First impressions.....
It was an early start to the day and a long bus ride that eventually brought us to the small town of Fernie in British Columbia. We've chosen to stop here for two months to take on an extremely important job, officially titled 'ski bum'. Lucy was very excited on the bus, wanting very much to look out the window most of the way. What she got was a tour of middle-of-nowhere Canada; the bus stopping at every small town and outpost between Calgary and Fernie!
Fernie is a very pretty little town. The main street is mostly elegent stone buildings dating from the 1900s. Fernie was established as a mining town when the towns namesake, Mr Fernie, discovered coal in the region. He met with the local people and noticed that the daughter of the chief was wearing a necklace of shiny black rocks. He made a deal with the chief; if he showed Fernie where the coal was, Fernie would marry the chief's daughter. Eager to make allegiences with the whites, the chief agreed, but when he showed Fernie the location of the coal, Fernie reneged on the deal. The local people cursed the town with fire, flood and famine for all eternity. Which is probably why the town burnt to the ground twice in the early 1900s. After the second fire, the citizens of the town rebuilt in stone, leaving behind the beautiful buildings we see today.
We learnt very quickly that Fernie is a friendly place. We'd sorted out accommodation from Calgary, but our landlady was away when we arrived. She asked a neighbour to let us in and when I called to let him know we'd got to town, he offered to collect us from the bus station.
After settling into our new digs, we headed into town to explore and to pick up some supplies. After snapping a few pictures and wandering around we met up with our friends Steve and Jo. They came to visit us for a couple of days to ski Fernie.
The snow has been wonderful the last three days, but I've discovered I have no skills when it comes to powder! I like the hard packed piste. I suppose I should get used to it though. It is one of the reasons why we chose Fernie - for the legendary powder!