WELCOME TO PARADISE!!

June 21

That is what the travel guide says about Fernie, British Columbia, Canada -- and they are absolutely correct. OMG -- what a BEAUTIFUL place. I cannot believe I keep seeing such wonderful parts of the country, and now I've found a fabulous place in Canada. A shop owner in Whitefish, MT told me that if I loved mountains, I would love Fernie. And she was right. (NOTE: on this first picture, on the right hand side, note the rode and the little black hole, which is a tunnel through the mountain)

I drove through Whitefish, onto Eureka (last US town before the border), and into Fernie. Once I passed into Canada, it was the most beautiful drive -- winding road through huge mountains in the Canadian Rockies, along the Elk River. There is the Fernie Alpine Resort (from the looks of the mountains, I'm sure you must be an advanced skier to run these slopes), Island Lake, and the historic Downtown. (In this picture you see the Elk River and in the background the Canadian Rockies which overlook Fernie)

Okay.....history lesson. William Fernie founded this town on one of his prospecting trips in 1897. It started as a mining town and like many single-industry towns, it suffered the boom-andbust cycles throughout the 20th centure with the fluctuations of the global price of coal. Mining has beenh and still is a very prominent economic base for the Fernie area, alongside forestry, and tourism.

The best story I read about Fernie is called "The Ghostrider". In the afternoons, on the face of Mt. Hosmer (pictured here), comes the Ghostrider.....the shadow of a distinctive horse and rider (today the mountain was a little hazy to see the shadow). Some say this shadow is the ghost of an angry Indian Chief and his jilted daughter pursuing William Fernie.

As the legend tells it, William Fernie was courting an Indian Princess to learn the source of her sacred black stone necklace (it was coal). It is said that after learning the secret location of the Morrissey Coal Seams, Fernie stopped seeing the Princess and the tribe's medicine woman placed a curse on the Elk Falley.

Residents of Fernie feared the curse was real after several tragedies struck the town. Fire reduced the town to smoldering rubble in 1904 and again in 1908 (can you imagine!). In 1916, the Elk River flooded and in 1917, there was a mining disaster.

(GET THIS.....) In 1964 (modern times, mind you), a public ceremony was held to officially lift the curse. Members of the Kootenai Tribes assembled in Fernie and Chief Red Eagle and Mayor James White smoked a pip of peace. I LOVE THIS STORY!!

Because of the first, the town is a mixture of stone and brick structures with unique Edwardian Buildings built in the first decade of the 1900's. And they are just beautiful buildings today. I'm going to include pictures of the post office, the court house, and one of the main streets of town. To be able to look at the town and see the backdrop of the Canadian Rockies is unbelievable.

I decided to have "brunch" on this Sunday, and went to Mugshots Bistro for a great omelet, has browns, and toast -- all eaten outside looking at the mountains. Then time to do a little shopping. Not all the stores are open on Sunday, so if you are a shopper, come Monday-Saturday. I found the most wonderful bear sculpture -- it probably stands about 3 feet tall, made out of rusted metal, of a bear with a fish in his mouth. And I also found a wonderful moose made out of the same metal. They were both crafted by an artist in British Columbia. Last year I found the same type of sculpture of a buffalo (I named him Billy). My friend, Delores, loves buffalos. When they came over for dinner, they tried to kidnap Billy to hold him for ransom. Maybe I'll just have to give the buffalo to Delores, now that I have my own bear and moose.

And there there is the chocolate and fudge shop, which every little town seems to have. Only this one actually makes it's own chocolates -- and they are wonderful. So a few of those for me as well. I also found the Elk River, and the town has a wonderful series of hiking and biking paths along the river and around the town. Unfortunately, it was late enough in the day that I didn't have time to use any of these trails. And I think they would be much more fun on a bike -- I don't have one of those either.

