C. 1930s/1940s black felt and cream faux pearl hat: Unknown, had for many years
C. 1930s plastic plastic tipped short hatpin: Unknown, had for many years
Black plastic hair barrette: Goody
1950s style gold leaf and black plastic dangle earrings: Claire's
Red thin knit cropped shrug: Fairweather
Vintage black plastic and gold tone metal flower brooch: Probably eBay (had for years)
1950s/1960s floral print shirtwaist dress: Linda Down
C. 1940s mustard yellow ruched gloves: eBay
Black plastic flower stretch bracelet: Thrifted (Value Village)
Caramel brown hued faux leather vintage style cross body bag: eBay
Black seamed nude stockings: eBay
Black faux leather pumps: Payless
Lip colour: MAC Russian Red
Photos of me by Tony Cangiano, all others taken by me and shared here from my Instagram
{Photo bombing by random adorable dogs is always welcome! :)}
♥ ♥ ♥
Last month, smack, dab in the middle of April, Tony and I decided that the time had come for our first road trip of 2016. The decision to zip out of town was made very much on the fly, as some flare-ups that I'd been battling for six weeks solid prior to then started to finally calm down and I was in a position to be able to leave the house again. We knew that we'd have four days to work with and thus weren't exactly going to be aiming for the furthest corners of our vast nation.
We wanted someplace that was fresh and exciting, could be reached in just a few hours time, and that offered elements we'd both really enjoy. Brain storming began and after weeding out some other possible candidates, we hit upon the Kootenay region of British Columbia.
Located a in the Southeast corner of the province, the Kootenays are especially well known for their long standing mining industry, abundance of evergreen trees, beautiful snow capped mountains (and, fittingly, ski hills), relaxing hot springs, intricate Doukhobor history, laid back lifestyle, and stunning natural landscapes (peppered with rivers and lakes aplenty) in every direction.
Of course, these are but the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what this good sized portion of the province has to offer and many people will find that one short trip alone doesn't even begin to afford them enough time to see and do and all that they may wish to (which is, naturally, a perfect excuse to return).
Despite having strong paternal family ties (albeit much more so historically speaking then nowadays), I hadn't been back to the Kootenays in about twenty years and Tony and had never visited before, so while I did have memories of past trips there, in many ways it was like we were both seeing this verdant part of BC for the very first time.
We left home on Thursday the 14th, after Tony's workday had wrapped up and proceeded to drive through about 4.5 hours of rain, snow and/or fog to reach our first destination (and home base for the duration of this lovely little getaway): the beautiful town of Nelson, BC.
Though we navigated through rough weather to get there, thankfully the sun appeared the very next morning and stayed out for much of our time in the Kootenays. For our home away from home, we selected this immensely cute Alpine Inn and Suites, pictured above, which we were thoroughly pleased with and would definitely return to again.
Nelson is located on the west arm of Kootenay Lake and is the the biggest town in the heart of the Central Kootenay area (the largest town in the Kootenays as a whole is Cranbrook, which we didn't visit, as it's nearly another two hours further from Penticton than Nelson is).
Anyone with a passion for the past is bound to fall in love with Nelson instantly, as it chock-a-block full of beautiful heritage buildings and homes alike. In fact, I don't believe I've been anywhere else in BC to date with a richer concentration of such (I'd say that Victoria would have the second most, IMO).
We had two full days (Friday and Saturday) to spend in the Kootenays and, boy, did we make every moment count!
During the course of that time, we explored not only Nelson itself (including the beautiful historic train station turned tourism center pictured here), but many of the surrounding areas, including Castlegar (where we found a great health food store called Mother Natures that had a really impressive selection of gluten-free offerings, especially for a town with a population of just under 8,000 residents), Salmo, Ainsworth, and Trail, amongst others.
Two photo shoots were able to transpire while we were in this gorgeous part of the province, one of which you're seeing the snaps of here today (these photos were taken on the grounds of our motel) – the other shall follow in the very near future.
This outfit typifies the sort I often wear while traveling (and, really, in my usual day-to-day life as well) and stars a beautiful floral print c. 1950s shirtwaist dress that was partnered with plenty of fun accessories, a cute cropped shrug, sensible shoes, and a lightweight purse (a must for long hours of walking and sightseeing).
I've always been drawn to printed vintage garments in muted hues. Be they florals, stripes, plaids, polka dots, novelty prints, stripes, abstracts or anything else, I genuinely love them to bits and have been working to grow my collection of such over the past couple of years in particular.
This fun mid-century dress joined the team in early 2015 and is making its blog debut here today. It's immensely comfortable and a joy to style, thanks to the numerous colours that one can pull from in the subdued hued (say that five times fast! :)) pattern.
Not only do muted coloured vintage garments often work really well for fall and spring (though then can, naturally, be sported the whole year round), I find that they're often quite flattering to my skin, hair and eye tones – which is all the more reason for me to try and stockpile them! :)
During our brief, thoroughly wonderful, time in the Kootenays, Tony and I visited all of the places listed above, spent a good chunk of time leisurely strolling up and down Nelson's main street, called Baker street, savoured the incredibly crisp, clean mountain air, and watched the sun set over the lake from a cozy bench at Rotary Lakeside Park.
Though we were both floored by how much we were able to see, experience and enjoy while in the Kootenays, there was plenty we didn't get to and as we're both head-over-heels in love with this majestic area of BC, we agreed that many a future trip there will definitely be aimed for!
This was our first road trip with our new car (a Buick Enclave), which we purchased last December, and we were beyond thrilled with how it performed - as well as that we finally had ample space for everything that we needed to bring with us (something that our previous vehicle, a sedan with a matchbox sized truck, sorely lacked!).
We're hoping to take at least one similar road trip this coming summer, though will most likely be headed to a different (as of yet to be determined) destination. Naturally, you can bank on at least a blog post or two (and plenty of Instagram snaps!) from such when we do hit the open road again.
Even though we don't know when or where that will be, I'm already giddy with excitement and can't wait to share more of our stunning, history filled province with all of you.
