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Image credit: Calgary Herald
Hard to leave the easy life
By Marty Hope
It's funny how you can visit a place and just feel so darned comfortable, it's takes all the willpower you have to leave.
I hadn't been in the Okanagan Valley for a few years, but I remembered how relaxing it was just to hang out by the water, sip something cool and let the world go by.
I guess when it comes down to it, it's the proximity of water.
Water just has a way of quietly taking the rush out of your day.
So it was in late August when New Homes writer Kathy McCormick and New Homes editor Barb Livingstone spent five days driving between Vernon, the Lake Country, Kelowna, Peachland, Summerland and Penticton to write a series of articles on the Alberta-fuelled boom in recreational housing that has flooded the valley.
The series kicks off today in the Recreation and Investment Properties portion of the New Condos section and carries on for the next four Saturdays.
Anyway, back to the valley: Lunch time would find us in Rose's cantina.
We sat overlooking Lake Okanagan and the marina on the Kelowna waterfront, kicking around the interviews we did in the morning and deciding on the afternoon work schedule.
The next day, we were in Vernon, where I visited with David Murphy of Foxbridge Developments and the rest of his crew who were working on The Strand Lakeside Resort.
I spent most of the time interviewing from an under-construction corner suite where I could see the wavelets lapping against the shore through massive window openings.
The larger part of two days were also spent going from Peachland to Penticton.
On one of these occasions, lunch was at Salty's in Penticton, where we sat at the outdoor patio across the street, with a great view of the sandy beach and Ogopogo's watery home.
That morning, we visited projects such as Alysen Place and The Verana -- just two of several developments going up along Skaha Road that have attracted purchasers from Calgary -- as well as the Lakeshore Three project just down the street a few blocks from Salty's.
On another day, I got some fabulous views of the lake from above the numerous boutique wineries along the Naramata Benchlands, where developer Robin Agur -- who is also putting together a golf course residential project called Summerland Hills Golf Resort -- has plans for an upscale, single-family development across the lake.
I recall standing on a big chunk of rock on one of the lots high above the lake and hearing Agur say: "From here, you have uninterrupted views of the lake from Penticton to Peachland."
Again, I felt the near-overwhelming desire to park myself on the rock and hang out.
The next day, we found ourselves in Kettle Valley looking at a neo-traditional neighbourhood of Cape Cod-style homes, and a small main street retail and commercial node, that just quietly screamed at us to relax, kick back and enjoy the serenity of the place.
A short stroll took us to a cul-de-sac where there are some fabulous homes. Behind them was the lake, across which was downtown Kelowna.
It's not difficult to understand why so many Calgarians are pouring over the Rockies and laying claim to some of the lake and golf course properties being developed up and down the valley.
I think Marc Vassallo, the author of The Barefoot Home, described my feelings about the Okanagan Valley fairly accurately when he talks about a "no-tie-required" lifestyle. |
