The Lake Garda in the middle of Canada

A friendly honking train driver wakes me up. Sweetheart prepares breakfast as usual. All around us, everyone is packing up and getting ready to leave. We quickly say goodbye to Mathias, the emigrant. After long preparation, he emigrated to Canada with his parents in 2009. At the age of 29, he just had his first child with his wife (4 months old) and already has his own house, impressive!

The real estate prices have tripled in Canada since then.

And we say goodbye to Liz and Doug with their dog Luna (Luna is also very young, just 5 months old😊). The three are currently testing their brand new trailer. Almost right at their doorstep, as Vernon is about 100 km away. The trailer is similar in size to our MS68.

It was a pleasure to meet you folks!

(And if the German is too difficult to understand, use the Google Translate or Apple site translation, that works fine👍🏻.) 

Today we are heading to a wine region about 200 km away, the Okanagan Lake in Peachland. The sun is shining from the sky and the thermometer shows 28 degrees.

We booked Todds Campground yesterday morning. However, we only got a spot that is not very nice, but there was nothing else available. It is a popular vacation area and Canadians are crazy about camping. If we don't like it at all, we can just move on after one night.

Today I am behind the wheel again, so there won't be as many pictures from the drive because Sweetheart hates taking pictures through the window. But you can't stop every 10 meters, firstly there are few pull-offs, and secondly, when do we want to reach our destination?🤨

The area is slowly becoming snow-free and greener. After turning onto Highway 97 towards Kelowna, the first agricultural sections begin.

We are driving along a wonderful lakeside road along Mara Lakes, which reminds me of the serpentine roads at Lake Garda, except that the road here is wider.

We pass through Vernon, the city where the two acquaintances from the last campsite come from. It's actually a city with a 4-lane road, and countless gas stations and stores on both sides.

Facts: Vernon has been a city in the province of British Columbia in the Regional District of North Okanagan since 1892. It is named after Forbes George Vernon, who was a member of the British Columbia Legislative Assembly. This is the boundary for cheap gasoline. After that, it gets more expensive again - unfortunately, our tank is still full.

The next really big city is Kelowna. Here, the highway has 6 lanes. Shopping malls (grandma, for you: a mall is a huge shopping hall with different stores under one roof, just like the Ernst-August Galerie in Hanover) line both sides of the highway as far as the eye can see. Followed by an endless collection of fast-food restaurants. Except for Ford and VW (they were in Vernon), the most common car dealerships line the highway here. It's unbelievably busy here on Sundays.

Facts: Kelowna is the largest city on Okanagan Lake in British Columbia, Canada, with almost 130,000 inhabitants. It was first settled by missionaries in 1859 and officially granted city status in 1905. The city is the eighth largest in British Columbia and ranks 43rd in all of Canada. (*wiki)

Eventually, after countless traffic lights, we reach Todds Campground. The campground is only separated from the lake by a small, lightly-traveled road.

What a beautiful location. And once again, luck is on our side, we didn't get the consolation spot in the back corner,

but rather one right in the middle,

with a view of the lake.

Yes, it's a bit cramped, but the location is so great that we are considering extending our stay by 2 days. The "Lake Garda" in the middle of Canada. After a short walk to buy salad, we put 2 air mattresses in the shopping cart and book 2 additional days.

Then on the second to last day, we have to drive a bit longer, but it would be sacrilege not to take advantage of such a beautiful place in dream weather.

Facts: Todds Campground has been around since 1956. Over 820,000 guests have been here in 66 years.

Now it is closing its doors forever on September 7th and making way for fancy condominiums.

We are already considering buying a second home here for 1 million Canadian dollars. That is definitely a good investment.

PS: the weather report was right, it's raining in Kelowna and Sweetheart can go swimming with dry feet