I was looking for one of the scenic shots listed in the Fernie guide, and this took me into several local neighborhoods right off the downtown area. I saw a trend in homes that I really like and will try to incorporate into any house I might build. (Note: In the first picture, I hope you can see the white spots -- that is the "cotton" that comes off the Cottonwood Trees -- at times it looked like it was snowing)

Most of these houses are small homes, probably built in the 1950's. And it appears many of these residents have chosen the same architectural approach to remodeling their homes and creating a lot of "curb appeal". The old siding is coming off, to be replaced by cedar siding -- either natural of painted -- along with natural wood trim, new natural wood stairs and decks, and also using cedar shakes on the upper levels of the homes (I've always loved these with log homes). It actually looks like one company is "flipping" these homes -- remodeling and re-selling. And what would have looked like a run down home (and neighborhood) has new life. I think it says something about a town that is doing so much renovation.











Now for several of the other attractions -- Island Lake Lodge. This lodge is secluded in the peaks of the Canadian Rocky Mountains, and sits above a spectacular mountain lake (obviously it's called Island Lake), surrounded by "old growth" cedar forest, which is estimated to be 800 years old (glad forest fires didn't hit this area). There are log lodges where you can stay. And there are hiking trails everywhere over the 7,000 acres of wilderness. It is a hiking mecca, and I'd love to go back there to stay for a few days -- along with a lot of "Deep Woods OFF". I mean mosquitoes that could carry you away. But an absolutely beautiful lodge, beautiful lake looking at some beautiful mountains. The lodge also has great restaurants, a spa with all the amenities, fishing, guided hikes, canoeing, etc.



All of these mountain peaks have names, and I love these. If you start from the right, the first peak is Papa Bear, the peak in the middle is Baby Bear, and on the left is Momma Bear. I don't have any elevations at this time -- another search on the Internet.









And of course, this is the Island Lake. There were canoes you could rent, and some of the brave kids were even swimming -- I can imagine how cold that was.










And of course, there is the Fernie Alpine Resort with what looks to be fabulous skiing. I don't know much about skiing, but I do know wonderful condos and lodges when I see them. It is a beautiful area -- and like many things out here, I am TOO EARLY. I would have loved to take the ski lift up to the top and do a little hiking around (had both bear and mountain lion warnings here), but the resort doesn't actually open until June 27. During the summer there is also a lot of mountain biking -- with over 35 trails with elevations of 650 meters (does anyone know what that is in FEET?). They even offer mountain biking clinics. Here are some pictures for your enjoyment.








This is one of the major slopes or a "bowl" in the ski resort. On the right hand side is Grizzly Peak, which is 6,900 ft. (or 2103 m.) high, and on the left hand side is Polar Peak which is 7,000 ft. (or 2134 m.). Of course you know I read that off a book, because I have no idea how to convert meters into feet.

According to something I read, you can take the chair lift up, and in less than an hour be near Polar Peak -- walk the ridge. Would have loved that.











And this is the other major bowl in the ski resort. on the very far right is what they call Elephant Head (how do they come up with these names) which is 6709 ft. tall (or 2045 m).














This is one of the lodges in the mail ski village (there are many of these lodges), and this looks to have one of the main restaurants. It was a lovely, sunny place to sit and read about the area. They had some beautiful flowers. And for those of you who are in Atlanta and Florida where it has been over 100 degrees -- it was a wonderful 65 degrees. AND YOU WONDER WHY I LOVE THIS AREA OF THE COUNTRY.











As I mentioned above, everything in Canada is in meters, or KM/H (I believe this is kilometers per hour), and when it says "Fernie 51" on the road signs, I'm guess this is not miles. It also appears as though people do not speed outhere in the west (US or Canada), so I was trying to go the speed limit. Luckily when I came through customs into Canada, there was a sign there saying 100 km/h is actually 60 mph. But when I saw 80 km/h or 60 km/h, I didn't really know what speed to go (just slower than 60). I had to laugh at myself when, at the end of the day in Fernie, I realized there are km/h markers on my speedometer. DUH!!

It was a wonderful day -- full of sunshine and cool temperatures (it was raining in Bigfork, so Canada was a good choice). I have some more pictures of Fernie and several "artsy" shots I took that I really like. I'm going to put them in another post, as I'm tired of dragging pictures all the way to the bottom of this post.

ENJOY!!