Osoyoos British Columbia

So lately I have been pretty heavy duty on my posts so let's lighten it up today. Enough about returning to work, phase 3, UBI, and all that other stuff.

Back in 1990 I spent a summer working in the Okanagan Valley in a small town called Oliver located in the hot southern part of British Columbia. I remember it was so hot everyday that all I did was pay $3 to get in the public pool everyday just to cool off.

Instead of everyone heading down over the border just a 20 minute drive from where I was to get into the U.S. more Americans would be heading north to the Okanagan to get their sunshine and park their RVs. The closest town to the border was a place called Osoyoos. Located just 2.2 miles from the U.S. and adjacent to the First Nations Reserve the name means the "narrowing of the waters" in the local language called Syilx'tsn. 

Definitely a place to retire over 43% of the population are over the age of 65. Situated on Osoyoos Lake it's elevation marks the lowest point in the valley at 967 feet or 276 meters. The average summer time temperature is 17.0 C or 62.6 F making it the warmest place in Canada. Temperatures can exceed 35.0 C at least 17 days during the summer. It is like a dessert because where I was in Oliver it never rained all summer and Osoyoos was the same. Air conditioning was a must.

I have looked for it on google but have yet to find it but from what I heard when I was there they even grew bananas in Osoyoos it was that hot and dry. The one thing I can say that made the heat tolerable was unlike here in Southwestern Ontario their humidity is quite low. That also made the nights bearable for sleeping as well.

Tourism and agriculture are the two main industries in Osoyoos. Irrigation made tree fruit growing possible in this dry arid climate with  cherries, apricots, nectarines, peaches, plums, pears and apples all being grown.

For the tourist you have the warmest freshwater lake in Canada being Osoyoos Lake with the temperature averaging 24.0 C or 75.0 F with many beaches to go with it and also some golf courses for the avid golfer to choose from.

With mild winters too wouldn't this be an idyllic place to retire? Only just over five thousand people in total I could handle this place no problem. Golf, beaches, fresh fruit stands everywhere and also I forgot the wines of the Okanagan right there you cannot beat it. The only problem is it is too far away from Ontario. 

When we moved from Vancouver to London Ontario way back in 2000 the wife and I camped there for 3 days. It was pretty nice. Below on the Osoyoos website they have a video cam of an osprey nest live. An osprey is a hawk with a big wing span. You can check other things going on just click
Osoyoos.

Osprey Web Cam