Nelson is a small city located in the Selkirk mountains on the west arm of the Kooteney lake. It is in the southern interior of British Columbia and was quickly incorporated in the late 1800’s after silver was found in the nearby mountains.
Today Nelson is a beautiful city rich in community, art, and history. It’s a thriving little community that really shows off its heritage and charm. We were lucky enough to visit Nelson for our daughter’s gymnastics competition last week. As someone that lives in a resort town, I think April is the perfect time to visit Nelson because the tourists are not there yet and the town is just waking up from winter and eager to provide fantastic service, be creative, entertain, and BONUS no wait times or big crowds!
We stayed at the Prestige Lakeside Resort. I would highly recommend this resort as it is in a stunning location directly on the Kooteney Lake. It boasts a wonderful coffee bar, Empire Coffee, with baked treats for your morning needs. It also has the Port701 Restaurant, a delicious restaurant that even has a sushi bar, and the Brixx BrewHouse, a sophisticated lounge to enjoy a nightcap before bed. The entire hotel was clean, beautiful, and comfortable. Our room had two comfortable queen size beds, and a door out to lounging chairs in front of the scenic lake, complete with a red bridge and picturesque houseboats bobbing in the distance. Idyllic.
We only had one full day to fully explore Nelson, and we took advantage of every second! We have always found the best way to explore a new town is through two apps, the Geocaching app and it’s new companion app, AdventureLab. Ninja found 4 AdventurLabs in the heart of the city that led us through town finding the most amazing little titbits of information and bringing us to the most beautiful little local spots. I highly recommend downloading these apps on your next family vacation!
We started our day at the historic Hume Hotel. Originally built an 1898, this hotel has seen Nelson grow into the city it is today. Though it has been closed and reopened, dealt with renovations, reconstructions, and been disregarded, it has since been brought back to its original full glory. It has 2 magnificent restaurants, the General Store Restaurant and the Library Lounge, a spa and Mike’s Place Pub. We enjoyed a delicious Kooteney breakfast at the General Store to ready us as our exploring officially began.
We started where any good tourist would start… At Nelson Visitor’s Centre. Located in the original train station the visitor centre prepares you for the amount of art you will see in this small city. Art is everywhere! There is also a coffee shop and the beginning of an AdventureLab that took us through the old train grounds and into a district of the city known as “Railtown”. Here we explored original buildings and businesses and learned a little history about each of them.
Next, our AdventureLab led us to the Cottonwood Falls. We were absolutely not expecting a stunning waterfall in the middle of town! Not only were we not expecting the waterfall, the stunning Japanese garden complete with cherry blossom trees next to it was not only a happy surprise, but a beautiful place to take some family photos, which I took a TON of!! If you want to see more of this beautiful park, check out my post last week HERE!
Next, Baker Street! Nelson is known for it’s collection of heritage buildings built after the silver rush in the 1800’s. When you walk down Baker Street you feel like you are back in time! The shopping is booming in Nelson! So many cute stores! We especially loved Cartolina, Bia Boro, and the eclectic thrift stores! Our favourite was the thrift store called S.H.A.R.E. Nelson. S.H.A.R.E. is a community thrift store in the basement of the building and the proceeds of what they sell are given to the program upstairs called Our Daily Bread, a community lunch program that feeds approximately 50 hot meals a day to people in need. The Kids picked out a few new outfits to help support this wonderful program.
Our art walk let us directly to the Nelson Public Library! We love libraries, lol so we went inside and did an AdventureLab in their beautiful library!
All around Baker Street you can see color. Down the back lanes where beautiful restaurants are perched on hills, there are Murals everywhere. Long murals, small murals, even full sides of buildings are painted in bright, beautiful colors! We did an AdventureLab that took us on a selfguided art tour behind Baker Street, finding unique murals along the way.
