Fabulous Fall in the North Okanagan

 

 

I find it difficult to choose a favourite season in the Okanagan and, after living here for 4 years, have come to the conclusion that my favourite season is the one that's happening right now.  So, today, I'll say my favourite season is autumn.

 

Why autumn?  There are many reasons.  The hot summer days that become hazy with heat and lingering smoke from forest fires, are replaced with clearer days with cooler nights.  Often early in September a bit of rain cleans the air and greens up the late summer grasses.  There is an aroma of freshness. 

The tourist traffic dwindles and the back roads see orange school buses  making their morning and afternoon rounds, loading and unloading eager children excited about a new school year.

Harvest is full-on.  This year all the crops are early.

  September is all about apples, with a few later pears, plums, tomatoes, melons and peppers.  And soon the bins at markets and fruit-and-veggie- stands are piled with root veggies and squashes of every size and shape.  By October its pumpkins and grapes.  Such abundance!

 

From the Tuesday before until the Sunday of the Labour Day weekend is the IPE (Interior Provincial Exhibition).  The small City of Armstrong swells with cowboys and farmers, gardeners and bakers, musicians and hustlers, food stands, midway rides, and vendors of everything

Its one of the best Country Fairs anywhere!   We attend every year and are fortunate to not have to find a parking spot as we hop on our bikes and ride from home.

 

 

After a hiatus from regular Sunday hikes, we join the VOC (Vernon Outdoors Club) for some hikes closer to town.  We have to start the morning hikes with a light jacket as the air is fresh but by noon, when we are eating our lunch it is warm and the vistas are clear.  I never tire of the views.

 

Every fall we make a trip down to Gray Monk Winery.  It is a convenient 40 minutes from our door and only 15 minutes from the airport.  My 93 year old mom often flies out here in the fall and loves a visit to the Gray Monk.

 

We plan to pick her up from the airport and then whisk her over to the winery for lunch on the deck of the Grapevine Restaurant.  The hanging pots of flowers are beyond spectacular, and the view of the vineyards and Okanagan Lake is pretty special.
This season we had to make one more trip down to Kangaroos Creek Farm in Lake Country (aka Winfield).

 

This kangaroos sanctuary which also houses other animals, allows the public to feed the animals, pet them and even hold the baby roos in fleecy pouches.  If you are really luck you can feed them as well.  They are open 7 days a week during the summer but close for the winter by late October.

I confess I am a Davison junkie.  We live very close and I walk up to Davison Orchards at least once a week.  Sometimes for an early morning coffee (and a piece of pie), sometimes to buy some fresh fruit or veggies, or to pick up a hostess gift and almost always when we have company.  Today, the first Sunday in October we went up for lunch.  I had pumpkin parmesan soup and half a John Deere Grilled sandwich (and a piece of pie).  There is nowhere you'll get a fresher sandwich and often the pie is still warm.  The place was packed today.  In summer Davison's is full with tourists but at this time of the year it is a magnet for families from the Okanagan.  And for good reason.  The theme now is Pumpkin.

There is a pumpkin fort, pumpkin royalty, pumpkin baking, pumpkin nic-nacs, pumpkin juice, and lots and lots of pumpkins of every size as well as weird and wonderful squashes.




 A highlight for families is the tractor ride out to the pumpkin patch to pick out a pumpkin.  Rides go for $4 and the pumpkin picker goes for $9. 

There is a free professional picture you can have taken out there in the pumpkin patch.

I love this place.  Kids can feed the animals or visit the Crazy Cow Kids' Corral, a playground with an old truck in the middle of a huge sandbox, bales of hay to run over, a web of rope to climb on,  and rubber duckies that float down a course by pumping on an old fashioned water pump.

 

 Before you decide which apples you want, you can try a sample. 

 

 

There are dozens of locally made sauces, jams, dressings, salsas and kitchen gadgets galore. And the bakery counter, filled with pies, muffins and more, had a reminder to pre order your Thanksgiving pies.

 

Ah Fabulous Fall; what could be better?  (Hint: Wonderful Winter)