Search for Ogopogo

Okay, so I wasn't actually searching for the Ogopogo, but I did make it down to Okanagan Lake finally and here is my photo tour from my first bike ride in Kelowna.

Stop 1: Canadian Tire. Don't worry, no photos of my friendly neighbourhood Canadian Tire, I just needed a bike pump. But on the way I noticed how nice the mountains looked from an empty lot. I also discovered at this point that I was covered in mud. That's what I get for riding on the side of the road instead of on the sidewalk.

Stop 2: Okanagan Lake. I ended up in the rich area (think Beach Drive with smaller lots) and found an awesome paved bike/blading trail that abruptly ended closer to "downtown" Kelowna. Ah well, it was nice while it lasted.
Look! The floating bridge!


Stop 3: The City Park. I guess Kelowna only has one park so they just decided to go with the very creative name, "City Park". There are actually fancy signs all around the park with just "City Park" engraved on them. It is a pretty nice park though -- tennis courts, lakeside paths, playground & water park.

View of the Okanagan Lake from the City Park.

Some boats docked near the park.

The Sails. When the locals try and explain where anything is downtown, invariably a reference to "The Sails" is always included. At least I found them now. It's hard to understand directions when you don't know where the main point of reference is. I was imagining something more impressive though. I think Nanaimo's sign is way better.

Trivia Break: What does "Kelowna" mean? Why "grizzly bear" in Native of course.

The World War I Memorial. Also apparently a local drinking hang out, judging from the number of beer bottles those Kelowna "punks" had broken on the memorial. Nice.

Finally the elusive Ogopogo! Okay, maybe not. This one is in the water park.

Stop 4: Opus for some more art supplies. The Kelowna Library is just across the street so I decided to check it out. The building looks pretty new and is really nice inside. Too bad the number of books inside isn't comparable to the size. The shelves were half empty. They had enough room to stand books up like they were on display in a book store.

Stop 5: Home again, 2 hours later. I am looking forward to more bike rides around here. I just hope that I can go on bike rides in the future because I rode through a lot of glass in the park and along the roadside. Does Kelowna know what street cleaners are? I am wondering if the next time I go to get my bike out if I will have two flat tires.