All I Ever Wanted (Summer 2010): Part 5 (Salt Spring Island)

Ah, the home stretch...

• Woke up Wednesday to a crunch-crunch-crunching that was too arhythmic to be human. Indeed, there were deer in the yard chewing on the grass and intermittently stepping on branches. The island is super quiet, so this came in loud and clear (though it only woke me and not the Beck).
• Beck got up early, and we went on a quick (and unfamiliarly hilly) three mile run down the road. Good to stretch the legs; my knees killed, natch, but I was quite proud that we responded to the super-relaxing setting of a B&B by exercising. Team Beck & Nyet wins.
• We grabbed luxurious baths and strolled our way downstairs for the first of three excellent Blackberry Glen breakfasts. Now's as good of a time as any to throw in some shots of the B&B; I'll end it with our delicious quiche, coffee cake, bacon and fruit breakfast.

• Awakened, cleaned and well fed, and armed with some good recs for sight-seeing around the island, we headed out to Mount Maxwell to get a handle on the surrounding islands. Nice views:

• After a brief swing through a pottery gallery, we headed to the first of many serious highlights, Salt Springs Island Cheese. Delicious goat cheese and a wide variety of jams and chutneys, making for a welcome early morning snack. Free coffee taboot. And the presentation was fantastic - here are some highlights of the highlight:

• Next stop: Salt Spring Island Bread Co., a home bakery up in the hills with gorgeous views. We bought loaves of rosemary and seed bread and munched on them for the duration of the trip.

• We quickly went by Tony's Tarts, a sweet and savory tart countryside stand, only to discover that they were effectively sold out for the day. Still full from our earlier cheese / chutney sampling, we elected to munch on bread for the time being, have a late lunch and head down to Ruckle Park. Home of, apparently, purple starfish:

• Swung by another art gallery featuring cool insect sculptures - we grabbed one that complemented our beetle (pictured first) in the Nyet and Beck abode bug collection:

• Hit the recommended Moby's in Ganges (the small town in the middle of the island) for a late lunch and had a top meal of the trip. I had a Piper Ale and a halibut burger with mango chutney, and Beck had a pecan burger plus an oyster shot. Our WCW did not disappoint, claiming upon being asked how it was going that she was "mediocrely wonderful," a phrase the meaning of which we have yet to deduce. Excellent meal overlooking the aquarina; here's the beer commercial-esque shot:

• We headed back to the B&B for afternoon hot-tubbin' and apple wine sippn' (and yeah, we ate some more oatmeal cookies). There was live music at the Treehouse Cafe that night, so we headed over after a bit for a late-ish meal. A dude named Sean Ashby, former guitarist for fellow Canadian Sarah McLaughlin, provided the entertainment; he was a solid guitarist, engaged in a bit too much cheesy stage banter, and otherwise tore up some covers of hit songs. Our WCW, upon being asked, "what is the Salt Spring Ale like?," responded "It's light. Good. It's won awards. I don't know." Sub-helpful. Anyhoo, another great meal - I got a bean and cheese burrito, Beck got a squash gumbo , and we enjoyed a breezy summer night. Beck also snapped some shots of boats / planes in the bay. Highlight pics:

• I had a hankering for some Mack & Jack's after dinner, but the Ganges liquor store was closed, so we headed back and settled for apple wine, tea and hot-tubbing. If I haven't made it clear, we were in heaven. We hit the bed around midnight and got ready for another full day...