Our next AdventureLab showed us some ghostly and the darker side of the history of Nelson which took us back down to the Hume Hotel so on our way, we stopped at Backroads Brewing for a pint and a couple pretzels! Fantastic brew, great service, and an easy stop as it was located in the middle of Baker Street.
We had dinner at Torchlight Brewing, which was a short walk from our hotel. It’s a family-friendly craft brewery and we played Scattergories while we waited for our yummy pub food to arrive!
The Kids had the best time getting dessert at the local Dairy Queen (Treat), which was super old-school and didn’t have a restaurant only an order window and a pick up window on the other side! The Kids thought it was fantastic!
Of course we ALWAYS need to check out the local pizza place when we go away, so we had delicious late night ‘za from Thor’s Pizzeria.
We did and saw so much in Nelson on our one day we were able to explore. However, there is still so much more! Depending on what season you go, a new adventure awaits! We can’t wait to return to Nelson! Our first day was so enjoyable! Thank you to the city of Nelson, the businesses that were so friendly to us, and of course, the Glacier Gymnastics Team for the invitation!
Check out How Was Your Week, Honey? Episode #378: Nelson
This week, we get together after a rough few days following my infusion. Topics: Billy Ocean, family aging, Kristin’s birthday, hosting, Syd stories, 420, SOW, Taylor’s new album, & continued education.
The sun is out, the trees are green and the gardens are beginning to sprout. Some of the first vegetables we get here in BC, is lettuce! I love salad! Actually, my whole family loves salad. We eat a lot of salad as an easy side dish, Ninja and HBear love Caesar Salad and SBean and me prefer Mom’s Almond Feta Salad. But we love ALL types of salad! We have been trying out lots of new salad recipes fit for dinner not just a side and these 3 salads blew us away! Click the links below to JUMP right to the Recipe!
Mangos are delicious, but I definitely prefer them in a salsa or a sauce, but in this case, I loved it in a marinade and as a dressing! This Grilled Chicken Mango Salad with Mango Cilantro Dressing is bright and fresh and will kick start your palate into spring!
You can never go wrong with Mexican! We have tried many taco salads, but this Taco Salad with Salsa Ranch was a unique and different take on a dish we have had as a staple in our house for years. It was refreshing to shake it up with this salsa ranch dressing.
I am not a big seafood fan, but my husband and kids are! We made this Grilled Shrimp Salad with Honey Mustard Vinaigrette for dinner the other night, and everybody was super happy with it! I had it on its own and added some cucumbers, and it was delicious! Ninja said the shrimp were perfect, easy, and he will make them like that for his Caesar salads in the future, lol.
Grilled Chicken Mango Salad with Mango Cilantro Dressing
4
servings15
minutes15
minutesIngredients
1 tablespoon oil
2-3 chicken breasts
5 cups lettuce, chopped
1 cup grape tomatoes, halved
2-3 radishes, sliced
1 cucumber, diced
1 bell pepper, chopped
1 cup cilantro, chopped & divided
1 mango, diced
1 Thai red chili
3 garlic cloves
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
¾ teaspoon salt
½ cup olive oil
Directions
- Add mangoes, 1/2 cup cilantro, red chilli, garlic, red, wine vinegar, olive oil and salt to your NutriBullet.
Marinate the chicken in half a cup of mango cilantro salad dressing. Set aside for 15 minutes.
Grill the chicken for 15 minutes, turning halfway. Let it rest for 5-10 minutes before slicing.
Add lettuce, cucumbers, bell peppers, radishes, tomatoes, cilantro and grilled chicken to a large bowl. Pour the dressing on top and toss to combine.
