Around and About Vernon, B.C. with Tony and Dee Dee

Wednesday, June 28, 2017 was our last day in Vernon, so we decided with Tony and Dee Dee to do a little bit of tourist stuff.

Our first stop was O'Keefe Ranch, a historic ranch and associated ghost town located on the Canadian National Railway, just northwest of Vernon. The town was founded in 1867 by Cornelius O'Keefe. Cornelius was a cattleman who became known as "the O'Keefe of Okanagan." He was an Irishman whose ranch was an early center of trade in the Okanagan. The town later contained a general store, Roman Catholic church, and a post office.  It has been restored and is now a museum and tourist destination.

Here is our obligatory selfie in front of the O'Keefe residence.  We were allowed to tour inside, but could not take any photos.  It contained all of the original furnishings, including wallpaper and other features, which made it interesting and educational.

The ranch raised cattle and horses, and Kathy couldn't resist a free ride on one of the equine residents:

The little church was particularly pretty:

David always seems to be suffering from the tender mercies of bears.  Here, an ursine fellow nuzzles David while he is trying to pose for this photo:

Following up on her ranchly interest, Kathy moved on to try to rope a steer:

Tony followed suit and scored!

Here, Kathy and Dee Dee are making friends with some of the little goats.  One fellow, however, is more interested in David and his camera:

This fellow rules the barnyard...

...well, maybe until this fellow shows up:

Kathy exclaimed, "Dalmation sheep?!? Well, Land o'Goshen!"

And what's with this fellow, who has FOUR horns???  Actually, these are a recognized species, Jacob Sheep.  They were very friendly and curious, as this one demonstrated when David's camera got too close:

No trip to a region is complete without sampling its wineries, breweries and distilleries.   So, we couldn't resist stopping at the Okanagan Spirits Craft Distillery in Vernon.  It is Western Canada’s oldest craft distillery, dating back to 2004. The distillery sprung from the idea of using 100% locally grown fruits and grains to make premium, world-class spirits just a tractor-ride away from the orchards and fields where the base ingredients were grown. It offers a selection of more than 25 internationally awarded spirits ranging from BC’s first Single Malt Whisky to Gins, Vodkas, Liqueurs, Fruit Brandies and even Aquavit and Absinthe.

David was particularly interested in the absinthe, which tastes like licorice.  It was very tasty, but not enough to tempt us into buying any.  We were interested, however, in this antique absinthe dispenser:

Our tourist duties fulfilled, we retired back to Tony's and Dee Dee's RV to grill some of the sausages we bought in Vernon and enjoy some of the other foods we found locally:

Their campsite sat higher than ours, and they had a spectacular view of Kalamalka Lake over lower levels of the campground:

Our appetites sated and our stay in Vernon coming to an end - and, in recognition that we were about to part ways (Tony and Dee Dee to head back to Penticton for its Canada Day celebration, and we to head up to Revelstoke for that community's holiday) - we lifted one final glass to our absent RV friends:  all of the other Unusual Suspects!