Boiled duck egg for brekky!

We thought we'd start the day out to the mainland with a sturdy breakfast at the Willows Inn! All foraged and local produce, yogurt, buckwheat crepes, apricot butter, honey in comb, blueberries, granola with toasted pumpkin seeds, blueberry jam, soft boiled duck egg, thick rashers of pork belly, cured salmon, pancetta, cream cheese and soft matured cheese, creme fraîche, crispy kale leaves in grape seed oil, apple cider, coffee! So you could wrap the crepes and make cheese, pork and kale wraps! Not bad for what gourmets hail as the top restaurant in the US!

Prolific blackberries!

Roadside on Lummi Island the hedgerows are brimming with fruit for the picking! Take a short stroll and get dessert! Need to bring the ice cream along....

Our neighbors on Lummi!

Next field to us is full of happy goats! In the opposite direction about 100 yards is one of the very top US restaurants The Willows Inn famous for its 20 course foraging and local produce menu served over 4 hours and costing $300 a head! I'm wondering if the goats are in the food chain?

My Chinese Toaster

After my electric toaster meltdown I made an investment in a $10 Chinese toaster that performs well on the propane range- the trick is setting the gas about midpoint so it browns rather than burns the bread!! It's a lot quicker than the electric version and much more compact for storage however the exhaust fan needs to on full to take the smoke away!

Kelowna Farmers Market

Always got to check out the local farmers market and Kelowna is one of the best with 200+ vendors all outstanding including the French crepes on demand and the samosa vendor both I did quality control on! Picked up a few veggies but an imminent cross border encounter with customs makes us cautious to seizure of fresh produce which has happened in the past!

Orchard Hill RV Kelowna

Orchard Hill is a market gardening farm with 10 RV sites nicely spaced out with espalier trained fruit trees between pads. Bruce our farm host is one of the local farmers' market weekly vendors and is hiding behind a huge mountain of prime radishes! Our first day here we placed an order for peppers, cherry tomatoes, mini cucumbers and regular tomatoes that were delivered to our door! Fresh veggies from farm to grill in a blink!

Another steam locomotive!

Can't resist the urge to jump on another steam train this one the Kettle Valley Railway in Okanagan BC running an oil fired 4-8-0 locomotive with two closed cars and two open cars. Probably the most interesting part of the old KVR track was not on our itinerary and is now a bike trail and that was the Myra Valley section with eighteen timber built trestles and two tunnels. We had a 30 minute excursion down the track near Summerland to a smaller and more modern trestle bridge and back. About 3 out of 10 on the db steam train scale of delight!

Yoga in the Winery!

Margaret doing her best yoga pose with a couple of dummies! At least it was in an outstanding winery!!

Mission Hill Winery

About ten miles south west of Kelowna sitting on a hill overlooking the scenic Okanagan Lake, the Mission Hill Winery is a contemporary architectural ovation to wine making! Developed by Anthony Von Mandl a Vancouver wine distributor, no expense has been spared to turn this beautiful estate into an outstanding wine and dine experience! Purchased a couple of bottles of Chardonnay and a Rosé to do quality control!

Lavender farm

Margaret made a bee line for the lavender farm and we enjoyed a half hour walk around the gardens, the pond and maze, herb and rock gardens, and eventually to the ubiquitous shop full of lavender products!

The Enchanted Forest

A midday break on the TCH* near Craigellachie brought us to a park that we realized was more suitable for kiddies than adults however it was fun wandering the trail through the forest and looking at all the nursery rhymes portrayed through fires pottery figures!
TCH: Trans Canadian Highway #1 and only highway some 5,000 miles long from coast to coast!

French cuisine in the Rockies!

Stumbled on this magical dining experience at Woolsey Creek Cafe in Revelstoke and enjoyed a rabbit and wild mushroom baluchon (phyllo pastry wrap) over red wine poached pear and Dijon sauce, then followed that with venison loin with gin and juniper cream sauce. Arrived in heaven!

The Eclipse

Coming over Kicking Horse Pass between Alberta and British Columbia on the Trans-Canada #1 highway we stopped to check out the spiral railway tunnels.... and that coincided with the eclipse! Our location was at least 400 miles north of the complete dark track so it was just a small occlusion! We were about 20 minutes early and one of the few views through a hole in the clouds was captured before heavy clouds moved in. We were in the first in line for the experience as the phenomenon hit the Pacific coast first and then exited over South Carolina about 90 minutes later...

Rock Isle Lake

Our last hike out of Banff helped considerably by a 20 minute 5 km 1,600 ft elevation rise gondola ride followed by a chair lift taking us up another 800 ft to the top of Standish where the meadows, dwarf pine and amazing pink wild flowers allowed us to hike for a couple hours including the goal of our journey Rock Isle Lake! This sits right on the Continental Divide separating Alberta and British Columbia. No fire smoke today and great visibility!

Moraine Lake sunrise!

Take a right turn off the Lake Louise highway and head up to Moraine Lake some 15 km up the valley for a serious scenery treat but caveat plan to be there before sunrise and before 6:45 am (car park fills up) whichever is earliest. Catch the sun as it comes over the eastern Rockies and starts to light up the tops of the ten mountain peaks around Moraine Lake. First stop go to the top of the Rock Pile by the easy path and get yourself a prime spot facing the lake and watch the sunrise, then after that excitement take the 4 km round trip hike up the north side of the lake to the observation platform at the end of the trail. One of the best day hikes you can do in the area!

The Bison Restaurant

Checking out the local cuisine in the Rockies we decided to make a special evening treat to the Bison Restaurant in Banff... needless to say the menu was covered in Canadian local farm to table meats and vegetables and fish from the BC shores. We had bison ribeye and bison short ribs some of which was shared! Usually I'm opinionated about the wines I select but this time I let the waitress recommend a local Zinfandel to go with bison! As the Bison says "One of the 10 best restaurants worth traveling the World for" - I agree!

Local wildlife

Collection of birds and beasts from the area around Banff brings you face to face with owls, longhorn sheep, bears! These were the easiest to take photos - the collection is vast and impressive at the Parks Museum...

Lake Louise

Just completed our early morning hike two miles one way up the lake and beyond up the trail leading to the Plain of Six Glaciers. Unfortunately the smoke from BC fires has move over the Continental Divide and is making for poor visibility and lousy photography. Fortunately we started early around 7 am and we beat the hordes of rude and obnoxious tourists getting off their buses mid morning! Nothing like having the trail to yourself!!