Monthly Archives: August 2011

Lakeshore Trail Hike, Waterton National Park

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Hike: Lakeshore Trail, Waterton Lakes Natl Park
Distance: 13km – one way (return by boat)
By far my favourite hike in the park, a true paradise! Highlights: an ever changing diverse forest, beaches, turquoise streams, tons of edible berries (saskatoons, hucks, thimbles) and a suspension bridge.
Bring: Passport and return boat ticket.

I brought my Dad along on this guided hike, led by two guides (Canadian and American). I wanted to learn more about the biodiversity in the park, along with some history lessons about Waterton-Glacier Peace park. We all met at the Bertha trail head at 10am sharp and began our trek along the west side of upper Waterton lake. From there we headed south along the shore to our destination, Goat Haunt, Montana.

beach at Bertha bay

Bertha bay

At the halfway mark you cross into Montana, but you won’t find any custom officials here. You don’t actually check into the ranger station until the end of the hike.

Continental Divide

We took a break for lunch, where we relaxed on the dock with our feet in the cool glacial water.

From there, we continued on our journey, passing through lodgepole and aspen forests, meadows, with a few streams along the way.

Towards the end of the hike we crossed a suspension bridge hovering above a crystal clear turquoise stream. Definitely one of my favourite parts of the hike!

We arrived at the ranger station at Goat Haunt around 5pm, with a few minutes to spare before boarding the boat.

On the boat ride back to Waterton, I leaned back into my chair, closed my eyes and dozed for most of the trip. So relaxing. When my Dad and I stepped off the boat we made a beeline for the closest restaurant… we needed beer and food. Asap.

An ice cold Rickards in a frosty mug definitely hit the spot! We each had two beers, a light dinner, then stopped by a candy store for (birthday cake) ice cream and lime turkish delights before hitting the highway. If you have a day to spend in Waterton, put this hike on your bucket list!

Crypt Lake Waterton Pt 2

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After about 3 hrs of climbing, you’ll arrive at Crypt Lake. The south side of the lake is in Montana. Neat! I was hoping there would be a gourmet artisan ice cream sandwich truck at the top, but there wasn’t. Super disappointing. Business opportunity anyone? (Have I mentioned I’m a marketing student?) Court and I rested for an hour before hitting the trail again. We wanted to get a head start so we weren’t stuck behind a bunch of slower hikers. I also didn’t want anyone to swim into Waterton lake and try to steal my camera. You gotta watch people like that!

Some shots of our descent:

it looks scarier in photos

not a Japanese tourist

Coming down seemed way longer than going up. As soon as we got back to the landing, I kicked off my shoes and plunged my feet into the icy lake. Oh, it felt incredible.

As I was chatting with a woman from Wisconsin and cooling my feet off, I saw someone on the dock inconspicuously lowering themselves into the water – precisely where I dropped my camera. A thief!!!!

Actually it was Court, but still.  He jumped into the lake in his white underwear to retrieve the camera.

Right at 4pm, the boat picked us up. Some Japanese tourists got left behind. I hope they were able to make it back in time for the 5pm boat!

Once we got back into town we headed straight to dinner. We had one thing on our minds – drinks + carbs!

Don’t mind blurry me in the background. We shared a margarita pizza and spaghetti + lamb meatballs. There were two.. TWO meatballs in the spaghetti. It was sad. But that one meatball I ate was really good. Since we were still hungry after, we had the chef prepare us something fresh and made to order….

A fresh mixed green salad with goat cheese and candied pecans.

Crypt Lake Hike, Waterton AB Pt 1

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Where: Waterton Lakes National Park
Hike: Crypt Lake
Cost: $15 park entry + $40 boat fee (for two)
Distance: 18 km total
Actual hiking time: 5+ hrs
Supplies: Two 1.5 L water bottles, light sweaters, ice pack (to keep our food cool, and in case of an injury), mini first aid kit. Oh, and a spouse to carry all of your supplies. Make sure to “conveniently” have a “bad back” so that you don’t have to be the pack mule.
Food: Carbs + Protein are key for an all day hike. For on the go snacks, I packed bananas sliced lengthwise with PB between, almonds, dry cereal and Kashi bars. Lunch: sandwiches, baby carrots, cherry tomatoes and strawberries.
What you’ll see: Japanese tourists, forest and mountains as far as the eye can see, waterfalls, creeks, most likely some bears, a mountain tunnel (that you crawl through) Crypt Lake and Montana.

