1. Patrick, Megan, Debbie, and I roared out of Nelson along Kootenay Lake and drove to the ferry terminal at Balfour, eased on to the Osprey 2000 and enjoyed the 35-40 minute ride across Kootenay Lake to the the Kootenay Bay terminal. It was hazy today so the views of the mountains surrounding the lake were slightly obscured, but it was invigorating to stand on the ferry deck on the top level, feel the cooling breeze, and enjoy the smooth ride across the water.
2. We disembarked the ferry and drove the short distance to Crawford Bay. I admit it. A Tuesday in the off season was not the ideal time to visit Crawford Bay. Many of the artisans' shops and work areas were closed. The Black Salt Cafe was closed. But, I enjoy the good old Newkey's Place Pub in Crawford Bay. It's a local hangout featuring bar food and very friendly service.
The woman who served us -- the same woman who was my server back in 2019 -- gave us each a maple leaf pin, enthusiastically welcoming us to Canada. A couple sitting near us were also from the USA, Kentucky, in fact, and since Megan is from Kentucky, they talked a bit about the Bluegrass State. The Kentucky couple were driving the Selkirk Loop, so they would soon be descending into Idaho, staying at Priest River and also staying in Metaline Falls.
I ordered a beef dip sandwich with fries and enjoyed two bottles of ice cold Kokanee beer.
Megan is reading a book set in Canada (I don't remember which province) and characters in the novel drink Kokanee. Megan had never drunk a Kokanee before and I was stoked to bear witness to her first draw from her ice cold bottle.
The beer worked for Megan.
3. We stopped at North Woven Broom Co. on our way out of town. Christy loves this place and had asked me to buy her a broom -- and I did! We didn't stay long at North Woven Broom Co., but had we hung around we could have watched the woman working the counter also practice her craft making brooms and she would have answered any question we might have.
That's the deal in Crawford Bay -- watching artisans at work, talking with them, and, if so moved, buying their wares.
We, however, headed to Pilot Bay and the Pilot Bay Lighthouse trail head.
Hiking up this trail (I really struggled having just eaten and quaffed two Kokanees) brought back memories I enjoyed from when I hiked here four years ago.
A sudden thunderstorm with high winds suddenly descended upon us.
We made it back down the trail without any problem, but down the road a ways a tree had fallen across the road.
Patrick and Megan assessed the branches of the tree and determined that Patrick could drive his car through the branches as if, to quote Patrick, "we were driving through an evergreen car wash".
They were correct.
Nothing in the branches resisted the car and we eased on through, only to encounter another fallen tree, but it only covered half the road and we whizzed by it.
Understandably, Patrick wanted to get out of "falling trees hell" and we arrived at the ferry terminal over an hour early. We'd hoped to wait for the ferry in a coffee shop nearby, but it being a Tuesday in the off season, the coffee shop was closed.
So, Megan got out her book of Sunday New York Times crossword puzzles and we worked together to complete it, getting the last words into the puzzle at just about the same time as we were signaled to drive the car onto the ferry.
Back at our rental home, I was bushed and retired to bed early and worked crossword puzzles online until I fell asleep.
I took a night off listening to the Timothy McVeigh trial podcast. . . .
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