On June 15, 2000 I took a trip to visit my friends Terri, Brian, David, and Jason. In order to maintain their privacy, I have excluded their last names and upon their request I have not included any photos of them.

I left Bradley International Airport at 8:30 AM and flew into Toronto to a connecting flight to Calgary then on to Kelowna, BC Canada. The flight from Hartford was eventless but upon arriving in Toronto, it began a small adventure.

When I arrived in Toronto, I had to claim my baggage and go through customs with it, then had to check it again for the next flight. I asked directions to get to the gate for my connecting flight and the assistant told me it was just a short walk. I must have walked 2 miles to my destination. Once I got there I had to go through the normal inspection and go through the metal detector. All was fine. Once at the gate area I had a 2 hour wait for my next flight so I decided to have lunch. I bought a hamburger, small order of fries, and med. soda for the price of $10.00 American currency. After eating lunch I went to my gate to wait for my plane. I was the only person there until about an hour before flight where I was joined by an older woman and her daughter. We were waiting and waiting, then we realized there was no plane outside. So the daughter of the woman inquired and was told that our flight to Calgary was delayed and we would have to go to another gate at the other end of the terminal. I got there and began looking through my tickets and I noticed that I did not have my boarding pass for my connecting flight from Calgary to Kelowna. I went immediately to the representative at the gate and told her my problem. She directed me to the ticketing agents outside of the terminal. I went there only to find about 400 people in line. I had 20 mins to get my boarding pass before my boarding my flight. I cut in front of all the people and the agent from Air Canada told me I had to get it from Canadian Airlines. I told her I had 20 mins and that I had bought my tickets through Air Canadan and I expected her to take care of it. She finally spoke to her supervisor and everything was arranged for me to board the plane when I arrived in Calgary.

I proceeded to go back to the terminal but I had to go through security again. This time they wanted to search my carry-on bag. It was a routine inspection, so they said. They emptied my bag, told me I was clear to pass...but I had to repack everything. Now I have only 5 mins an they are calling my flight. I checked in and finally boarded the plane. It was a big plane...Airbus 320 and it was full. The flight was good but about an hour before we were to arrive in Calgary I asked the flight attendant if I was going to arrive in time in Calgary to make my connecting flight. She asked the captain and she informed me that I would have approximately 5 mins to change planes.
Well she was right, we landed and I had 5 minutes to board my plane. Luckily, the gate was not far and I made it in time.
Terri was waiting for me at the airport and we drove to their home. I was exhausted and after eating a hot meal I just relaxed and we just talked and did nothing for the rest of the evening. I was going to be there for 3 weeks. I met most of Brian's famlily, went to David's soccer games, and felt like one of the family.

I did some sightseeing while there and took many photographs. I am including some of the better ones on this page. I hope you enjoy them.

This is me taken at a winery Terri and I visited.

Terri and I went on a lake cruise on a steamship with a paddle wheel.

The boat in the background is the one we took the cruise on.

There is only one bridge connecting Westbank and Kelowna. This bridge is called a floating bridge. The center section raises once a day to allow larger boats to travel from one side of the bridge to the other.

The next 8 photos were taken while on the cruise. There were some beautiful homes as you will see.

In the photo above. There are 121 steps going from the house to the dock of this house. Can you imagine going down to the dock and forgetting something in the house?

A view of the the lake from the roadside in Peachland.

Terri knew that I wanted to visit a winery, so she surprised me with a tour of a winery located in Winfield. Surprisingly, grapes grow really well on the side of the mountain because of the bright sun. They make a special wine called ICE WINE. The grapes are left on the vines until they get a freeze. They are then picked and processed immediately. The ICE WINE is very rare and very expensive because of the small amount of juice the grapes produce from being so ripe on the vines. Just for a taste sample the cost was $2.50 for less than an ounce.

The first week of my vacation, Jason called and asked me if I wanted to go fishing. I was really excited so David, his friend Steve, and myself got in the van and drove out to Winfield to pick Jason up and proceeded to get our licenses. We tried fishing in one lake but nothing was biting so we decided to drive up the mountain to Beave Lake Resort. There is a mountain lake that is filled with nothing but trout. We were fishing on the dock and within half an hour I had caught my limit. We headed home and I showed Dave and Steve how to clean the fish. I put them on the grill and wow what a meal!

The next 4 pictures are views of the lake from Westbank.

These next 2 were taken from a mountain in Westbank...beautiful view eh?