Penticton Memories

The only times that I have really been camping, not just in a tent in the backyard, are the times my mom, brother and I drove up to Penticton to spend a week with my aunt and cousin. This summer, while we were there, we set up our cousin’s tent trailer right on the beach of Skaha lake. The lake is very long and thin, with a public beach at one end at a bridge at Okanagan Falls at the other. My cousins own a wakeboarding boat, and we would go out in the afternoon to get Hawaiian shaved ice at the beach and then jump off the bridge at the other end. My cousin Erin and I would always jump off the lowest ledge of the bridge so that we wouldn’t splash down far enough to have the seaweed touch us. I loved riding in the boat, with the sun shining and warming us up as the wind sent goosebumps over our arms and chests. When we weren’t on the boat, we spent our days reading in lawn chairs and making friendship bracelets out of embroidery thread. I really enjoyed making friendship bracelets with Erin because she has a bad knee, so she wasn’t able to really do much else other than tan, read, and make friendship bracelets. There was also a grass volleyball court at the campgrounds, and most nights after we had eaten a dinner made completely on the propane barbeque we would play kids versus adults. The kids would always win, and the evening would end with the parents complaining how they were at a disadvantage because the sun was shining in their eyes. Some of my favourite memories from the trip to Penticton this summer was when we floated down the canal. The whole family plus my cousin’s friends brought floaties to the canal and tied them all together with a long piece of rope. Our floating armada of floaties (there were at least 10 rafts and floating chairs) took up the majority of the canal. It took us almost three hours to float all the way down the channel, during which Erin and I were able to get some of the worst sunburns on our backs we’d had since we went to Hawaii for Christmas. We tanned and gossiped the whole time, and the whole experience was very fun. Another great memory from the trip was when we drove to Tickleberry’s in Okanagan Falls. Tickleberry’s is a huge ice cream shop that has easily 50 flavours of ice cream. We went several times, and I got sea salt caramel flavour all the times we went. My brother wanted to get a large cone, because they would take a picture and put it on the wall. I had a lot of fun this summer in Penticton, and there were many good memories made that I will look back on fondly.