This past weekend we played tourist and did a Kootenay Lake, East Shore to North Shore, road trip with an extended stay in Nelson for MarketFest. Keep reading to check out all the stops we made along the way!
We left Kuskanook in the afternoon and wove our way down the lake road to Crawford Bay to visit the local artisans. Our first stop was Red's Bakery and a stroll through the charming Kokanee Chalets. The smell of fresh baked goods coming from Red's is a reward in itself. We enjoyed hot coffee and a scrumptious egg and bacon scone on their mini patio before heading to the North Woven Broom Co. A long-time favourite of ours, we never miss going in and checking out all the amazing handcrafted brooms. We spent quite a bit of time at Dog Patch Pottery as well. The two people in the shop were friendly and we were quite taken with Shrpixieland's and White Owl Ceramics work.
En route to Kootenay Bay, traffic started to pick up. We missed our intended boat, so had time to enjoy the beach and catch up with a friend from Cranbrook who was also waiting in line. We hydrated with The Raw House's limited edition Jama juice and 30 minutes later we were loaded onto the Osprey heading to Nelson.
We shuttled across B.O.B and went straight to the Adventure Hotel, our funky home for the night. We settled on an early pre-MarketFest dinner on the patio of Cantina del Centro and it did not disappoint. We shared chips and gauc and 3 tacos each. The variety of flavours at this place is divine. Every bite was different and we washed it all down with some of the best margaritas we've ever had. Coconut Habanero for the win! After eating, we went back to the Adventure Hotel to change and then off to MarketFest to set up.
MarketFest was a blast. There was music, dancing, food, and almost 100 vendors! As MarketFest newbies, we realized by 9:00 pm that lights in our booth would have been helpful as it got much darker than expected! Lesson learned. It was so busy we have barely any photos of the event. A shout out to Leaf for the wifi access too! We met lots of great Kootenay people, curious tourists, and caught up with friends which truly made our night. By 11:30, we were back in our hotel and exhausted. Lights out!
The next morning we had to get back to Creston for winery visits, but not before we filled our bellies with one more Nelson staple - breakfast at the Full Circle Cafe. Our server was super friendly, and the breakfast was perfection. Hearty, flavourful, and unique.
We grabbed coffee to go from Empire and our 'Snow Capped Almond' bars from Mountain Bite (Thanks Melinda!) and hit the road back to the ferry. A lot of smoke was moving in from the remaining forest fires, but we managed to catch a glimpse of a majestic blue heron on the shoreline before we embarked into the centre of the lake. On the way home we made a quick stop at The Pepper People in Destiny Bay for hot sauce and pickled garlic scapes for some killer caesars! (Recipe here!)
It's always refreshing to play tourist in your own backyard - we highly recommend it. It's something we hadn't done ourselves in awhile. Our plates were filled this weekend; not just with delicious food, but local products, nature, friends, and new connections. ❤