Life On The Ranch: Mammoth Summary 1

So, we are leaving Myra Canyon Ranch exactly one week today! I honestly cannot believe how quickly the past six months have gone and how many incredible memories we have made.

BC's Covid cases have been rapidly rising in recent weeks and the provincial health officer has recently implemented stronger measures against non-essential travel between local health authorities.

Hopefully if we are questioned, we will be deemed as "essential" travel or we will have to live in our car indefinitely! As Rich pointed out the other day, one look in our boot will definitely show we are moving house, because in his words "who goes on holiday with their orchid?!"

As I mentioned in my week 15 summary, today I'm writing a "mega post" to sum up what we've been up to since the middle of February.

Week 16

An Indoor Picnic

After all of the excitement of our night at Sparkling Hill Resort, we woke up on BC's Family Day with pretty sore heads. After a really good breakfast at the PeakFine Restaurant, we headed back to the ranch.

We spent the rest of our Family Day binge watching Netflix's The Vanishing At The Cecil Hotel and in the evening I made us an indoor picnic complete with traditional English Afternoon Tea sandwiches - cucumber, chicken curry and ham and mustard to name a few.

Pancake Day

This year we went slightly overboard on the toppings for our pancakes. I realised too late that we only had one small sachet of sugar in the house, so to compensate for not having lemon and caster sugar pancakes I put together toppings of everything sweet I could find; dark chocolate, honey, caramel ice-cream, bananas and strawberries.

I made the batter and Rich nailed the tossing, even though he had to make them outside when it was about -8! My search for sweetness was successful and we both felt pretty sick afterwards!

A Blustery Winter Walk

I found a beautiful photo of someone walking along the raised deck at the Maude Roxby Wetlands when mindlessly scrolling through Instagram and immediately told Rich I wanted to go myself.

After a Google mishap with directions and nearly being blown over by the gusts coming off the mountains and across the lakes, I wasn't feeling too proud of my find. It was certainly very pretty, but I think it's definitely somewhere to visit in the summer instead!

Week 17

Hello H.M.S. McKenward

I am a naturally athletic person who enjoys exercising and, it would be fair to say, that Rich is not. There are two exceptions to this. I am hopeless at snorkelling and Rich has basically stopped me from drowning the couple of times we've done it, and I am near on useless at kayaking.

"I'm loving this...honest!" Jervis Bay, New South Wales, Australia, February 2017

When Rich suggested we buy a kayak, therefore, I was less than enthused. That being said, I love that it is something we can do as a couple and I honestly can't get much worse, so fingers crossed I will only get better...? You never know, by the end of the summer, I might even enjoy it!

Another Wonderful Winter Winery Lunch

There are a few well-known wineries in the province, and in week 17 we finally got to visit one of them. The Summerhill Pyramid Winery, is most known for its huge sculpture of a wine bottle pouring a glass of fizz and for its purpose built pyramid that they use to store their wines.

At The Famous Summerhill Pyramid Winery, Kelowna, BC, February 2021

We had a great time at the winery and got to try out some vegan foods that were very yummy. I had a wine based cocktail which was delicious and poor Rich had to be the designated driver yet again... We even got some incredible gluten free macarons to take away which didn't even last a day in our house!

Week 18

A Truly Unique Winery Treat

The end of February and beginning of March brought some signs of Spring. We went a little bit mad and started really enjoying ourselves and spending way too much money!

One of the places we went to was one of the most unusual wineries that we've ever visited. A small, family owned winery in the East Kelowna area, The Vibrant Vine is a winery and immersive art experience.

From the moment you walk through the door, you are surrounded by incredible 3D artwork and even the wine bottles have 3D designs on them.

We booked an "elevated tasting" which meant that we got to try five different wines paired with various snacks and a very informative fellow Brit talked us through the various wines and what we should be looking for on our taste buds. As usual, our sophistication at wine tastings led to very astute thoughts like "this is nice" and "I like this one".

After our tasting we took a walk through the gallery, looking very fetching in our 3D glasses and then entered another room where we got a glass of our favourite wine from the tasting and a cheese plate.

Real. Proper. Cheese.

As a Brit living in Canada, European cheese is one of the things I truly miss so I was beyond excitable about the cheese platter. It did not disappoint.

Overall, it was one of our favourite and most unique winery experiences to date. We can't wait to be able to have friends and family to visit so we can share the experience with them.

So, despite my best efforts to catch up to the present day, I've only got as far as week 18 and I've waffled 5081 characters. I guess this is where I shall leave you until the Life On The Ranch: Mammoth Summary 2...