent a relaxing night at the Westin Wall Centre hotel near the airport, another location I recommend highly. A top floor room gave a spectacular view over the industrial district near the airport to the majestic mountains on the north shore of Burrard Inlet, including the two angular peaks of the Lions of Vancouver.
The next day, I rode the hotel's free shuttle back to the airport and then took the Skytrain downtown, changing trains at the Waterfront station to get out to the Main Street station. From there, it was a short one-block walk to the Pacific Central Station on Terminal Avenue, the point of departure for my trip home.
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