Relaxin' in Quilchena!

We arrived at Quilchena Point RV and Marina in Quilchena, BC, on August 25th and stayed for a week on our way to Kelowna. Quilchena is a very small community located on the south shore or Nicola Lake near Merritt, BC. There is not much in Quilchena, but I loved the RV Park. Again, not much there but it was so open, small, well maintained, very clean, lots of grass, and right on Nicola Lake.

There seemed to be a resident bald eagle that I would see most mornings. The first morning I was taking Merlot for a stroll and an elderly gentleman asked if I saw the black bear running along the beach earlier! I hadn’t, but wished I had!!

There was also a small road leading from the RV Park to a day use area where you need to actually have a code to open the gate for entry. Everyone in the park obviously had the code, but not sure if anyone outside the park did. Regardless there was never anyone else enjoying it, so it felt like it was our private little piece of heaven!! This is where we spent most of our time through the day! So relaxing.

We didn’t do much exploring other than into Merritt, where we saw Merritt’s most historical building, the Coldwater Hotel.

It has small pretty cool history! Cowboys used to hitch up their horses to socialize there. Billy Miner, the famous train robber also stayed there hiding stolen securities and bonds, valued at about $300,000 Cdn, in room 29. After fleeing to Europe for over 2 years, Billy came back and requested the same room. He was eventually caught by a CPR detective, Charles Brady in the early 1900s. The hotel is also considered haunted after 1969 when a dead body was found in one of the rooms by a chambermaid. It was discovered that the body was that of an unemployed transient who had been placed there for the night by the welfare authorities.

There was also the Murray United Church which is the oldest building in the Nicola Valley on highway 5A on the way of Quilchena. It was built in 1876 and is the only building still standing made with local Nicola Valley lumber. And of course the old courthouse from the early 1900s, which is now a private residence. Crazy!

Two days after we arrived so did Tammy and Dan!!! They arrived in their tag trailer and stayed at the RV park for 3 nights. We had so much fun just hanging by the water, trying new refreshing summer drinks, kayaking and paddle boarding. The 4 pups had such a great time as well even though Gordon did fall off the paddle board once! The evenings were spent preparing and sharing great meals and just enjoying each other’s company.

Had to share this pic of the beautiful night sky over Nicola Lake at the RV Park!

We are so excited to get to Canyon Farms in Kelowna to stay for the whole month of September...last stop before crossing the border!! Don't forget to check out the rest of the pics from Quilchena under the Photo Albums tab.