Day 16: Retail therapy

What3words: portables.slicing.developments

We have driven down to Vernon today - an easy enough drive of only a couple of hours, but what a contrast from where we came from.

• This side of the Rockies is completely different than the Banff/Jasper side. For one thing, the water is.....water coloured, not the magical green colour that we have gotten used to.

• The landscape is flatter - more undulating rather than mountainous. At points in the drive you could have mistakenly thought we were in the UK!

• But then there are the billboards. They are everywhere. You just cannot see the scenery for the darned things. They are huge and gaudy and horrible (IMHO)

• The area feels unloved too - the roads have massive pot holes and it is just a little unkempt.

This is the only pic I have, but you can see what I mean

As we drove into Vernon I saw a sign for a shopping centre and we detoured for a little retail therapy. It was great wandering around the shops, and Emily finally got to find a replacement screen protector for the camera on her phone that she smashed a few days ago - it does not seem to be a thing over here, we have asked in several phone shops but they have given us blank looks.

There are no pictures of today's adventures, mainly because the chief photographer had a nap in the car, and although we had agreed to stop anywhere that looked interesting, there wasn't anywhere that took our fancy.

Tonight we went for dinner at The Italian Kitchen - it was absolutely scrumptious! (What3words: preferable.counting.tropic) I had Sicilian Primavera Spaghetti and the veggies were perfectly cooked with just the right amount of feta cheese on the top. Emily had Fetta Fetta Linguini which was really rich, but also fabulous.

One thing that is odd about Canada - it is like the States, different states, or Provinces for Canada, have different laws and taxes. Tonight we were charged a liquor tax which we have not been charged anywhere else.

We had a little wander around the town centre, and it has a lovely vibe. On weekends I expect it is really quite busy - there are picnic tables set out on the street, but not really for patio service, just to sit at and chill.

We are having a fairly early night before heading down to Kelowna tomorrow, which was recommended to us as being beautiful. Maybe Emily will have to do the driving - I believe there are quite a few wineries to visit.....