The hike begins at the Waterton marina where you take a 10 minute boat ride to to Crypt Lake landing. From there, you’ll drop your camera into Waterton lake as you step off the boat and begin your uphill trek. The boat drops you off shortly after 9am and arrives promptly at 4pm. If you miss the boat, you have one more chance to catch the 5pm boat, otherwise you’re stranded alone in the wilderness and left to die until the next morning.

Thank goodness Court had his camera so we could photograph our adventure!

Court likes to pose like he’s “not posing”. Heh

The hike leads you into a mountain tunnel at one point, then out onto a steep cliff ledge to climb for approximately 10m up.  Don’t worry though – you can hold onto a cable (which is mostly there for psychological purposes)  I don’t like heights, but I was on Ativan felt at ease the whole time.

climbing into the tunnel

Court climbing in!

After the tunnel

Almost there!

Not posing

One of my favourite parts of the hike was this beautiful garden wall right before Crypt Lake. I’ve added “build a garden wall” to Court’s to-do list.

Coming up… Crypt Lake!

An afternoon in the corn capital

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Over the weekend Court helped my Dad and (soon-to-be brother) Brendan build a deck at my sisters house. The trade off for Courts services? Japanese food, cooked by Brendan. Since I rarely pass up a (free) food opportunity, I tagged along. While the boys built, I painted my toenails, read a magazine and sipped a glass of wine. My sister and Mom browsed through bridal magazines. Building a deck must be exhausting because I was very tired at the end of the day.

I’ve become a walking addict lately, partly because running pains me, but also because my lower back starts to throb if I’m not moving around. I took a few walks and introduced myself to their neighbours, although they didn’t appear to like me very much.

stop running away!

lets awkwardly stare at each other

Dinnertime was the highlight of the day:

Chow mein, octopus and salmon sashimi, gyoza, short ribs and greens.

I’d love to live out in the country. One of our dreams is to live on an acreage (preferably somewhere hot!) but if that doesn’t pan out, Canada will do.

I think I could get used to a view of nothing wheat fields and cows.

Summer wind down

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As summer winds down, I’ve been taking full advantage of the remaining warm weather. The second I’m free from work, I’m either running, walking or biking until dinnertime, then I’m right back out there until the streetlights come on. Kind of like being a kid again!

What I’m going to miss about summer:

Walks through the river bottom

Trips to the farmers market, tomatoes from our garden, along with seasonal meal creations

tempeh salad + BC cherries & peaches

Picnics in the park and watching Court freak out every time a bug grazes him.

Bike rides, especially packing my basket with food and riding over to our families houses for dinner

Colorful clothing, summer parties, mowing the lawn, day trips to the mountains… sigh. What I’m looking forward to when fall arrives: Pumpkins. Halloween. Yellow leaves. Thats it.

Blueberry Peach Surprise Muffins

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There are three huge boxes of blueberries and a dozen peaches in my fridge right now. All Okanagan fruit, of course. With summer coming to an end soon, I’ve been buying fruit in bulk like a crazy hoarder. The plan is to freeze as much as I can, along with creating some yummy summer recipes.

Blueberry Peach (Surprise) Muffins 
Makes 6 good sized muffins

Preheat oven to 350F
Ingredients:
2 handfuls of blueberries
1 small peach, sliced
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp soda
1 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
1 T chia seeds
In a separate bowl combine:
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp vanilla
1/3 c plain greek yogurt
1 T oil (I used sunflower)
1/4 c agave 
Add dry ingredients in, add a little water if it needs thinning out. Stir blueberries in.

Drop a spoonful of mixture into a muffin liner, add a peach slice, then top with additional mixture.  (The peach is the surprise, haha)

Mmmm, fruit explosion.

Courts Dad

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One thing I really like about Courts parents is even though they’re 115 and about to die they can keep up with us in the exercise department. The other night we went for a long walk with Courts dad Bob, and as usual, our conversations were interesting.  He spent a few months in Kazakhstan visiting his soon to be mail order bride lady friend, and now he compares EVERYTHING to Kazakhstan.

Examples:

Court: “I want to live in Hawaii because there’s hardly any bugs”
Bob: “Theres no bugs in Kazakhstan”

Me: “I used to work with someone who… (insert story here)”
Bob: “If someone tried to do that in Kazakhstan, they’d be shot, killed, thrown away and never seen again”

At a restaurant…
Court and I order wine, Bob orders vodka and says, “Everyone drinks vodka in Kazakhstan. No one drinks and drives there because you’ll lose your license immediately. But even if you do get caught, you just pay the cops $50 so they don’t arrest you”

Bob doesn’t think its very funny that we refer to his lady friend as Borat. It’s a good thing she doesn’t understand english, because if she ever finds my blog I think she’ll love it.

