Sat, Aug 18, 2012

There was a heavy anticipation in the air as everyone woke and began to organize. The reason for this family reunion had finally arrived- it was my cousin Lara’s wedding day!

I woke up feeling unrested for the second day in a row (the Kelowna phenomenon), and so I spent most of the morning in bed. Around 11am my brother and I went for a walk downtown to grab some coffee and a breakfast sandwich, and around noon we returned to the hotel and I spent the next few hours watching films and lounging.

The wedding itself was held at a resort community called La Casa, on the west side of Lake Okanagan almost directly across from the Grey Monk winery. There were shuttles that picked us up at the hotel and after about 40 minutes we reached our destination. The ride itself was along the famous West Side Road- a very perilous stretch of highway that I was looking forward to riding on Silver when I left Kelowna.

La Casa boasts breathtaking scenery- especially the little garden that was the site of the ceremony. In fact, I cannot think of a more beautiful location for a wedding, at least not one that I’ve been to. The ceremony was high up on a ledge overlooking the Lake. The sun was shining, there were no clouds in the sky, and it was about 34 degrees out. There was a single tree up there that offered shade, and given that everyone was in dress clothes, the shade was prime real estate as an escape from the intense heat.

After the ceremony we all filed into the cantina down the road for the reception. The reception itself was fantastic…lots of opportunity to catch up with family, got into some great conversations with some other wedding guests who were from the Okanagan and also rode motorcycles, and of course the food. Ah, the food. Crazy good. Little serve yourself food stations with sliders, yam fries, risotto balls, butter chicken, pakoras, raviolis, cheeses, assorted meats, chicken avocado bites, crab cakes, mozzarella and tomato balls…I’m forgetting some here but you get the point.

The reception turned into a dance which also turned into a midnight lake cruise that took guests from La Casa to Kelowna. However, this old Road Warrior has had too many nights in his past involving open bars and late nights…and I knew the smart play was to take it easy and go back to the hotel when I was tired. At around 11pm I caught a ride with my uncle to the hotel, and within about a half hour I crashed.