It was the most beautiful weekend, with great weather and good company and no breakdowns!

We headed out Hwy 7 to Hope to top the gas tanks up before heading toward our destination.  The traffic was light and all 10 cars managed to stay in sight of each other through the mountains.  We arrived in Osoyoos to beautiful sunny skies and booked into the Best Western Hotel.  We were given priority parking at the front of the hotel for the weekend.  After unpacking we headed up to the 'happy hour' room, which was a family suite on the third floor, complete with outdoor balcony.  Loads of room to sit and chat and plan our weekend.  Our hosts, Judy and Doug, had arranged for the hotel to put on an 'appy' spread in a private dining room instead of heading out for supper.  This worked out really well and was a great finish to our first day.

Saturday morning we met outside to go next door to the Rattlesnake amusement area.  We were divided into teams and played a round of mini-golf.  Some of our group had not played mini-golf since they were teenagers - so there was lots of fun and frivovility.   The go-carts called to us as we played our golf - so over we went to have a race!  Barry, Ross and Doug were the most aggressive - and Doug took a spin in the middle of the track, but didn't skip a beat!   Afterwards we were given our boxed lunches and we headed out in convoy to our first winery stop - Silver Sage Wineries.  We parked all together and headed to the lawn with our chairs and lunch.  After about 1 hour we were ushered inside to a group wine tasting where we had the chance to try up to 12 different wines - most of them late harvest dessert wines.    From there we took different routes back to the hotel, some stopping at other wineries along the way.  Supper was scheduled at the Wildfire Grill, we buddied up for the drive up town - ask Jan about her 'comfy' seat - some chose to walk back to the hotel after a great meal.

Sunday was going to be a full day.  We started off with a tour of JF Launier Kustoms where we had the opportunity to meet JF and see his wonderful creation Rivision.  This beautiful car started ot as a 64 Buick Riviera, but you could hardly tell.  JF was honoured with the Detroit Autorama Chevrolet Performance Ridler Award.  For over 50 years, the Ridler award has represented the best of the best. It’s a defining moment to any car builder and if they’re fortunate to win the trophy, it will further launch their career to the stratosphere. It’s sort of like getting more street cred for already being in the trenches, or we should say, on the shop floor with torches and a welder. These builders are trying to create an over the top, one-off machine that will make the judges fall over backwards and unanimously vote for their car to be Ridler worthy.  Go check it out here.

Off to Hester Creek Winery for a tasting, and purchasing, then on to Tinhorn Creek Vineyards where we took over the amphitheatre for another beautful boxed lunch picnic and a game of bocci ball - following Judy's rules - or not!  Back at the hotel, a few brave souls went on to the bumper boats - Sharon was the only wise one and wore a bathing suit - the guys were in shirts and shorts.  Everyone ganged up on Sharon, but the boys were the wettest!  During all of this there was a wedding party having pictures taken and when we finished our fun, we found the bride and groom nestled up against Don's pickup for pictures - they then asked if they could sit in Angela's convertible for a couple - we all obliged and watched as the pictures were taken.

Supper was at Nk'mip Cellars on the patio.  The meal was served family style and consisted of a tasty tomato salad, prime rib, potatoes and veg and a fantastic dessert.  Of course wine was at the table too!  

The weekend is drawing to a close - here we are on Monday morning saying goodbye to 3 of our group as they are staying one more night.  The rest of us head out to Keremeos and stop to buy fruit and veggies.  We reach the Brown Bridge Pub in Princeton about lunch time and head out onto the patio for food and beverages!  This is our last stop before home - so again we say our goodbyes.  We were all in sight of each other as we reached Hope and headed down Hwy 7 to home. 

Thank you very much for a great weekend - Doug and Judy did a fantastic job of organizing everything - handing out prizes and keeping everyone in order!  See some pictures in our photo albums