LETHBRIDGE TO CROWSNEST PASS

Kicking off our exploration of Rumble Route South 3, great coffee is an essential - and Bread, Milk & Honey in Lethbridge did not disappoint! Housed in the historic Wallace Block built in 1910 and proudly displays the name on the outside facade.

This building started out as a religious space owned by The Knights of Pythiasa (an international nonsectarian fraternal order), then switched owners many times before turning into a coffee shop.

The business itself incorporates old and new with artful transition. The brick and pressed metal cornices have all been preserved with fun funky elements to bring it to the current era. Many of the prized recipes for their baked goods have a historical charm as well- part of the arrangement when purchasing the shop from the last cafe owner, the recipes came with it.

The recipes are a throwback to an earlier time, and blended with a new cafe concept that the owners modelled on “Portland Coffee Culture”. Their local BC roasted coffee is delicious, and this hotspot has become a charming place that caters generationally to both the senior and the university crowd with equal appeal.

A great space to enjoy a slow coffee, or to grab a quick one for on the road.

If you’re more in the mood for global flavours, Umami is the place to find just about anything you could possibly want, from specialty grocery items like Avjar (Serbian roasted red pepper sauce) to housemade creations like charcuterie boards and vietnamese subs, the store itself is like taking a trip around the world. It has an on-site specialty coffee bar and lunch counter for grab and go. Staying for a night or two? Check out their cooking class schedule. Customers come from all over for specialty

items (when we stopped there was a couple who came from Cranbrook specifically to pick up their items), but you can also order online and they will ship worldwide. The real fun is in wandering the aisles though, so definitely worth the stop. If you want to try a local sauce, Umami even makes their own line that includes DA LAT, BANG-

KOK, CHILIWACK and SAIGON. Above - Umami Grab some lunch and eat on the outside patio or hit the road.

Heading out of Lethbridge brings you into agricultural areas bursting with farms, growers and producers. The area has a large Dutch population, so we are looking forward to learning more about that as well! Our first stop was only a few minutes outside of the city at the famous Broxburn Farms. It is well marked off the highway, so really easy to find. Broxburn Farms offers much more than you would expect to find with a U-pick (seasonal of course), a farm store, and a café that uses fresh items from the farm in every dish.

The name may be familiar - their products are available at many restaurants and farmers’ markets around the province. A family-run business (run by a hard-working Paul de Jonge and his children), Broxburn is a great place to stop that has something for everyone - perfect if you’ve got kids in tow. The strawberries were ripe when we visited, so the U-pick was hopping and the patio was full with guests. A few fresh produce items for the cooler, and we were back on the road.

Just 20 minutes away, and we were absolutely blown away by Crystal Springs Dairy Company. A beautiful space where art meets science. Started in 1984 by the Beyer family, they control the cheesemaking process from start to finish, from raising the dairy cows to packaging and selling the cheese.

The cows are a mixture of six breeds (including Jersey and Holstein) with careful attention to breeding and lineage. The slick set-up pipes the milk directly into the facility from the barns on the other side of the property, allowing for a seamless flow of product. We had an opportunity to tour the facility with cheesemaker Jacco Beyer, and are now (and forever) Crystal Springs enthusiasts.

The immaculate cheeserie was beyond pristine, and the state of the art machinery for producing world class cheeses was fascinating.

The A2 milk production program they have been working on for the last nine years, to the processing, and finally to the aging chamber with the hand applied wax casing - this is clearly a labour of love. Soon you will be able to book a tour of the full facility, but for now you can just peek through the glass from the retail shop into the production area to see it in action.

Plan to arrive early in the day - that’s when they are in full production. In the retail front and cafe, you can try Dutch items like frikandel sausage (sausage with onion mayo and curry ketchup) and Dutch war fries (fries with onions and peanut sauce). No matter what you pick, you can’t go wrong. You can purchase their wide assortment of cheeses at the retail shop, and order a counter service lunch. By the fall of 2021, Crystal Springs will also be licensed so you will be able to enjoy all these little delights with a local craft beer, cider, or wine. Another batch of goodies for the cooler, and away we go!

