|
Reciprocal invitation and exchanges ideas between Emerald Lakes Bed and Breakfast in Nelson, British Columbia, Canada and L'Etoile Guesthouse in La Bastide-Puylaurent Lozere France. |
 
|
|
After our long way through Rockies and almost without gas we enter
the village of Canmore where we are expected by Mary from Emerald Lakes
B&B. The Bed and Breakfast located on hights and overlooking the small town is spacious and modern. Big living room with high ceiling and the kitchen in the middle of ground floor with its big
AGA in ancient style. Mary is busy because tomorow, it is the Thanks Giving supper. Turkey and smoked ham arelready in the oven and even more...
About ten invited people are present, among them Carol, the owner of Cedar Springs Bed & Breakfast; Richard with his very british accent, entrepreneur overflooded with work; the sergeant Don Cohn from Royal Canadian Mounted Police; Mike, Carol's friend and teacher of sports in Great Britain, 50 years old athlet who will tempt to climb Mount Everest with his students next April.
Mary is a tall lady with strong personality, she is a bit original and loves arts. There are paintings, carvings and other pieces of china coming from Asia and mostly from Japan all around the big house. Everything is warmly enlightened by large windows. Married to a Japanese man, Mary spent the big part of her life between Japan, United States and Canada. She became very attached to the British culture. Her fine dishes are served in the lounge with the view of breathtaking mountain range dominated by Ha Ling Peak.
The common feature of Canmore and Banff is the atmosphere of the ski resort surrounded by georgeous
Rocky Mountains covered already with snow. The remote times of trappers coming here to sell their furs seem to be for ever forgotten. Go back 117 years and you'll see
the town of Canmore in its infancy. Go back 11000 years, if not longer, and you'll see nomadic peoples belonging to the first Nations moving through the Bow Valley in search of big game. Their passing is marked by the remnants of hunting camps.
The Bow Valley was used by different groups, such as the Kootenay and the Peigan, as seasonal hunting grounds, while the Bow River was named for the bows native people made from trees that grew along
the river's banks.
A more recent connection is
marked by the adoption of the name: Ehagay Nakoda or the last Nakoda, for one of the mountains overlooking Canmore.
For people of the Nakota nation, originally part of the
Dakota Sioux of the Upper Missouri River in what is now the US, the Bow
River area became home when they migrated west during the laste 1600s to escape smallpox and strife within the Sioux Nation. The Nakoda, or Stoneys as they were known for their method of cooking with
fire-heated rocks, still speak the Nakoda dialect of the Sioux language.
Aside from the footsteps of a
few explorers, Europeans had little impact on the Stoneys until the mid-1800s with the arrival of Methodist missionaries. In 1877, with the signing of Treaty 7 with the fledgling Canadian government,
the Blackfoot, Peigan, Blood, Sacee and Stoney Nations gave up their rights to their traditional lands. In exchange, Native people were allocated reserves and promised food and money.
Today, more than 3400 people live on three reserves set aside for the three different bands: the Wesley, the Chiniki and the Bearspaw, which make up the Stoney Nation. The largest reserve, centered
around the community of Morlay, is about a 20 minute drive east of Canmore.
In 1883, the Canadian Pacific Railway tracks reached what was to become
Canmore, named in honour of Lord Malcolm of Canmore, Scotland's King from 1057 to 1093. Four years later, rich beds of anthracite coal were discovered on the south side of the Bow River along the
lower slopes of the mountains and Canmore boomed. The town's growth was linked to the sucess of the mine. When the mine closed on "Black Friday", July 13, 1979, residents wondered if the town might wither. But tourism
began to grow, slowly at first and then with a greater fire with the coming of the 1988 Winter Olympics.
For a taste of Canmore Centennial Museum and Geo-Science Centre on Seventh Avenue.
Emerald Lakes B&B, Mary Adelen, Nelson, Colombie Britannique, Canada - Map 
   
|
|
Old romantic Hotel, L'Etoile Guest-House is a mountain retreat in the South of France. With a beautiful park along the Allier River, L'Etoile Guesthouse is located in La Bastide-Puylaurent between Lozere, Ardeche and Cevennes. Many hiking trails like GR®7, GR®70 Stevenson trail, GR®72, GR®700 Regordane way, Cevenol, GR®470 Allier river, Margeride. Many hiking loops. The right place to relax.
Copyright©etoile.fr