I am not a flexible human. Physically. My body does not want to be bent at unusual angles, but when I heard that O’Keefe ranch in Vernon was putting on Goga classes in the morning during the Summer my curiosity was piqued as I had heard of this phenomenon and wanted to see it up close.
O’Keefe Ranch
I should qualify that if you have seen little dwarf baby goats jumping up to perch on yoga practitioners while they are doing downward dog, this wasn’t that. These goats looked to be about 80lbs and while you wouldn’t want them jumping on you, they were funny and got up close and personal while you rocked your poses. Prepare to be licked and snuggled and see some droppings. This was my first attempt at any kind of Yoga and it was surprisingly enjoyable for someone who has a hard time sitting still. Nothing was beyond my ability to follow and while some of the other folks were insanely adept at folding themselves every which way, there were no handstands or crazy hard advanced poses. All the goats were friendly and well behaved, short of eating one mat, and once you get passed their freaky eyes they are pretty dang cute. A little ripe, but not so much that I couldn’t enjoy a cuddle.
After we got the skinny on the history of the ranch from Diane, the guest experience coordinator, we headed over to the general store to enjoy some complimentary candy. Word of advice, stay away from the double salted black licorice gummies. The remaining ones I have are now used in dares 🤢.
Turns out O’Keefe Ranch is the birthplace of the entire Okanagan settlement so it was interesting to see how people lived 150 years ago when this whole region was first established. And they did it with a lot less WiFi so that’s pretty impressive. I suspect the goats back then saw a little less yoga too.
Hot Bread Shoppe
After immersing ourselves in the culture of the old west, we were pretty peckish and so we headed into Vernon to take up Carolyn’s invitation to swing by the Hot Bread Shoppe and sample some baked goodies. Sweet or savory, there are delectable treats for any taste and everything we tried was really good. I even had the first vegan and gluten-free cupcake that I truly enjoyed and I thought that was a bit of a unicorn up till then.
We decided to take our yummy delights over to BX falls to enjoy them in a beautiful setting and then popped over to BX Press Cidery in the hopes of getting into some cider to close off our day. I should have checked the website more closely as they were closed on Wednesdays but the good people at the farm took mercy on us and sold us some of the best cider I have had the pleasure of tasting in the valley to date. As of this writing I have already torn through the selections I took home and each was better than the next. If I had to pick a favorite it would come down to either the Rengade or the Barber Slueth. Or the Silver Fox. Ack! I can’t decide. They were all killer. I guess I’m gonna have to go back when I can sip while enjoying some food and live music. You know me though. I’ll keep ya posted.
Till then, Live Local…and Namaste…
