Vernon BC's Silver Star resort is a wonderful winter wonderland

Is there anything lighter and fluffier than Okanagan champagne powder snow?

Todd makes a snow angel in a snow bank – photo by girlfriend

I took my girlfriend Deb ice-skating at Silver Star Resort's
outdoor ice skating pond on Wednesday, Dec 28th.  It was
amazing… A huge frozen pond with an island in the middle to skate
around.  People played ice hockey at one end in their own rink,
while we skated in a whole other huge rink.

My friends Jen, Deb and Jeff smile while snowflakes fall all around them – photo Todd

The snow fell lightly.  Six centimeters of light fluffy snow lay
on the snow, that we could easily skate through.  People cleared
paths in the snow with snow shovels while a small bobcat snowblower
drove on the ice clearing the larger sections.

Todd and Deb enjoying the winter skating – photo by Jeff Stearns

It was very romantic.  It was kind of a blind double date with my friends Jeff and Jeni from Kelowna as Deb had never met them before, except for seeing their pictures on my website.

Jeff and Jen strike a pose while people play hockey in the background – photo by Todd Wong

Jeff Chiba Stearns is the award winning creative force behind the animated film “What Are You Anyways?”  His girlfriend Jeni has just joined the Save Kogawa House committee with me.  I first met Jeff and Jeni at the Vancouver Public Library for a community days display set up for the One Book One Vancouver program which was featuring Joy Kogawa's novel Obasan.

Todd skating and making turns on the ice – photo by girlfriend

It was the first time I had been to Silver Star Resort since skiing
there as a teen in 1977.  I used to love it there… especially
when my parents would take us out of school for a week of ski
lessons.  Deb grew up skiing at Silver Star because her parents
live just south of Vernon on beautiful Kalamalka Lake.

We had a wonderful time teaching Jeff how to play “crack the whip,”
playing tag on the ice, doing spins, and just experiencing the
wonderful ambience of the gentle snow flakes falling down on our
faces.  I made snow angels in the snow, and we had hot chocolate
and poutine before walking around the quaint western style village.