summer road trip, kelowna edition!

Summer, why have you gone by so darn fast?! Why couldn't you have done this last year, when I was big and pregnant and uncomfortable?! Why can't you last forever?! Why, Summer... Why?!

Here we are approaching the end of August. The tail-end of summer. The last few weeks of warmth, and the final days of my daughter being a baby instead of a toddler. I'm a little distraught about the entire situation.

A few months back, my mom and I talked about a summer road trip.  As the weeks passed by we found ourselves running out of time, so we made the decision with short notice. We'd begin the journey to Kelowna the following Thursday.  We travel well together, but with a baby to bring along there was no telling how the trip would go.

Aaralee and I headed to Red Deer Wednesday afternoon so that we would be ready to go on Thursday morning.  Morning rolled around and we departed late, as I'd anticipated.  My mom is rarely if ever on time... though she'll deny it when she reads this.  Adding to our delay was the fact that half an hour into the trip we discovered that my brother had left his wallet in the car.  Fortunately my aunt works near where we were driving and once we finally got ahold of her we were able to drop off the wallet for her to bring back to Red Deer that afternoon. We were finally on our way again!

We drove south until we reached Nanton. There we happily wandered through a candy store, stocking up on treats for the road. Though there are shorter routes to Kelowna, this was a road trip and thus we'd opted for the scenic route.  Mother Nature apparently missed the memo, bringing us nothing but grey and hazy skies for the entire first day.  Our next stop was Frank Slide. Years ago the town of Frank was buried when the side of a mountain essentially crumbled down. To see how far massive boulder had travelled was pretty surreal.

After lunch it was onwards into British Columbia. We were met with more cloudy skies and a bit of rain.   The rest of the day dragged on, but we eventually reached our goal of Creston.  With a screaming baby in the backseat and a seemingly non-existent hotel, we drove aimlessly around the town in search of our destination. We eventually found it, no thanks to my GPS.  Aaralee happily crawled around the hotel room as we relaxed for awhile before heading out in search of fruit stands and supper.

We resumed our travels early the next day, after stopping for photos at the Kokanee beer factory.  Neither my mom nor myself drink beer, but it felt like a necessary stop when in Creston.  

We drove and drove, stopping a few times for lunch and to let Aaralee crawl free from the confinement of her carseat. As evening approached we arrived in gorgeous Kelowna and settled into our awesome home for the weekend.

We spent the next couple of days exploring the area, visiting friends, and playing in swimming pools. We visited a winery, strolled along the lakeside eating ice cream, and drove past ridiculously large homes with incredible views.  Our visit seemed to fly by, and before we knew it the time to return home had arrived.  

Monday was a long, long day. We drove from Kelowna to Red Deer... a relatively easy journey in the past, but an incredibly long day with a restless baby in the backseat.  She did quite well considering, but we were all ready to be done with the car by the time that we arrived at my mom's house.  We still had one more leg of the trip to complete, so after a bit of stretching and relaxing Aaralee and I got back into the car and proceeded home to Edmonton.  I hadn't anticipated that it would be pouring rain, so it was a slow and stressful journey back. Eventually we were home, sweet home. It had been a fun getaway, but there truly is no place like home... especially with a little person to worry about!