Friday 13th July 2012 ­ Rocky Mountaineer ­ Kamloops, The Noble Pig Pub, Deep Fried Pickles and the lovely Nikki!

We drew into Kamloops at 8.30pm after a very hard day’s scenery gazing!  Derived from the Shuswap First Nation word “T’Kemlups” meaning “meeting of the waters”, it refers to the junction of the North & South Thompson Rivers. Despite an elevation of 1,000 feet it was stinking hot with high humidity so it was a relief to get into and air-conditioned room with a wet room bigger than my lounge, take a shower and search out some food. 

Kamloops is not huge and lies at the crossroads of the TransCanada Highways 5 and 97 as well the Canadian Pacific and National Railroads. Laid out in typical rectangular fashion the main street is dominated by the Casino!  Although the stay in the hotel in the late evening heat seemed inviting the bus driver on the way from the station hadpointed out the Noble Pig Pub as the best place to eat ‘deep fried pickles’. Well how could one resist?  So I braved the heat – it must have been in the late 20s C to struggle the 200 metres to the Pub!

Inside it was large and cool but not as busy as I had thought but as usual I was greeted with a smile and sat at a table in introduced to my waitress for the evening the lovely Nikki.  Having chosen a burger I plucked up courage and asked Nikki about the deep fried pickles.  They turned out to be 6 inch gherkins sliced lengthways, individually breaded and then deep fried and served with a dill and mustard relish.  They were delicious although Nikki was somewhat incredulous that I was going to eat the pickles, burger and fries!  Well I did apart from one-half of the bun, all that scenery and camera button pressing appears to have made me ravenous!

When I was paying my bill I happened to notice that Nikki was wearing an engagement ring and casually asked when the wedding was to be.  The answer was – June 22^nd next year.  Well as many of you will know this is my Birthday so I said what a good choice and that it was bound to be a good day.  Another of life’s little coincidences that greatly pleased Nikki.  Replete with deep fried pickles, burger and 2 pints of traditional ale I perspired my way back to the hotel for a short rest before another early start to Day Two of the Rocky Mountaineer.