We’ve eaten well everywhere we’ve been but Canada does make it easy. About 5 miles from where we camped last night was a farm that made their own cheese – wonderful soft goat cheese and a goat cheddar which made our NY cheddar almost pale in comparison. Plus we got a cow’s milk country cheese and a blue which we haven’t tried yet. From there we drove another 10 miles to what was described as the country’s best artisan bakery. It surely must be! We ended up with 3 loaves of bread including a dark rye with currants made especially for the blue we got. We’re trying to save both to share with Cyndy when we meet up with her tomorrow.
The variety of today’s landscape was amazing. We started out in very green farmland surrounded by cloud topped mountains. From there we drove through a mountain canyon that was steep, rugged and oh so beautiful. Once out of the canyon, it was almost like we were back in Wyoming again with rugged mountains, sagebrush desert, wind, heat, dry. Eventually we drove back out of that into the greener lake area we’re in now that leads to Lake Louise & Banff. Tomorrow it’s on to Golden where we’ll meet up with Cyndy.
PS – Mary’s appetite seems to improve, if possible, the higher we go in elevation. We really don’t think she understands the meaning of the word “leftover”.

After spending a wonderful time with Joe & Cathy we packed Tillie and hopped a ferry off Whitbey Island. Tillie must have looked like a typical islander because they tucked her in the middle of the ferry rather than giving her the prize front position she had when we came over.
Guess who we met for breakfast on the mainland? Sharon, a.k.a. Bubbles! We almost missed her because she had been off on a family/friend kayaking trip. Believe us, Sharon looked much better in person than she does in the photo. Unfortunately, we only took one so there wasn’t much choice. And John HAS to start practicing another variation of his historic pose. Anyway, it was GREAT to see Sharon. We definitely have to come back when we can spend some time with her and the rest of the family. If you want to hear of a real adventure coming up just think of Sharon on her annual ladies kayaking trip going north of Greenland to kayak among the icebergs, nor whales and polar bears. There’s not much chance of her keeping a blog up there!
Once again on the road, we headed north to the little town of Sedro-Wooley where we met Cookie and her friend Dean. When you meet Cookie it’s easy to understand why she and Kathleen Dillon (Auntie), have been lifelong friends. Both Cookie & Dean are terrific folks and, like everyone else we’ve visited, made us feel so welcome. With only our unexpected call 10 minutes before we arrived, they even fed us lunch… a wonderful soup with fresh peas from their garden and Walla Walla onions (Vidalia’s have nothing on those onions!).
More photos and we were off for Canada. Tillie cleared customs without any problems, thank heavens! We might have been there hours if she had been selected for a thorough search. Now if only Mary remembers to use the same passport (she has both a US & French one) when we leave Canada. Anyway, we stopped at a lovely campground in Harrison Hot Springs, B.C.. We opted out of the sulphur baths but did go walking by the lake and peered over the fence at the championship sand sculptures. Perhaps we should enter next year and do one of Tillie!