Bob’s driving gives me whiplash

We invited Bob to the farmers market with us this morning and as usual, the comparisons continued….

“In Kazakhstan they don’t put your eggs in a carton, they just put them in in a bag”

“The hutterites sure do a good job of cleaning up their produce. Look how clean the carrots are! In Kazakhstan everything’s covered in dirt”

Kazakhstan sounds like a dream!

I bought my Mom a  birthday present from the market today. Food is the best kind of present, in my opinion! Here’s what we got her:

Kamut bread ($7 a loaf! Farmers Market = Whole Foods) wildberry non sugar added jelly, eggs, carrots, oatmeal Skor cookies and Plush Puffs caramel swirl gourmet marshmallows (I bought those from Express Tea & Coffee)  Plush Puffs are to die for! I bought myself a box of toasty coconut flavoured ones.
Cupcakes are really popular in the local bakeries now (get with the times, donuts are the new cupcakes) and I love that they let you sample their cakes. Today I tried a root beer float cupcake (amazing!) and a mint chocolate.

I wonder what kind of cupcakes Kazakhstan has?

Strawberry Fields

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Court and I took his Mom out for a belated birthday lunch on Saturday afternoon. Broxburn Cafe is one of our favourite summer places to visit – located a few minutes outside of the city. Not only do they have a cute cafe serving homemade goodies, but a produce store, greenhouse and U-Pick berries. Fun!

We settled in on their patio overlooking rows of strawberry fields and ordered glasses of zinfandel and sauvignon blanc. I love getting together with Court’s Mom and we always have the best talks. She’s someone you can talk to about absolutely anything… she’s a 20 year old living in a 116 year olds body. Yesterday Court’s mom said she wanted Court to take some ‘nice photos’ of her. “Why? For your funeral program?” I asked. “I wonder whats going to happen in 2012?” She responded. 
Our lunch was wonderful – I ordered a veggie wrap, Court’s Mom had a chicken and mushroom sandwich, and Court chose  a pulled pork sandwich. We all agreed it was the best lunch we’ve had in a while – the veggies were so fresh and crisp!

Then… it was time for the best part. Pie!  Broxburn makes the best pies… “Grandma” type baking.
Saskatoon berry with a side of ice cream. 

After lunch, we headed out into the strawberry fields. I let Court and his mom do most of the work. I was busy talking to them, while they picked. 
not the best walking sandals

At the weigh-in station/produce store, our massive box of berries only came to $12! We left with a few other treats too – basil, tomatoes and bread, which I made eggplant parmesan with later in the evening.

I can’t wait to go back there! In a couple weeks they have a pie eating contest during their strawberry festival. Should I enter?!

Blueberry French Toast

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“This is the best french toast I’ve ever had!” Court raved when I served breakfast this morning. Truth be told, I hated french toast until recently. Until I actually made it myself, the flavours of ‘eggy bread’ and powdered sugar were never appealing to me. I got a little creative with this recipe, using blueberry greek yogurt for extra flavour (and protein!)

Blueberry French Toast 
Bursting with blueberry flavour and not too sugary-sweet
Serves 2


6 slices of sourdough bread (I used bread purchased from the farmers market)
3 eggs
blueberry greek yogurt
fresh blueberries and strawberries

Berry syrup: In a food processor or blender, puree a handful of fresh strawberries and blueberries until smooth.

Preheat buttered pan over medium heat

Egg mixture: beat eggs, 1/4 cup blueberry greek yogurt, add a splash of water to thin the mixture. Soak bread slices for a few minutes. Cook until golden brown, turning once.

Drizzle the toast with berry syrup, blueberries and a drizzle of agave or maple syrup.

Serve with a cup of coffee, then make your spouse clean up the mess.

Goat Cheese Stuffed Tomatoes

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I’ve been on a pb&j kick lately… I can’t get enough! Especially when served with a big slice of hearty bread. A few weekends ago I bought no sugar strawberry and saskatoon berry jam from the farmers market. Why don’t more companies make natural, non artificially sweetened sugar free jam? The things that keep me up at night…

Another sweet treat I can’t get enough of is So Delicious coconut milk ‘ice cream’.

I’ve tried mint chip and vanilla bean so far – they’re just like dairy ice cream, but made with coconut milk and sweetened with agave.

Court made us a wonderful dinner last night – steak salads with goat cheese stuffed roasted tomatoes. I love my man-wife. I’m so lucky to have a foodie husband who loves to cook.

Not only is Court a great cook, but he brought me home some “requests” from a day trip he took to Calgary…

A CASE of Synergy!!! 

Divine Grape and Trilogy. My intestines are overjoyed!

He also picked up a few other goodies.