Summer Vacation in... Canada!

I love to travel. I love visiting new places, trying new foods, and pretty much everything about traveling. Well, not the flying part so much.. but that's a whole different topic. Anyways, this summer I was able to leave the country for the first time and visit British Columbia, Canada!

My mom and I went to the city of Kelowna, which is in the Okanagan Valley in BC and it is HOT HOT HOT! I was expecting a break from the heat, but nooooooo. Most days we were there the temperature was in the 90s! Even though it was so hot it was still just the break I needed to get started with summer vacation. We all need a break from work every now and then, right?

The city is really artsy and they have all of this beautiful and unique art around the city.  

They even have pianos scattered around the city. People will go and sit down and play by themselves. I've never seen anything like it!

Kelowna has a "sister city" in Japan that designed this Japanese garden in the middle of the city. We got to visit it on a tour, and it's absolutely beautiful! I love the serene feeling you get once you go into a place like this. How could you NOT love a place as beautiful as this?

One day we went biking in Myra Canyon. The mountains are gorgeous, and much warmer than I would have expected for Canada.. There were a lot of fires in British Columbia so it was really smokey in Kelowna. It's such a bummer to see how much the fires destroy..But luckily there is so much that is still there!

Right out of a tunnel and over the trestle! 

We were staying right in the middle of wine country so of course we had to go on a wine tasting tour! 

My mom and I outside of the Summerhill winery. It's a little smokey in the background, but isn't that an amazing view!?

The teacher in me wanted to use Canadian money so I could tell my students all about it. It was definitely a learning experience since some of the coins are different, but luckily most of them are similar! It took a bit longer to figure out how much money I needed when I was shopping, so I think it was a good reminder that my students might need a little more think time when working with coins. 

Bottom line - if you ever get a chance to visit Kelowna make sure you go! It was an easy and fun trip for my first time out of the county, and it's sometimes called "Kelownafornia" since it is similar to California. So if you're a newbie to traveling outside of the US (like me!) it's a good place to start!

Where did you get to visit this summer break? Tell me about your trips in the comments, or tell me about a place I should visit next year!