Last week, Ford Canada approached Diana (Foodology) and myself to go on an overnight trip in celebration of National Friendship Day. It was a fun initiative so Diana and I were excited to not only get away but to also strengthen our relationship (wow, this is starting to sound like therapy, doesn’t it?). We both have been meaning to check out Sparkling Hill, so up we went to Vernon in our trusty blue 2017 Ford Focus Titanium.
Our Ford Focus Titanium handled much better on the highway and we burnt a little over half our gas tank by the time we reached Kelowna. The leather seats were nice and we were so thankful for the powerful A/C through the muggy weather up in the Okanagan. Also being on the highway is always stressful, particularly going up to Vernon but I felt pretty safe in a Ford car – they have a lot of safety features including many airbags, a tire pressure monitoring system and indicators to let you know if there are cars in your blind spot.
You’ll be able to read about my experiences in Kelowna, Sparkling Hill and the Kangaroo Farm in subsequent posts, but I’m going to recap here a bit.
On our trip up, Diana and I had a lot of fun singing along to one of our fave boy bands – The Backstreet Boys! Diana had gone to see them in Vegas and I just recently went to see them as well, so the hype was real.
We made it to Kelowna for lunch at Salted Brick and enjoyed some fresh oysters and a huge sandwich that we split between us.
Afterwards, we hopped over to Okanagan Spirits a couple doors down and tried some of their spirits including Seabuckthorn and my favourite Black Currant. Diana also tried Absinthe for the first time!
We then made our rounds to different wineries including Arrowleaf, Ex Nihilo and Gray Monk. She and I are big fans of white wines so for the most part we stuck with our pinot gris/grigios, chardonnays, rieslings and gewurtzs.
We had dinner at Gray Monk with a magnificent view of Lake Okanagan – although it was overflowing, it was still a beautiful sight. It’s a little terrifying to think how swollen the lake had become, but it also is a great reminder to respect nature and what it’s capable of.
After dinner we had just enough time to make it to Sparkling Hill to catch the sunset. Because we were surrounded by mountains, it wasn’t as epic but still a great view. Sparkling Hill was a fantastic getaway spot – it seemed like mostly couples and friends. It was a lot of fun checking out the amenities including the infinity pool, tea room and the steam rooms.
I really enjoy my time with my friends who also happen to be other food bloggers – travelling with Diana, Amy, Liane, Nathalie and Josh are always a good time. There’s something to be said about finding people you can travel with, because it can be really hard to find people you can get along with in close quarters who are also at your level of hunger! If I could go on trips with my foodie friends all the time, I would definitely prefer it!
I not only enjoy my time with Diana but respect her a great deal in the way she has built her blog and how she’s so open to every single person she meets. I am looking forward to my next trip with her!
For more information on the Ford Focus Titanium, check out their website here: http://www.ford.com/cars/focus/2017/models/focus-titanium/
Disclosure: Ford Canada sponsored our Friendship Retreat, but all opinions are my own.
