Naramata - Labour Day Weekend, 2003

The Story

Tina invited me up to Naramata (Located in BC's interior) to spend Labour Day weekend on the beach with her, her parents and Michiel, her friend visiting from Holland. My trepidation was soon justified as the weekend devolved into a set of tasks only an evil story book character could imagine. There was a punishing regimen of 'having' to eat far too much good food. Tina's parents, experts in food torture, fed me Maui ribs, steak, bacon, carrot cake, ice cream, fresh picked fruit and even more meat products. And then there was good beer and great wines! The horror! The horror!

Did I mention that I had to endure great weather while lying around on a beach the whole time? Along the way I met Tina's relatives including uncle Kevin and Bob, aunt Alice, her paternal grandmother and her two cousins, Curtis and Ellen. All of them came over on the Saturday to partake in a very large dinner. All of them are really nice people, Curtis and Ellen are great kids too.

We also hopped on the boat and went up the lake to survey the damage that a massive forest fire had done to the neighbouring areas. A huge chunk of land north of Naramata went up in flames in the past few weeks and Okanagan Provincial Park has been burnt to a crisp as a result. The pictures pretty much speak for themselves.

We also visited a couple wineries in the area, Elephant Island and Red Rooster on the Sunday and picked up a few bottles after tasting their offerings.

All in all it was a great, relaxing weekend. Special thanks to Tina's parents for being such great hosts during the weekend.