What do snowshoes, fish tacos, hotel room dance parties and shopping carts loaded with liquor all have in common? 1) They are a few of our favourite things and 2) they are all part of our weekend getaway in Vernon!
Whether you’re an Okanagan visitor or dweller, Vernon is an awesome place to slow down, recharge and get outdoors.
We gathered up a group of the raddest ladies we could find and spent a couple days in good company. Role call!
Stacey Rosch, Do The Okanagan.
Katie Lindskoog, Literal Life of Katie.
Kyla Kingsep, Studio Ki.
Saffron Quist, Do The Okanagan.
Sara Knol, Knol Haus.
Yana Crane Photography
One thing we absolutely wanted to do on this trip was get outside, soak in some crisp air and get our blood pumping. Vernon is home to some of the most beautiful trails that are not just for summer. A few of our favourites are Turtle Mountain, Bella Vista Grey Canal, Rail Trail and Foothills Grey Canal. Since Vernon got a ton of snow at the beginning of January, we decided to hit the trail snowshoe style.
Yana Crane Photography
Not all of us have our own snowshoes so we headed to Valhalla Pure Outfitters to rent the gear we needed.
Valhalla Pure is stocked with everything outdoorsy, summer or winter, and their stuff is awesome! Renting gear is a great way to try a new activity without the commitment. Our tip: snowshoes rentals are only $15 per pair for a full 24 hour rental. This meant that we could get a couple treks in if we wanted and that we didn’t have to rush back.
5 pairs of snowshoes to go, please!
Once we were all geared up, we headed out to the Foothills loop of the Grey Canal. This trail boasts amazing views spanning from Swan Lake all the way out to Okanagan Lake with the entire city in between. This particular trail is great for beginners on snowshoes because it’s not too steep and only takes 45 minutes to an hour to complete.
We brought hot tea and a beautiful picnic charcuterie box with us from Crudité & Co. The box was perfectly wrapped, portable and loaded with meats, cheeses, a variety of crackers, veggies, fruit, hummus, olives and almonds. These boxes are amazing because not only are they beautiful and delicious, but you can order them in various sizes for any gathering or occasion! Our tip: get the big box so you have leftovers for late night noshing!
After we had our fill of the great outdoors (freezing our butts off in -27 degrees pretending to be outdoorsy), we decided to warm up with a little retail therapy. Boutique shopping downtown Vernon is super sweet! We meandered the shops and spent some time in Cento Wear, a women’s clothing boutique loaded with beautiful things that scream “take my husband’s money”.
Cento Wear has a little bit of everything. We found sparkly dresses, gorgeous winter coats, unique blazers and adorable pencil skirts. They also had a variety of accessories and purses - it was hard to pick a favourite! The staff was very helpful picking out outfits for us, queue the cheesy music and changing room montage!
Any girls’ weekend in Vernon wouldn’t be complete without a trip to a well stocked liquor store. I mean, we had an empty hotel fridge waiting for us. So before we headed to our lodging for the weekend, we stopped at Monashees. They have an amazing selection of all of our favourites - including Okanagan wines, craft beers and locally made spirits.
In true Do The Okanagan fashion, we had more liquor than we could carry. Luckily for us, Monashee’s has full sized shopping carts (on wheels) and very helpful staff. Thanks Pete!
Once we loaded up our favourite bevies, we headed over to The Castle at Swan Lake. Penthouse suite anyone? Yes please! We highly recommend booking this beautiful suite for you and your girls. The elevator opens right up into your living room! Who are we, Beyonce?!
A few necessary activities once we arrived: pour a glass of wine (the in-suite kitchen is stocked with wine glasses and everything else you’ll need), check out the gorgeous views of Swan Lake, jump on the bed like absolute maniacs, see if we could all fit in the bathtub (spoiler: we could) and use the hair dryer as a music video-esque fan while we listened to our favourite early 2000’s bubblegum pop hits.
Naturally, after not snacking for over an hour, we were so very hungry. We got ourselves presentable and headed back into town for dinner. Our pick? Marten’s Brew Pub - our go-to Vernon pub stop. Not only do they make their own beer and kombucha, but the food and atmosphere are amazing.
We grabbed a table upstairs, admired the view of downtown and immediately ordered flights of beer. We were thirsty and luckily Marten’s has a lot of options. Did we try them all? Well, we certainly made an attempt. Our fave was the Hello Okanagan Collab brew - an Okanagan Peach Wheat beer that was the perfect amount of light and hoppy with a fruity finish.
For eating, we ordered their Ahi Tuna Stack and enough tacos to feed 15 people. Our tip: order a variety of tacos to share - they have fish, carnitas, brisket and chicken. You’re going to want to try them all because they were delicious! And the Ahi Tuna Stack was the group favourite. We found ourselves fighting over the last bites.
Once we were very full, and extremely happy, we rolled… I mean headed back to The Castle for a good night’s rest. Just kidding, we stayed up way too late, drank all our alcohol, polished of the Crudite and Co box and pulled up some vintage Pop Up Videos on YouTube. What can we say, it was girls weekend!