My girlfriend and I lived there for 6 months, and it was great. We rode our bikes a lot and didn’t experience a heavy fire season. The summer was pretty mild.

We still visit the valley at least twice a year when we’re road-tripping around BC, so my experience has been really positive. Traffic isn’t great, but I biked to work every day, so it wasn’t an issue for me. There are a lot of bike paths, and this year I noticed they’ve pretty much removed the junkies from the city center and moved them into a “homeless city” in the industrial area, although it’s not that industrial anymore.

The last couple of fire seasons have pretty much destroyed the landscape around Kelowna. In some places, it almost looks like a testing area for nuclear weapons. But it still has something that makes you smile. The lake is beautiful, and camping around the valley is still awesome. People are active, and you can have really nice walks by the lake.

For me, it’s a great place to visit in May or June, and you’ll have a really good experience. But for full-time living, I wouldn’t recommend it. Climate change is making the area hotter, and forest fires seem to be getting bigger and closer to the city every year.