We have arrived in Creston BC, at Scotties which is a very nice small campground with lots of tree shade. Barb drove all day as she wanted the experience of mountain driving. We started getting anxious about our weight (to be clear not our weight but the RV weight) and how it would perform on the hills. Barb did an awesome job using the ”tow/haul” feature to keep the vehicle in a lower gear to provide stronger engine breaking as well as improve acceleration. We got to Creston and had a glass of wine to celebrate our successful journey across Crowsnest Pass. What we failed to understand and only found out the following day, is that Paulson Pass & Kootenay Pass are the higher hills, so we really haven’t done the big stuff yet, and it is now Lori’s turn to drive. Good grief.
We have been able to relax and enjoy our quiet time here in Creston, and we booked a private tour with a local company, Creston Valley Tour Co. This tour company owned by Gillian Kemle was just OUTSTANDING! They go above and beyond to make you enjoy your day. We were greeted with fresh fruit and water to start, then we moved onto fresh veggies and dip. We decided to go healthy and decline the chips and other treats available for us. If you are ever in Creston BC, reach out to Creston Valley Tour Co. Gillian also owns the Valley View Motel in Creston and it is NOT what you would expect!! It is a cozy gathering of quaint cottages that look over the Creston Valley.
During the tour we visited Kootenay Meadows Farm, formally known as Kootenay Alpine Cheese, some orchards, and Baillie-Grohman Winery. Our favorite part of the tour was the Kootenay Meadows stop. This farm is state of the art and the dairy cows are looked after with kindness, comfort and all the perks of living a great life in the valley. Each cow wore a collar that told the owners everything, and we mean everything about the cow. When they are eating & sleeping, if they are pregnant, sick, giving birth, you name it! In fact it also monitors their milking (they do this themselves, the cows that is). We have to expand on the cows milking themselves as we found this fascinating. Apparently you can easily train cows. The collars they wear open up gates for them IF they are allowed in. So when the cow wants to get milked they go up to a gate, the collar signals to the gate to open and the cow goes forward to the milking machine. The back gate closes and the cow is in a small penned area. A laser machine identifies where the cow is, washes the underside of the cow with what frankly looks like a car wash, then the machine finds each teet and milks the cow. While this is happening the cow gets a treat of some sort of grain. Again the collar notifies the owners which cows have been milked and which cows haven’t. One cow in particular tried getting back in line 67 times in one day (she likes the treat of grain apparently) and the collar knew that the cow was not to be milked again so the gate didn’t open for her, so back in line she went to try again. Unbelievable !! The technology that is, the cow story is just damn funny. The cheese and milk production was also state of the art. We purchased cheese, milk & cream from them. Can’t wait to dig in!!
Tomorrow we are off to Trail BC.