Brand new to the cottage winery scene, Little Gem Winery was the next stop on our trip, just outside of the town of Nobleford. As they are just getting started, we wanted to take a peek at what they have.

The trio that built the winery are Joel, Rick, and Jordan, who have a three generation farming experience in the area. They have plans for a tasting room down the road, but for now they are an all-in-one facility, so definitely check ahead of time to see if they are open. For Little Gem, they have put their focus on the haskap berry - a heritage berry that is seeing a resurgence across Alberta thanks to the hard work of a farmers collective (Vitalaberry).

Joel walked us through some tank samples, and they have one batch ready to go into fancy French Oak barrels, so we can’t wait to come back in 6 to 8 months to taste it! For now they have a delightful rose, a classic red, and a fun cider that is a blend of five different apple varieties. The hidden gem is their soon to be released Haskap dessert wine. Production is pretty limited, but be sure you’re watching to get your hands on this treasure!

After trying the frinkende (below) at Crystal Springs, we knew that we needed to know more about this delicious product made by 4th generation butchers bringing their Dutch heritage here, so we headed to the Dutch Grill Meat Products. It’s a bit off the beaten path and is by appointment only, but you can find it in specialty shops

like the Wooden Shoe (Lethbridge), Crystal Springs, and in both Calgary and Edmonton at boutique shops. This stop is as much about exploring our Alberta heritage and the wonderful backgrounds we find in the province as it is about the frinkendel.

The Dutch butcher is certainly doing different things here in Alberta, and we love the ability to find a butchery that is producing European delights with Alberta ingredients. The Anker family moved to Canada 2010 with their four children, settling in Southern Alberta and working in the cattle industry for almost a decade. Wim Anker is back to his roots with the licensed butchery. A few years into their business, they now produce a wide assortment of products including dutch smoked rings, fricandelle (Dutch spelling) Metworst, Slavinken, along with traditional items you would expect to find, as well as custom butchery. It’s like taking a trip to the Netherlands without ever having to leave Alberta!

From there we headed to the hamlet of Lundbreck. With a population around 250, it’s not a surprise to find out everyone in the town knows everyone and everything. As you drive in from Highway 3, you are greeted by Oldman River Brewing on the East side of the street,

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and the Windsor Heritage Centre and the Lundbreck Liquor Store & Pizza restaurant buildings which have both marked the entrance to the community. The town boasts a history back to 1907, and Oldman River microbrewery and taproom are perfectly situated to greet the visitors.

The brewery started in 2017, and the taproom has an inviting atmosphere with wood paneling, fishing reels for the tap handles and an outdoor patio that is dog friendly. This award-winning brewery has tasting flights and serves an assortment of “bites” that range from healthy salads to pulled pork sliders, and corned beef sandwiches to nachos.

It’s a perfect stop for travellers - right off the highway full of small town charm, friendly folks and good eats in a matter of seconds. Don’t miss stopping at Lundbreck Falls - a picture-perfect spot to rest and snap some road trip selfies!

As we wind our way into the Crowsnest Pass, the next stop in the town of Blairmore is aptly named the Pass.

Newly opened in the fall of 2020,

The Pass Beer

Company has been off to a bit of a slow start with the pandemic interrupting their big launch, so they focused on their brewing, waiting for the big day to open to the public for good! With a spacious outdoor patio, an extended

pet-friendly grass patio, and a charming taproom, they will be bringing in new customers from miles away in no time. We chatted with the co-owner and Pizza Overlord Danielle Radvak and worth mentioning, the patio is child and pet friendly not just dog friendly, and rumour has it a chicken was visiting the other day. The patio has a stunning view of the Crowsnest Mountain, and the raised plant beds add both charm and herbs for their kitchen.

The indoor space is inviting and upscale with a lovely pizza oven. When “crazy times call for crazy pizza,” give their Quarantine pizza a try - truffle oil, garlic, mushrooms, blue cheese, and balsamic. It’s a pizza you will never forget, that’s for sure! A great side stop for groups of any size with ample parking and lots of indoor and outdoor space for customers.

