Snowboarding on Crystal Mountain

With the lift it goes up

Benni and Julex

That's me! Snowboardtime baby :))

Up on the mountain

Benni on the ride

On the lift

Kelowna is perfect situated for any kind of wintersport. You have a lot of world class ski resorts like Big White, Mt Baldy, Apex Mt., Silverstar and Crystal direct before your door. Compared with th alps wintersport here is much cheaper. Up on the mountains the life seems to be fantastic. It's just having fun, relaxing and snowboarding.

Some days before christmas we went snowboarding on top of Crystal Mountain. There we rent some boards and had some fun.
The weather was amazing. It was minus 20 degrees but the sun was shining and the sky was deep blue. It was like a dream. It was my first time snowboarding.
We took the lift up and just enjoyed the rides down. We were almost alone on the trails and the snow was fresh too. Just perfect.
Of course because of my first time practic snowboarding I sat a lot of time on my ass. But doesn't matter. The experience was fantastic...
After boarding we relaxed with a hot tea in the lounge of the resort and at the evening we rode back with our lovly camper to Kelowna.

All the white stuff everywhere!!!

Hey there!

A winter wounderland

Yepee!!

Our small friends

Sunset in the Okanagan valley with the lake

Mhmm!!!


We had so much snow over Christmas. It was just unbelievable. At the first day after Christmas we went in a forest next to the City with some small friends and made some pictures. It was fantastic! Look at the pictures.

Greetings Karsten

Merry Chrismas to the world

The chrismas crew wit their stylish hats ;)

nibble cookies :))

Our dinner

We made tasty cookies

Preparations in the citchen for the dinner

Hey,

I know it's a little bit late for this entry but that means I' m just 2 weeks short;))
At first I hope everybody had a nice chrismas. I hope nobody had a chrismas eve alone. I hope everything was fine without stress and everything in harmonie. Because I think exactly this is the problem at chrismas eve some people expect to much and try to create the perfect chrismas party. Most of the time the story ends with a lot of troubles.
So I wish everybody a nice chrismas eve with their families in harmonie and peace all over the world.

We celebrated a nice chrismas eve in our new and lovely flat. Together we bought some things for a nice dinner. Then at the evening we cooked a great dinner with schwaebischen Kaesespaetzle and some meat. Then we made a very tasty Gluehwein and baked cookies. Everthing was just fantastic and much fun. After the Dinner we were so exited to get our presents. Everybody made a present to eyerbody. Just little and cheap things. Nothing with value but with a great personality value. After that we watched a nice movie. Oh and I forgot we had white chrismas with tons of the white stuff.

It was a great evening and for everybody from us the first chrismas without the own family.

At the next day we baked a Christstollen.

I wish everybody all the best!

Merry Christmas

Karsten

Our lovely flat

Relax Julex on the couch. Background: kitchen and bar

Our couch

Bar, kitchen and couch

My cosy bed at the bottom

The amazing view from the balcony at the lake

Because we doesn't want to spent the chrismas eve in the hostel. We searched for a nice flat were we could spent some time.
In the internet we found an ad of an amazing luxury apartment on the lake. This apartment was with hot tube, pool, sauna and fitness facility. 2 bedroom and 2 bedroom and everything you need. We thought something must be wrong because the monthly rent was just 1400 Dollar. That means only 350 Dollar for everybody. What for an amazing price. That's cheeper than hostel. Just unbelivevable!!!
So we decided to check this apartment out. Together we went to this place. The host showed us the apartment. It is situated in a big apartment complex. The view from the living room on the lake and the mountains is so fantastic. You have a laundry a dryer, TV, dishwasher and a fireplace. Than the whole apartment is furnished and equiped with everything you need with an african touch. It's so amazing. The flat is close situated to the downtown, the bus depot and a grocery store.

JUST PERFECT!!!

Of course we rent it.

Check it out by yourself at this website you have a 360 degree view in our flat:

http://www.kelownabayresort.com/suites/212/suite_212.htm

Arctic conditions in our frozen camper

The ice at the window in the morning sun

The fog of the tea

The first nights in Kelowna were really hard. It wasn't just cold. The nights were frozen. We slept in the car but after the first 3 nights in a row under minus 15 degree Julex, Stephie and Benni went in the hostel.
I slept 3 other nights in the car. But then the temperatures fall under minus 25 degree. Unfortunately the heating doesn't work because the battery is an old one without power. The car is not insulated that means the car cooled out after 30 minutes. I felt frozen. I slept in two sleeping bags and worn thermo insulated clothes which kept my body warm. So I could sleep "well".
It was a crazy experience to survive by arctic temperatures. But after 3 nights I decided to went in the hostel too. The problem was not to sleep by the deep temperatures. The problem was the water and all the food began to froze. So I ate instead of kiwi kiwi ice. If I cooked a tea in the car you could saw only fog because of the heat. Everything together an exiting experience which I don't want to make again.

Greetings from Kelowna

Welcome in the beautiful Okanagan Valley

The awesome winter at the Okanagan Lake

The jump into the lake ... Let's do it!

The downtown with the mountains in the background

The design sculpture of Kelowna

The waterfront walk at the lake

Kelowna beach at winter time

The harbour of Kelowna

The party crew at dinner time in our lovely camper.

The amazing view from the Big white...

Sunset without words

Hey,

since 3 weeks we are in the nice town of Kelowna now.
The city is situated in the heart of the Rocky Mountains. The valley is very popular in the summer time by many tourists. The summers are hot and try so there are alot of vinerys.
Here you can do everything you can imagine. There is the huge Okanagan Lake where you can go swimming, doing waterski, wakeboarding or just relaxing at the great sandy beaches here. Than you have the mountains where you can go mountainbiking, hiking or climbing in the summer too.

But in the winter you can do a lot of things too. All around the city there are a lot of beautiful ski resorts where you can snowboarding and sking in the winter. So there is for example: Big White, Silverstar, Crystal Mountain, Mt Baldy, apex Mountain,.. In the forests you can go crosscountry sking, riding a skidoo or a quad. You have the choice and this choice here is just amazing. The landscape here is so great. There are so many provincial parks where are a lot of hiking trails.
But not only the area around Kelowna is nice. The downtown of Kelowna is very special as well. There are a lot of lovely and interesting pubs, a cinema, a lot of night clubs and shopping facilitys as well. Than there are a lot of nice coffee's, an art walk with an interesting art gallery, a stadium wher the local hockey team called Rockets play...

Everthing together a nice place to spent some time in the Winter.

Greetings from Kelowna

Karsten

Check these websites out:

http://okanagan.com/maps/
http://www.kelowna.ca/CM/Page641.aspx
http://www.tourismkelowna.com/de/