I don't like spiders and snakes.....Aug 16, 2011
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Cycling Black Sage Road
Stop number two on the road trip was Osoyoos, where we planned on more cycling and some sampling of the areas great wines. We made our way there via highway #3, essentially driving just North of the Canada/US border until we reached this little desert town at the South end of the Okanagan valley. First stop was on our way into town at the N'Kmip winery where we found a tasty Dry Riesling. Then we were off to Buc's Bed & Brew, a great little B&B with friendly hosts, delicious breakfasts and a not so warm swimming pool, where we hung out for 3 nights. Our first activity was a 9 hole round of golf at the Osoyoos Golf and Country Club's Park Meadows course. A great course for beginners, Pam managed to not lose too many balls (and Dale found more than she lost). Also had a typical golf course meal at the club house (good food at reasonably prices). The next morning over breakfast our hosts told us about all of the nasty critters that hang out in the area, namely bull snakes, rattle snakes and brown recluse spiders. They told us not to worry about it, likely we wouldn't see any of them and if by rare chance we did get bitten, don't panic but get to the hospital. Great. The second day we did a little winery reconnaissance on our bikes as we rode from Osoyoos to Oliver via Black Sage Road. We made our way through Osoyoos on quiet roads, then had to do a 10km section on highway 97 which wasn't great. But Black Sage road was a wonderful rolling road to cycle with no really nasty hills, very few cars and beautiful scenery. As with the rest of BC and Alberta, the weather hasn't been as hot as normal this year but 25C was perfect for our ride. We had lunch in Oliver and then headed back to Osoyoos for a little book time. That night we drove back out to Black Sage Road for a fantastic meal at Burrowing Owl Winery. The setting on the deck overlooking the vineyards was spectacular, the food and wine were excellent, as was the service. A perfect night. On our last day, we checked out the lake in the morning (colder than the swimming pool!) and then headed back to the golf course, this time to play 18 holes on the Desert course. This was Pam's first 18 hole game and some of the holes were very tricky so our trend of leaving with more balls than we started with came to an end. But we still had some fun despite having to take a cart. Excitement of the game was when came around the corner on the cart path and nearly ran over a bull snake. So much for not seeing any nasty critters. We definitely didn't go looking for any balls in the bush after that! Heading North tomorrow.