You may be surprised what unplugging the family will lead to on vacation…sun-soaked days full of discoveries, nights spent gazing at the stars, wet and wild adventures and plenty of fun for the whole family. Nurture family memories unwinding with your nearest and dearest in Enderby and one thing is certain: you won’t hear that dreaded “there’s nothing to do” around here!

Family Field Trips

Embark on a family field trip, enjoying quiet moments in nature you can share with your whole family. You could call it an open-air classroom of sorts — but the Kingfisher Interpretive Centre is so much more. It’s where you can escape to the interior rainforest and start a conversation about stewardship and the environment with your kids.

Open year-round, it’s where you can learn about salmon on a self-guided tour, or during the summer months, with the guidance of naturalists. It’s where, on one special day each July little tykes can learn how to fish, discovering for themselves the thrill of the catch. It’s where you can watch wonder spread across your child’s face the first time they watch salmon swimming upstream, or when they land their first fish to take home. It’s the kind of place you can have fun while you’re learning, making it a field trip to remember no matter your age.

Hot Spots to Chill Out

Let’s face it…it can get hot around these parts in summer and there’s no better way to cool down than to take a well-deserved family time out and chill at the beach. Whether it’s at one of the nearby lakes or along the shores of the Shuswap River, beating the heat and building warm family memories is easy around here.

One of the best places to escape the heat is the beach at Tuey Park. Known to locals as Waterwheel Park, it’s tucked into the sandy banks where the Shuswap runs slowest. Spend your days building castles in the sand, swimming with the guppies in the slow running current, soaking up the sun from the middle of a sandbar, or splashing and floating an inner tube down the river — it’s all summer fun, no matter how you slice it.

If you like your water with a little less sand, visit the Lion’s Outdoor Pool. It’s right in the heart of town as you enter Enderby on Highway 97A, just down the road from the famous D&E Drive In Diner where soft ice cream served from their walk-up window is the perfect cool treat after a hot day in the sun.

Stargazing — Starlight Drive-In

Get swept back in time to the lazy summers of your own childhood, where stargazing meant putting on your PJs and heading to the drive-in. We’re home to the Starlight Drive-In, the largest outdoor movie theatre screen in North America and one of only three drive-ins left in all of BC.

Step back in time, to 1963 when drive-ins were in their prime! Bundle the kids up in their PJs, play Frisbee or touch football while you wait for the show to begin…making new friends with the car full of kids in the spot right next to you. Snuggle under a blanket in the backseat of your car or outside on a lawn chair watching the latest Hollywood blockbusters (just like you did when you were a kid), turning a night at the movies into a memory your kids will carry with them long after summer is gone.

The Starlight Drive-In once stood abandoned and neglected along Highway 97A at the south end of town. But, when local businessmen cut back the brush revealing the size of the screen, they knew with some muscle and momentum, they could revive a love of old fashioned drive-ins and family time spent watching movies under the stars right here in the North Okanagan.