LOCAL and LOCO

On Friday, June 2 Ron and I left Nelson rather earlier than we had planned to. Word of Ron’s tour had spread and, as a consequence, he had received an invitation to talk at the Kootenay Boundary Regional Hospital in Trail. En route we passed BC’s largest lead-zinc smelter. It would have been impossible to miss the giant, silver, tubular structure which dwarfs the buildings in the town. By following the green H hospital signs, we found our way to our destination without any problems, and, at 1pm, Ron spoke to a gathering of about 20 hospital staff in the comfortable setting of the Board Room. As usual his audience was attentive and inquisitive and by 2:30 Ron and I were ready for a chocolate dipped soft ice cream cone from the Dairy Queen we had spotted in the centre of town.

            After cooling off with our treats, we needed directions to Highway 3 and the road to Creston. At one of the therapist’s suggestions, we had decided to head for the new Ramada Inn there. Drawing on my recent experiences in Nelson, I approached a silver-haired lady in the Dairy Queen parking lot who was heading for her truck.

“Excuse me,” I said. “Are you local?”

“Local AND loco,” she replied.

“Excellent. Is this the road to Creston?” I asked pointing to the road heading east.

“The very one,” she said. “Just follow it up the hill and keep on going.”

We did and, at the Kootenay Pass Summit, we were treated to the sight of a family of Bighorn Mountain Sheep who were grazing by the side of the highway. After a short but steep descent we entered the valley in which the town of Creston is sited. In my opinion, this is one of the most beautiful places in British Columbia and during our three day stay in Creston we seriously considered what it would be like to live there.

Features to recommend Creston:

1. An intact, original, living town centre with free parking, lots of parking spots for the disabled, lots of benches and well-kept flower plantings.

2. No big box stores.

3. Two picturesque grain elevators.

4. An abundance of orchards and farms.

5. A few kilometres drive away from the southern tip of Kootenay Lake.

6. A Wildlife Interpretive Centre near a wetland on the edge of town.

7. Tim’s Fish and Chips where the staff wear T-shirts sporting “Oh my Cod!” and “Just for the Halibut,” and the portions are double what you expect.

8. A wonderful, refurbished recreation complex, with a new swimming pool which has wheelchair access for the disabled.

And, most importantly for Ron and me, we got lots of REST in C-rest-on.