Salmon Arm long weekend, Post 2

Continuing on from Post 1...

On Sunday morning, we took the opportunity to take a few nice photos before heading to the meeting just down the road.

After the meeting, we were invited to join one of the families for lunch (we already knew them from when they lived in Vancouver). They were planning to have a buffet brunch at a hotel on the lake... a place Nathan had found out about and thus we were already planning to go there for lunch! So that worked out rather nicely. :)

The lunch crew

Jack

The view from our table

Here are some gorgeous shots of Finley and Aunty Roxy after lunch...

And back in our hotel room...

In the late afternoon we went for another swim, and then had dinner at the inn's restaurant, Table 24. I enjoyed this meal even more than the previous night at Hedi's Bistro. Highly recommend this restaurant... and being able to walk back to our room afterwards was very nice!

The next morning, Monday (i.e. Canada Day, July 1st), Roxy and Nathan needed to leave early to drive back to Calgary. Ben, Finley and I hung out in our room for a while longer before checking out and driving to a lakeside park in Salmon Arm. We had wanted to get pies again for lunch, but the shop was closed due to it being a public holiday, so Ben hunted down some Indian takeout instead. It was an extremely hot day, but our lunch spot beneath a big tree in the park was very scenic.

Naptime

After lunch we set off on the journey home. It ended up taking us 8 hours again, but this was mostly because our car decided to suddenly turn itself off while driving over 100km/hr, so we ended up stuck on the side of the highway for 1.25 hours! It wasn't particularly pleasant to sit a black car in 37 degree heat, with trucks zipping past inches away, no shade, minimal breeze, and a hot sweaty baby (who was quite happy throughout this experience, actually)! However, we all survived, and once the tow truck arrived our car decided to start up again, so we paid his call-out fee and continued on our merry way! Seems our little RX8 had just been complaining about driving up a long hill with the air-con on full blast and the pedal to the floor in such heat. :)

And that was our lovely long weekend in Salmon Arm!

Salmon Arm long weekend, Post 1

On the Canada Day long weekend (June 28th to July 1st), we headed to the lakeside town of Salmon Arm, BC, to meet up with Roxy and Nathan. Salmon Arm is approximately halfway between Vancouver and Calgary, so it was was a perfect and very picturesque place to meet up.

Ben finished work a couple of hours early on Friday afternoon, and we set off on our drive. Between the slow traffic spots, a leisurely 3pm lunch stop at the Cactus Club in Abbotsford, and Finley's pit stops, the normally 5 hour drive to Salmon Arm took us 8 hours. Roxy and Nathan had been there for hours by the time we arrived, as they'd both been off work all week due to the flooding in Calgary!

We were extremely impressed by our room at the Podollan Inn. It was very spacious, and its second floor location at the front of the building meant we had gorgeous lake and mountain views. The inn also features a large heated free-form swimming pool, and Table 24, one of Salmon Arm's highest-ranked restaurants on TripAdvisor.

Here are a couple of photos from Friday night...

Finley getting reacquainted with Aunty Roxy

Roxy teaching Nathan a few chords on my guitar

The next day, Saturday, we enjoyed a lazy morning and then headed into downtown Salmon Arm to have lunch at The Shuswap Pie Company. Delicious!

After eating our fill of pie and chocolate cake, we went 5-pin bowling at "J" Lanes Bowling. We were the only customers there the entire time! We played two games, and it was a perfect way to escape the heat (in the high 30 degrees!) and chill out in the air con for a couple of hours.

Hehe!

Late that afternoon, we went for a swim in the pool back at the inn. Finley was able to show Daddy his skills from the month of swimming lessons he'd recently completed!

That night we had dinner at Hedi's Bistro, a small European restaurant in town. There were only two other people in the restaurant and we were served by the German husband and wife who own the place. The highlights of the meal were the complimentary hors d'oeuvres and the bacon-wrapped scallops and roasted garlic we shared for our appetizers. It was a relaxing and yummy way to end our day together.

And that was our first full day in Salmon Arm! To be continued...