Saturday, September 11, 2010

An Ox a Beaver and a Bison walk into a bar...

No more jokes for now...I promise.

For my birthday this year, I managed to meet an Ox, a Beaver and a Bison, but not in that order.
Goretex in Summer is a Must
 Chad and I woke to a blustery cold 11 degree day. Apparently, I missed the memo about summer finishing in August and was suitably disheartened. With chagrin, I dressed appropriately for a rainy Vancouver day and we packed a lunch and swiftly drove the hour east to Elk Island National Park. Initially, I was a little disappointed by the park. After 7 years of BC parks, I was expecting large fir and cedar. But, my spirits brightened when on the side of the road was a very large bison feeding on the grasslands. There are approximately 800 bison in the park. Images of Kevin Costner in  Dances with Wolves flashed in my mind. I was impressed, not only with Kevin, but the size and softness of the Bison. He was eating little purple flowers in a green marshy area that looked very similar to Twilight's love field. It was almost romantic. I looked over at Chad. He was checking his messages on his cell phone.


The First Bison
The Second Bison
We went in to ask the ranger about where to go, what to do. He guided us to an easy trail around a marshland. Usually it is a great snow-shoe trail, but it is still pretty in summer, he reported.
Will I see a Moose? 
Probably, he replied, which usually means 'No'. 7 years in this country and I'm yet to see a bear or moose.  I didn't like my chances today. I guess I would have to be satisfied with Mort, the moose from Northern Exposure.
Bears? I asked. No bears in this park.


The hike was beautiful. It lead us through marshy lands on boardwalks, through light scrub and undulating hills.

We didn't see wildlife, just the remnants of them. Plently of pellet-like brown nubs the size of coffee beans on the trail. Google confirmed it was probably Moose or Bison poop. We also saw berry-infused poop. I thought it looked like bear poo, but the ranger explicitly stated 'No Bears in the Park'. I want to tell you a fabricated story about how we came face-to-face with a bear. Chad wrestled it to the ground and tamed it using Crocodile Dundee's pinky finger/thumb hypnotizing technique:


Hoisting it onto the roof of our celica we carried it home and are now training it to wear pink tu-tu's and clean our house.  But instead we finished the trail without incident. Just as we neared the end of the path, we were greeted by three singing, stick-bearing ladies who emerged from the beginning of the trail flustered and ready for action. Did you see the bear? There's scat on the trail! one lady yelled in our general direction. No bears. Lot's of strange looking poo, one lot that had berries in it, I nonchalantly reply. SCAT! SCAT!  She cries. The scat was confirmed by three elderly ladies. They were so freaked out by the poo that they wouldn't even walk the trail that we had just completed. They got half way, saw the 'scat' had to sing as loud as possible to scare away the stalking, shitting bear. What's the big deal? Bloody chickens, I thought.  Yeah, I talk big now, but I haven't come face to face with one. I've just stepped in their shit.

I didn't get to see a real living beaver, but I did see a beaver hut. The real beaver didn't come out until later.
Astotin Lake
Astotin Lake is the largest in the park. It is a sizable lake, flanked with large trees and marsh land. On a summer's day when it wasn't 11 degrees it would be lovely to swim or kayak in if it weren't for the warnings around the lake of 'swimmers itch'. Yikes. During winter, you can snow-shoe the edges. We had lunch overlooking the lake from the Sandy Beach hut. Warming up in front of the wood fire recharged us to keep hiking around the lake. We managed to see no bears, no moose. Only a single bison. I wanted my money back.
 Again, the landscape of the drive home reminded me of Australia, it's only giveaway the red barns. A rain storm came over the valley. The rainbow after was so vivid and  intense that it made me forget the cold blustery birthday. It was a bookmark to a great day of walking in nature.


Our night time plans were a mystery to me until we arrived at the restaurant. The Red Ox Inn is a real gem. Small, quaint and cosy it had a real charm and warmth. The meals were comparable to Vancouver restaurants, but they were the size of an Albertan meal ('A meal fit for a hungry cowboy'). I started with Australian (!) prawns, crispy corn shrimp dumplings, scallions and a chipotle mayo. The shrimp dumplings were crispy and tasty, the prawns melted in my mouth.
Crispy Aussie Prawns
Chad had the filo crusted crab cake, tomato chutney and mascapone mousse. Similarly, tasty and hearty.
Crab Cake
I have had a fascination with duck ever since I ate it at Bistrot Bistro and Le Faux Bourgeois in Vancouver. Ox Inn's duck was a grilled breast butternut squash caponata, crisp risotto cake, red wine reduction.
Donald Duck
 Chad opted for the honey mustard crusted rack of Australian lamb, house gnocchi, vegetable mushroom ragout and Moroccan demi glace. Both were cooked to perfection, and de-lish.
Aussie Lamb
We finished with a bread pudding and a pecan pie.
All courses had perfect wine pairings; a mix of US, BC and Australian wines. I had too much, so I can't remember what I drank, but it was topped off with a Seppelt's Grand Muscat.

For my first Edmontonian dinner and day out, it was surprisingly fun and delicious. Chad did a good job once again. If you come visit, we promise to take you to both locations!



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1 comment:

Kari said...

great cleavage shot at the end. OWWW!