While not a foodie stop, the next landmark was one we had to stop to investigate, and a great reason to stretch your legs. The majestic yet eerie looking dead tree on the westbound side of the highway caught our attention as it welcomed us into the pass. It is this same fascination that intrigued the people of the mining town of Burmis over one hundred years ago. This limber pine has stood at the entrance to the pass for over three hundred years, with some experts claiming that it may be up to seven hundred years old and is the most photographed tree in Canada.

Though the Burmis Tree outlived its namesake town, death would come for the tree in 1978 with the tree standing until the mid 1980s.

This proved little more than an inconvenience for the tree that was promptly reinstated by the communities of the pass with metal beams in the trunk of the tree to give structure and more beams anchoring it to the rock below to this day. It is a symbol of rugged resilience against all odds that welcomes travelers into the pass. Pass is Cinnamon Bear Bakery & Café in Coleman, so naturally we had to stop. Even before they opened in the morning, there was already a lineup around the building.

Chatting with fellow folks in line, one gentleman mentioned that he times his transport trips to be able to come through specifically when they are open.

With COVID hours, times were a bit off but that did not deter him. Ordering is lightning fast, getting you back on the road again in no time (albeit with sticky fingers). Between the warm cinnamon buns, cookies the size of your head, and an assortment of squares and bars, there is plenty of variety to grab for a picnic outside or for a snack on the road.

There’s even some gluten-free options! The cinnamon buns were amazing with a chewy texture and not-too-sweet cream cheese icing, truly the highlight of this bakery.

Other offerings include both sweet and savory, so don’t be deterred if you don’t have a sweet tooth. You can opt for the equally delicious spinach and feta or tomato and parmesan pastries.

The shop itself is hard to miss, situated just off the main highway with a large carved bear sign to greet customers. We strongly recommend you check out this bakery and see what the Crowsnest pass has to offer.

We couldn’t resist a quick peek into the next stop - a combination of coffee house and fly shop?

You can’t NOT take a look!

With this part of Alberta renowned for fly fishing, it seems logical to have a coffee shop and a fly shop - but does it really work together?

1988, so clearly they are making it work. It offers a variety of breakfast and lunch choices ranging from paninis to burritos to fresh homemade salads.

With delicious

Oso Negro organic coffee out of Nelson BC, breakfast is served starting at 8:00am making it one of the first shops open in the morning in Coleman. Lunch starts at 11:00am, switching gears to sandwiches and paninis. It was a long and full day exploring, and we were looking forward to kicking back and relaxing for the evening in Coleman at a recommended dinner stop.

The Rum Runner Restaurant and Pub is the perfect spot with a fun atmosphere and storied history as you try to imagine the space throughout history.

Built in 1914, the building was intended to run as a Catholic School nestled next to the church, but the parish

was denied the school application, so the building was rented out as a bunkhouse for miners.

In 1923, the parish resumed control of the space and used the building as a hall until it closed in 1997.

Now as the Rum Runner, the place has taken on a warmth and charm of its own, decked out with antlers and taxidermy of many varieties; it is a combination of prohibition era speakeasy with atmospheric lighting and an outdoor dog-friendly patio.

Serving Canadian style pub foods, they have themed burgers sure to satisfy even the hungriest of travellers. They also serve delicious soups, salads, pizzas, and wings. If you happen to be driving through on a

The back half of the cafe is dedicated to fly fishing equipment, flies, and wearables.

If you are keen to fish, guided tours can take you to the best local fishing holes, with the café’s cooks doubling as fishing tour guides!

It was time to walk off our decadence, so we set off to learn about Turtle Mountain and the tragic but historic Frank Slide.

On April 29th, 1903, the small town of Frank was buried with 110 million tonnes of limestone.

There is an interpretive centre located just off the highway, and has short walking trails (1.5km) to explore.

Reflecting on the pure devastation of the slide on this small community (over 70 people passed), the aftermath of this slide is a reminder of the destructive powers of nature.