May Long See & Do
May long weekend has always been our unofficial kick-off to summer. The weather has finally started to turn, the days are longer, and lazy beach hangs and outdoor living are on our mind.
May long is Blossom Festival weekend in Creston, so there were ton of things going on. On Saturday, we headed into town to hit up the Farmer's Market and load up on local favourites plus a a few new items from vendors we've never tried before. We did a wine tasting with Red Bird Estate, Creston's newest winery, and we're really excited about their whites. We picked up a bottle of the Gewurztraminer, a great choice for warm summer nights. Our friends at William Tell launched their new sparkling rosé, Pink Sunday, earlier this year and we knew we had to grab a bottle of the refreshing and sweet bubbles. Sanctuary Lavender had all sorts of beautiful displays of their lavender and they kindly gave us each a fragrant stalk as a sample. Later on in the day we incorporated the lavender into a charcuterie board and it was the perfect touch. A couple of new products we hadn't tried yet were crisp and tangy pea shoot greens from Ki Mana Acres and a block of glistening honeycomb from Swan Valley Honey.
Kelsey worked some of her flat lay magic and created a stunning charcuterie board from the goods, and yes, it tasted as good as it looked!
After the Farmer's Market, we popped into Fly in the Fibre for a coffee and business meeting. Fly in the Fibre is a bright, funky space filled with all things fibre arts. It's colourful and fun and the Oso Negro coffee was the perfect pick-me-up to keep us going throughout our busy day.
We caught the tail end of the Blossom Festival parade and then made a quick stop at the Morris Flowers Garden Center, one of favourite places to walk around. The warm and humid open-air space smells so good, and with all the amazing plants and colours, you can't help but be put in a good mood. We will be hosting our upcoming Flat Lay Photography Workshop in this space and we can't wait! It's going to be perfect for setting up some beautiful photos and hanging out with our workshop guests.
Finally, it was time to take a break so we headed to the Skimmerhorn Winery for lunch. The weather wasn't great, so instead of our usual patio spot, we found a cozy table inside and got to work perusing their delectable tapas menu. We made our choices, paired with a fresh and fruity Ortega, and lunch did not disappoint. We had the eggplant coquettes, brown butter hakuri turnips, gnocchi carbonara with double smoked bacon, and the grilled flank steak from Kootenay Natural Meats. It was so good that naturally, we had to finish it off with dessert. Our rhubarb tart with vanilla drizzle was not only a great pairing to the white wine, but an amazing in-season treat. We're so glad we indulged. Kudos to our lovely server who was game for our over the top food instagramming and did the perfect on camera dessert drizzle so we could Boomerang the heck out of it! If it's not on Instagram... did you even eat it?
We did a small taste panel at Skimmerhorn, bought some bottles, and then popped over to Baillie Grohman as well to stock up on more local faves, including their 2014 and 2017 Pinot Noirs.
We took the scenic route back down the lake with a pit stop at Sutcliffe Farms to grab some green spears for grilling. Asparagus is only in season for a short time and the best is from the Creston Valley! Kelsey spent a summer on the farm picking asparagus and our Mom did as well. Our Mom was a picker at Sutcliffe Farms for numerous seasons and was even featured in a 1974 agriculture magazine. If you've ever aspired to be a cover model, you know agriculture is where it's at, haha!
After our super busy Saturday in town we spent the rest of the weekend just hanging out at the lake. Nature walks and beach combing along the East Shore and later on a campfire with friends. We also discovered the biggest puffball mushroom we'd ever seen and photographic evidence is provided below. (No, Kelsey didn't get engaged to a giant popcorn kernel) Oh, and of course you know we drank some wine!
CVKL Route Announcement
Finally, our big news. We are so excited to let you know that we have taken over the social media for Creston Valley-Kootenay Lake Route tourism for the year. In fact, we've been behind the scenes since mid-May!
We are honoured to have been selected to do this work. We grew up in Creston/Kootenay Lake and spent every summer working across the whole route, from Yahk, to Creston, to Boswell! Most of our family is from, and still lives in, the beautiful Creston Valley. We have so much love for this area and couldn't be more pleased to be able to be part of the team promoting its beauty, culture, food, and of course, the amazing people that make the area what it is.
If you haven't yet checked out the CVKL Route online, give us a follow on Facebook or Instagram. We are pumped to be ramping it up for 2019 with even more sneak-peaks into all the great things Creston and the Kootenay Lake region have to offer. If you're looking for a getaway where time truly stands still and are ready to immerse yourself in nature, meditation, renowned artisans, and delectable local food, this is the place for you. If you're looking to take your family or a group of friends on an outdoor adventure with easy access to biking, hiking, epic green spaces and mountain fed lakes, this is the place for you. If you're travelling from outside of the Kootenays and are less familiar with the area, you can also get tons of detailed trip information like maps and a calendar of events on the main website. Or, just ask us!
We would love for you to join us over on the CVKL Route and start exploring!
Coming up:
Creston's 8th Annual "Just 'Tri' It!"Triathalon is on Saturday June, 1st. We are super excited to sponsor this event.
We have a handful of tickets left for our Flat Lay Photography for Social media workshop in Creston on June 14. You can grab your tickets here.
Come say hello to us at our Sam Steele Days market booth on June 15th in Cranbrook! We will have Spring and Summer apparel, accessories and some super sale items.
If you're looking to give the gift of outdoor and Kootenay love to a Dad in your life, our cut-off for online Father's Day orders is June 9.
