Girl’s Weekend in Kelowna 2024

By Trish White

I arrived a couple of days early this year to give Maggie a hand in getting everything organized as to which wineries we were going to what places we were going shopping at etc. She also makes this her yearly holiday, she arrives a week ahead of time so I decided to go early since she was there already. She’s the president of Gurls in the burbs and is always there to help Tammy who’s the president of the Wine Country Girls in Kelowna. I was shocked to hear that she is the only girl in Kelowna that puts this event on. She receives no help from any of the wine country girls which shocked me but on the other hand I don’t even know if she ever asked any of her members for help. But between her and Maggie this years event was every bit as good as all the previous ones. The only down side was we were all looking forward to a lot of Okanagan sunshine. I even brought my swim suit as the hotel we stayed in is right across the road from one of Lake Okanagan’s beautiful beaches and fully intended on catching at least a few rays of sunshine beachside. But as luck would or more correctly wouldn’t have it this was the first year ever where we didn’t have a full weekend of sunshine. It was raining when we arrived and continued to rain right up until we left.  

But as they say every cloud has a silver lining and there was definitely clouds but also silver linings. I think the biggest sliver lining is Kelowna is a very trans friendly city. It didn’t matter where we went we were totally accepted and always treated with respect by the people in general and all of the businesses we went to. And we went to a lot restaurants, thrift shops, high end consignment stores, the mall and of course the wineries which were amazing. During our wine tour we found out that a lot of the wineries were decimated with an unseasonably early stretch of cold weather in the fall. Some of them had to replant there entire orchards which meant zero income for three years. Others fared a little better where their orchards died back somewhat but came back with fruit in the spring. One of the wineries was called the Crown and Thieves and this place was amazing. When we first went in the whole place looked like it was hundreds of years old and that was the theme on the main floor where we sampled various varieties their wine. You can also see from one of the pics that the view from their deck overlooking lake Okanagan was breath taking. Then we went down stairs to a replica speak easy which was just as amazing as the main floor. there was a bar, a stage, dance floor and lots of tables. Apparently on the weekends they put on various different acts such as live bands, comedy shows, dinner theatres, all kinds of things. So if you’re ever in Kelowna B.C. this winery is a must see for sure. I think we hit 4 wineries and one place that made only apple cider. However due to the follies of my youth I didn’t sample any of their products. Just the smell of apple cider is enough to make this girl gag. 

After a very busy Saturday morning shopping and then an afternoon on the wine tour we all went for dinner and were looking forward to The Friends of Dorothy night club for some live entertainment and maybe a bit of dancing. I was driving and that was mistake number one, I had never driven to the night club I was always with someone else who drove. But anyway my copilots got me to the club but there was no where close to park which makes sense on a busy Saturday night in Kelowna. So in my efforts to find a parking spot somewhere close I got myself totally lost and of course, as luck would have it, I had left my cell phone in my hotel room. So I couldn’t phone my girl friends for help. I finally found a spot to park and I thought I knew where I was so I started walking and ended up at the main drag of the city which was a multitude of blocks away from the club. So it was back in my car for a long night tour of Kelowna. It was after 11:00 pm when I was so lost I couldn’t even find our hotel. So I finally gave up and luckily found our hotel, texted my girlfriends that they’d have to walk home or hitch a ride with someone. By this time I was so frustrated and upset I just went to bed. Having bared my sole to you all, I don’t need any blonde jokes in the comments section thank you very much.

Sunday was a little better, after Saturday night, I gave myself some more shopping therapy that made me feel better because I finally found a really cute beach cover up that I has been looking for at one of the thrift stores we hadn’t gone to the previous day. Then I went to the mall where I  bought some false eyelashes as well as several pairs of thigh high stockings and went to a restaurant for lunch. After lunch I was feeling much better and the Saturday night nightmare was becoming a distant memory thank god. When I was talking to Maggie and her girlfriend earlier they were talking about maybe renting a VRBO house for next year’s Girls weekend instead of paying for high priced hotel rooms plus Maggie’s profession is a cook  and volunteered to do any of the cooking required. So I’m hoping that this will happen if there’s enough girls interested. Especially when Maggie said her cheese cakes are world renowned. Is there any one of us who doesn’t like cheese cake?? And yes, everyone, I did find my way back home to Kamloops without any issues, lol.