Road Trips, Volume 3 Radio Interview with 103.9 The Lake

Whether you’re looking for a planned excursion or an adventure on the fly, Road Trips: Rediscover Your Own Backyard is full of inspiration for the open road. Learn the best routes, restaurants, and attractions to stay local this season and discover hidden gems close to home. Still hesitating on whether to purchase your own copy? Then check out the radio interview that Desiree Miller, BC Magazine’s Marketing Manager, did with 103.9 The Lake! Click on the Play button below to listen to the radio interview or read the interview transcript below.

TJ: Fingers crossed that Dr. Bonnie is gonna, you know, drop the gauntlet and say it is time to move. I mean, we’re all just hankering to move and to that end, there is a group that publishes the most gorgeous magazines in our province. Let me, let me hit you up with these. There’s BC Magazine, Pacific Yachting, BC Outdoors, Outdoor Canada, just to name a few and one of the gals who is involved is a girl we used to work with—a lady we used to work with here in Kelowna many, many moons ago in the broadcast business. Desiree Miller is the Marketing Manager with OP Media Group, which is also known as BC Magazine, and she joins us on the line. How you doing, Des?

Desiree: I’m doing awesome. How are you guys?

TJ: We’re doing well. We’re hoping we can move soon and to that, you have just released Volume 3 of your Road Trips book. It’s amazing to all about rediscovering your own backyard.

Desiree: Yeah, we are, we’re super excited. It is, it’s our third annual. Obviously last year, there was a hiatus with COVID and so we’re so excited that, like, there is the potential on the horizon that people can kind of hit the road again and start exploring further than their backyard. But I think, you know, one of the things that came up from this last year was also rediscovering what is kind of right around the corner which is, you know, little haunts and pit stops and nature walks that, you know, when you’re always thinking about traveling abroad, you kind of don’t always see what’s right in front of you. So that is sort of the nature of this book and what was kind of close to our hearts is, is looking, looking really close by but also having a little adventure along the way.

Andy: You know and it’s funny you say that because TJ and I have discovered literally our own backyard. We have lived in our neighbourhood for 13 years and just got into hiking around Knox Mountain and I don’t think we’re alone. So, the timing of this book is not only perfect with, you know, Dr. Bonnie hopefully dropping the gauntlet—you have given us all these little hideaways, nooks and crannies. We really live in a spectacular place!

Desiree: Oh, it’s, there’s so many neat little stops but you might not even think about and that’s one of the things we really touch on is that we featured, like, 20 different scenic and iconic drives in the province. But, you know, you’re just going to love the drive itself for what you’re going to see. But it really is about the journey because option on a road trip is those little places that you stop but you don’t even you know about that kind of make up how great the trip is. You know, the random place where you got a jelly doughnut that you didn’t even know was there or stopping at a small town that, you know, sells the best homemade soup in the province. That’s kind of what we wanted to bring to the surface and also, you know, really showcase some local businesses who could use some attention after the year that we’ve just had. So that’s where we’re coming from and there’s, like, so many from natured walks to little shops and stops along the way.

TJ: Des, you wrote a beautiful piece featuring the Thompson-Okanagan with regards to cideries because, I mean, everybody’s done the wine tours but this burgeoning cidery business—fascinating, huh?

Desiree: Oh, I was, I was lucky enough to be able to do that cider crawl when the travel restrictions were loosened a little bit and, you know, I obviously still live there and I had done the wine numerous times. Go back every year for it when I can, but this is a neat way to experience kind of the other part of the farming industry of the Okanagan, which was the orchard and how they have really, you know, brought the taste right into the glass and, like, so many interesting flavours out there. I had one that was called “Peach Pie” that, like, still, you know, I can still taste it when I think about it. It was just, like, a really interesting flavour—different and, you know, you just don’t think about that. You kind of think “Apple Pear Cider” but there’s a whole spectrum of flavours that the Okanagan is showcasing and that goes all the way down, I mean, there’s, cideries are popping up all over BC, but it’s such a neat little tour just right around the corner in your own backyard there.

TJ: Your Volume 3 of Road Trips: Rediscovering Your Own Backyard features BC’s 20 best drives. We cannot wait to get behind the wheel, but we need this guide with us. How do our listeners get a copy of this, Des?

Desiree: So, it’s on newsstands. You know, your local London Drugs, Shoppers Drug Mart, Indigo Chapters will have it for sure. You can also go online to bcmag.ca/roadguide and buy it directly and we can ship it right to you and it’s just kind of one of those handy things—you can put it in the glove box, keep it in your car, and either plan ahead or be inspired on the whim. But hopefully it’ll get people going this summer if we’re allowed to.

TJ: Des, you and your hubby, Dale, have 3 beautiful children. Where’s the first place you guys are thinking about venturing out once things bust open?

Desiree: Oh, we, oh, it was so great. We did a huge road trip, the five of us, in our Jeep in 2018 and we did a huge circle all the way up north into the Okanagan and then through the Rockies and, oh, sorry , we went all the way to Alberta, then through the Rockies and through the Okanagan, home. So I think this round we’re gonna hit Vancouver Island. It’s close to our hearts but there’s so many amazing drives there where you get to see some of the ancient old-growth trees and the forests around those sort of Pacific Rim beach drives and whatnot. On the west side, there is a whole new wine, sort of, culture that is evolving on the on the island which is really exciting and so I think we’re going to just hunker down and take our time and make our way from one end to the other.

TJ: Well, you know you’d mentioned before about, like, finding that doughnut that you’ll never forget or that bowl of soup. I remember taking trips to Grand Forks specifically for a bowl of borscht and I’m so happy that we might be able to do that again soon!

Desiree: That is, that is my dad’s number, that is what was on my mind when I said that—that’s my dad’s number one stop—is Grand Forks borscht. He always goes that route to get that soup.

TJ: Well, Des, we think of how many people internationally come to BC for their, you know, holidays. We live here, so we gotta get out. We’ve got to appreciate what we have in our own backyard and what we’ve done is we’ve put a link to your brand new Road Trips book on our Facebook page, The Lake Facebook page, and we just encourage everybody to go there. But in the meantime, have a great summer.

Desiree: Awesome, thank you. You too.