Ingredients
1 lb ground beef
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
½ teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
4-6 cups romaine lettuce, chopped, tossed with cilantro & divided
1 cup grape tomatoes, chopped
1/2 can corn, drained
2 green onions, sliced
1/2 red onion, pickled
1 cup tortilla chips, crushed & divided
- 1 cup pico de gallo, divi
1 cup Mexican cheese, shredded & divided
- Salsa Ranch Dressing
½ cup plain greek yogurt
¼ cup mayonnaise
¼ cup milk
2 tablespoons fresh chives
1 teaspoon dried dill
½ tablespoon fresh parsley
1 teaspoon lemon juice
½ teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper
¼ teaspoon onion powder
¼ teaspoon smoked paprika
½ cup your favourite salsa
Directions
Add all the dressing ingredients to a NutriBullet except the salsa and blend until pureed and combined. Stir in the salsa.
Heat a skillet over medium heat, add the ground beef and break it apart with a wooden spoon. Cook, stirring and breaking apart, until it begins to brown. Add in the cumin, paprika, garlic powder, chili powder, salt and pepper. Stir well. Cook until the beef is browned.
Toss the lettuce with fresh cilantro and a big pinch of salt and pepper. Top with tomatoes, corn, green onions, pickled onions, tortilla chips, seasoned taco meat and pico de gallo.
Grilled Shrimp Salad with Honey Mustard Vinaigrette
4
servings15
minutes15
minutesIngredients
1 lb shrimp peeled and deveined, tails removed
2 teaspoons salt, separated
2 teaspoon pepper, separated
2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
8 slices bacon cooked and crumbled
1/4 red onion, thinly sliced
4 hard boiled eggs, diced
8 cups salad greens
Lemon juice and zest from one large lemon
2 tablespoons honey
2 cloves garlic, pressed
2 tablespoons dijon mustard
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
¼ cup olive oil + 1 tablespoon oil
Directions
Add lemon juice, zest, honey, garlic, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon pepper, Dijon mustard, red wine vinegar, and 1/4 cup olive oil to a small bowl and whisk well until smooth and creamy.
Toss the shrimp in 1 tablespoon oil and season with 1 teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon pepper.
Heat the grill to medium high heat. Add the shrimp to the grill and cook for 2-3 minutes per side, until shrimp is pink and opaque. Let the shrimp cool for 10 minutes while you prep the salad.
Divide and arrange the salad greens between 4 bowls. Top with the cherry tomatoes, bacon, onion, and diced hard boiled eggs. Top the salads with the shrimp and drizzle with the dressing.
Guess what? My Cinqo de Mayo Taco Post was Featured by Eclectic Red Barn on last week’s Thursday Favorite Things Link Party! Thank you!
Check out How Was Your Week, Honey? Episode #379: Can Can.
This week, we get together after a weekend visit from Chris’ brother. Topics: the Rockettes, the deck, Scattergories, playoffs, frugality, aging, SOW, summer songs, & hard rock.
This week was busy! HBear had spirit week at school, Ninja’s Brother was in town visiting from Edmonton, and SBean had her musical theatre finale! Ninja spent some quality time with his family golfing on Friday and Saturday and HBear even joined the round on Saturday. Afterwards, we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa‘s for dinner and a visit. On Sunday we celebrated my father-in-law‘s 79th birthday with breakfast at the Bufflehead Cafe. We ended our weekend cheering SBean’s musical theatre class on. She had so much fun with Soundstage this year! This was a new experience for us and one that turned out super well! She has one performance left, next week where she will perform their 10 minute glee medley at the Kiwanis Highlights Festival! Great job Bean.
2 thoughts on “A Weekend in Nelson & Spring Salads”
Hello! Happy to meet you, coming from the link party. Wow, this was an amazing post! I live south of you, close to Sandpoint, ID, and we have been to Nelson several times, always just on a day trip. You have definitely shared some amazing things about the town of Nelson and the next time we go, we will be checking them out, especially the art and the waterfall. I love the old fashioned DQ too! Happy to meet you!
Fantatstic! Thanks for checking me out, I’m glad I could suggest new spots for you to explore. I subscribed to your blog, now I can check out your travels and recipes too! I appreciate you taking the time to comment. Have a good one!