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.
Emerald Lakes Bed & Breakfast Japan style in
Rocky mountains
(moving to Neslon, BC)
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, British Columbia, Canada
***
Old romantic Hotel with a beautiful park along the Allier River. L'Etoile Guest-House is located in La Bastide-Puylaurent between Lozere, Ardeche and Cevennes. Hiking trails GR7, GR70 Stevenson, GR72, GR700 Regordane (St Gilles), Cevenol, Roujanel, Margeride, Allier, Ardechoise and many hiking loops around. A mountain retreat in the South of France. The right place to relax.