An Amazing Get-Away

Last week I took some vacation days, long overdue and really needed. I picked up my sister and we headed north into the ranch country of British Columbia. The drive is only 300 miles, we knew the way, no problem. Except for the series of this that we encountered.

I lost track of how many "road construction" stoppages we had. Once you leave the paved road, there is 20 miles of gravel. We were shocked by the devastation of the forest fires from 2009.

By the time we arrived, I felt like we had traveled by this method!

But it was all worth it when we finally arrived at Echo Valley Ranch and Spa, aka The EV Ranch. The EV Ranch sits on 160 acres of the most beautiful country you will see. This is the main lodge where the owners, Nan and Norm live.  There are guest rooms and the social room in this building along with the kitchen.  Yes, the kitchen...........I'll get to that in a minute.

This is the building where our room was located. Everything was spotless and absolutely beautiful.

These are the views from our deck. It was amazing, to wake up every morning and look out at this, well, how could you not have peace and relaxation?

It was like a little slice of heaven.

The only traffic sounds were from the horse hooves running across the field.

We got settled in and made our way over to the Lodge. Here is where you can relax and take in magnificent views of the canyon and area. Or you could shoot a game of pool in the games room while waiting for dinner. Ah, dinner. I did say I would get to the food part of this. I thought I took way more pictures that what I actually did, so you'll have to imagine some of this. Chef Kim got the thumbs up from me at every meal.

Breakfast and lunch were buffet style and dinner was served. What I enjoyed was that while Chef Kim was preparing and cooking you could sit at the counter and enjoy a glass of wine while watching him work and visit with him. Here is his idea of a buffet lunch. We started with Sweet Potato soup, and then there was roast lamb, turkey, chicken, beef, home made breads, salad with greens from their garden.

And if that wasn't enough, lemon meringue pie for dessert.

We spent three nights at the EV Ranch and were served lamb, turkey, chicken, sea bass, steaks, beef, duck, fancy desserts every dinner, wonderful soups with home made breads, raisin pancakes, sticky cinnamon buns, blueberry pancakes and so many other delicious foods. Everything was so fresh, just the right touch of sauces, a wine menu that was small but excellent. There was nothing more they could have done to make our stay more enjoyable.

There are resident pets that live at the ranch, 9 border collies and a cat. As quilters, we know at home if we lay out blocks on the floor or get settled with some hand work in our lap, it's like a call to your cat to come sit in your lap or climb on your project. No exception with this cat.

The only time this cat was social with me was when I had my quilt out to do a bit of hand quilting.

He was too cute to scoot away!

I'll post again next week with more on this beautiful place. It would be amazing for a quilt retreat as they have a huge conference room, the place is safe and secluded, machines and projects could be left out, you could sneak back to do some midnight sewing in your pj's and only the dogs would see you!
Sharon