Weekend in Wine Country: 1/2 Corked Marathon

Our Room (photo by Spirit Ridge Resort)

Last weekend Mike and I went to the Okanagan for a weekend of fun in the sun! We left on Friday morning with Ange and started our trip with a drive to Penticton for an evening of climbing.  We managed about 3 hours on the rock before heading into town for a tasty Mexican, lake-side dinner at the Vallarta Grill. After dinner we drove down to our resort, the Spirit Ridge, in Osoyoos for a relaxing benign in our super-posh room.

Ange & Mike Climbing at Skaha

The next day we got up early and headed back to Penticton for a full on day of fun.  We spent a majority of the day hanging out in the sun with Ange, Steve, BJ and baby Ben at Skaha. We had a great time catching up with our friends and getting in some good climbs. After climbing we went to check out Painted Rock and Blasted Church Wineries and begin the wine tasting portion of our weekend. After tasting a purchasing a few bottles of tasty wine we met up Lara and Barry at Salty's Seafood House on the lake-shore in Penticton for Dinner. We ended our evening by hanging out and enjoying a few drinks back in our room in Osoyoos before hitting the sack.

Ange, BJ & Baby Ben

Hiking at Skaha

Steve & Mike Climbing at Skaha

Running thru the Vineyards (Photo by Stoneboat Vineyard)

On Sunday Lara, Barry, Ange, Mike and I participated in the 1/2 Corked Marathon which is an 18 km fun run from Osoyoos to Oliver. The run goes from winery to winery and has about 12 "aid" stations, complete with snacks and wine tasting along the way. It was a beautiful sunny day, 30c, and the scenery and course were perfect! We had a great time sampling the wine, checking out the various costumes and enjoying the friendly atmosphere. 

Aid Station wine tasting (Photo by Stoneboat Vineyard)

 

Wine Tasting @ Blasted Church Vineyard

A big shout out to all the wineries that participated and made the day super awesome! especially the ones with freezies, Frozen Granita and sprinklers to help us beat the heat! The race took us about 2:20 to complete since it was totally casual, but it felt like it went by in a flash since we were having such a  good time along the way. It felt like the shortest 18km ever!

Blasted Church tasting room

At the finish line they awarded us with a picnic lunch, 2 more glasses of wine, a bottle of wine and a wine glass to take home and a candy buffet. It was an excellent afternoon relaxing in the sun.

Once we left the race we checked out a few more wineries to stock up our wine collection, had some super tasty gelato in Oliver and hit the road for the trek home.

Painted Rock Vineyard & Tasting Room

Unfortunately our ride home was a little more eventful that we had anticipated. It started off great with lots of animal sightings: 5 deer, 2 bears and a Coyote, but once we got into Manning park we came across a bicyclist who had wiped out laying on the side of the highway. We pulled over to help him and after an hour of applying first aid and holding C-spine, an ambulance finally arrived to take care of him. Luckily Ange new what she was doing and did a great job of controlling the scene and it seem that the cyclist should be alright.

 An hour goes by very slowly when you're waiting for help and it was a good eye-opener as to why we should have blankets and first aid kits in our cars, especially traveling through areas without cell reception. Ya just never know!