A recent trip to the “West’s most Western town” uncovered a hot new hotel, sizzling kitchens, and fab food carts.

Drinks
Does this outdoor fireplace look enticing? And so are the gorgeous pickled red and gold beets (served with whipped ricotta and crostini, $8) as well as the handcrafted classic cocktails at Old Town Whiskey, The Saguaro, 4000 N Drinkwater Blvd., Scottsdale, AZ, 480-308-1068, www.jdvhotels.com/hotels/saguaro

Lunch
Overlooking a beautiful park, the patio at Distrito lures with the scent of barbeque from the smoker. Serving modern Mexican fare, the whimsical décor (like this wall of Mexican wrestling masks) compliments the fun, interactive tasting dishes. Tortillas are pressed inside the restaurant and delivered to tables still warm in baskets. Fill them with whatever is in the smoker and you will be one happy camper. Distrito, The Saguaro, 4000 N Drinkwater Blvd., Scottsdale, AZ, 480-308-1068, www.jdvhotels.com/hotels/saguaro

Dinner
A play on “Food and Beverage,” FnB has been a hit with industry folks, serving street food dishes late at night on Sundays. But everyone will appreciate the chef’s hustle as she prepares delicious little dishes like braised leeks in mustard breadcrumbs topped with a fried egg ($14) in the salamander while grilling lamb tenderloin ($32) over charcoal in the middle of the room. It’s like dinner and a show, all in one. FnB, 7133 E. Stetson Dr., Scottsdale, AZ, 480-425-9463, www.fnbrestaurant.com

Room-Service
The new Saguaro Hotel is the place to stay so you can order the Old Town Burger ($12) with beef that’s coarsely ground in-house and tangy house-made Thousand Island, poolside or bedside, your choice. 4000 N Drinkwater Blvd., Scottsdale, AZ, 480-308-1068, www.jdvhotels.com/hotels/saguaro

Breakfast
Old Town Scottsdale Farmers Market. Beautiful produce (pink grapefruit for a quarter each) plus a row of food carts around the perimeter make it a great way to start the day. Go early for croissants from the French bakery stall, and coffee from this retro trailer called Shine. Saturday, 8am to 1pm, corner of Brown St. and First Ave, Scottsdale, AZ, www.arizonafarmersmarkets.com  —Sarah Bancroft

www.experiencescottsdale.com

For more photos from our Scottsdale trip, please visit our Editor’s Diary. 

A quick flight to Kelowna and 45-minutes drive out of town and you’re at Big White Ski Resort, where everything you need for a productive weekend getaway is at your ski-tips.

Spa
The Timeless Eternity package ($328) at Beyond Wrapture Day Spa gets you three hours of wine-themed bliss. For example, the Okanagan grape pip scrub exfoliates with the grape bits that don’t make it into wine.

Drink
You’d think it was an invention of the Calgary Stampede, but Gunbarrel Coffee at Snowshoe Sam’s is all Big White. A glass rimmed in crystallized sugar is filled with brandy, cacao and coffee. Out comes the shotgun and flaming Grand Marnier is poured down the barrel of a shotgun into the glass. It all happens on a cart that is wheeled to your table.

Stay
Step out of the hotel into your skis at any of Big White’s ski-in, ski-out hotels including the White Crystal Inn. When you’re done, relax by your fireplace or enjoy the best of après ski in the surrounding village.

Play
Big White gets 750 cm of snow annually and with 118 runs (most of which are beginner or intermediate) you won’t be at a loss for ski options. To get the quintessential Big White experience, you’ll want to swoosh through the powder weaving through the “snow ghosts” aka snow covered trees.

Play some more
There’s dog sledding, skating and tubing, but climbing the ice climbing tower will get your adrenaline pumping. Built from four telephone poles that are cross-braced and sprayed down each week the massive block of ice has one side is easier than the rest, but any of the four with take you up 60-feet to ring the bell at the top. —Jaelyn Molyneux

Visit www.bigwhite.com and HelloBC.com

Hiking up Johnston Canyon in the summer is a rite of passage for most Calgarians, but have you done it in the winter?

Banff Adventures Unlimited offers a guided ice walk of the canyon along catwalks and past frozen waterfalls including the grand finale arrival at the Upper Falls, all 30 meters of which freeze to form the Cathedral of Ice. Tourists tend not to make the trek in the chilly temperatures and the normally busy spot turns tranquil. $62 gets you an experienced guide, ice cleats and hot chocolate. The four-hour excursion leaves every morning and afternoon from Banff hotels.

Bundle up and prepare for a breathtaking experience. —Jaelyn Molyneux

www.banffadventures.com

Filling your basket with free range eggs and organic milk at a market where every body knows your name seems like the way it should be.

As you soon as you walk through the doors of the newly opened Bridgeland Market, friendly faces greet you from behind the ice cream counter or the sandwich bar. The heritage building’s tin ceilings and brick walls surround rows of pastas, cereals and preserves. Veggies, meats and dairy blissfully come from local suppliers, but no one will judge you if you buy a box of Kraft Dinner a couple of shelves over.

The best part: there is not a self checkout or express lane in sight. —Jaelyn Molyneux

Bridgeland Market, 1104 1 Ave. N.E., Calgary, 403-269-2381

If you don’t know your knit from your purl or your dart from your pin tuck, Stash Needle Art Lounge can sort your crafting skills out.

The sewing and knitting space offers classes for beginner and intermediate stitchers. Or, if your skills just need a little practice amongst friends, the lounge lets you hang out in their 100-year-old warehouse space, use their equipment, and benefit from their encouraging company (starting at $6 an hour). Settle into a plush chair by the fireplace to get started on a sweater or stake out a sewing table by the window and craft your own couture. —Jaelyn Molyneux

Stash Needle Art Lounge, 1B, 1215 13 St. S.E., Calgary, 403-457-0766, www.stashlounge.com

Our favourite undiscovered spots (till now!)

Luna Blue
Have shoes will travel to this 14th Street Southwest shoe store. The tiny boutique is halfway between trendy shopping districts Marda Loop and Uptown 17, but set outside of the main retail action. Luna Blue counts autobody shops and pizza delivery businesses as its neightbours. Look for its bold blue façade to find footwear and handbags including Lola Ramona boots and TSUBO pumps. Luna Blue, 2611 14 St. S.W., Calgary, 403-244-1644, www.lunablueshoes.com

Valta Bison Farms
Tucked into a 100-year old building in Ramsay, this shop is a throwback to the old farm stores with fresh deli sandwiches, sauces, dairy products and, of course, bison including steaks, roasts and sausages. Valta Bison Farms, 703 23 Ave. S.E., Calgary, 403-237-9667, www.valtabison.com

Frosst Books
The building used to be a bottle depot before the interior was renovated into artists’ studios and gallery space as well as a bookstore that carries art, architecture and design books and zines as well as artists’ prints. The exterior is almost entirely unchanged so if you are looking for the bookstore watch for the bottle depot sign. Frosst Books, 1018 Ninth Ave. S.E., Calgary, 403-265-2664, www.frosstbooks.com

Villa Firenze
Sitting comfortably under the radar but close to downtown, this Italian restaurant has been serving homemade pasta, sauces, pestos, sausages and foccacia for decades. It’s the kind of low light, long wine list restaurant where you want to settle in and stay awhile. Villa Firenze, 610 First Ave. N.E., Calgary, 403-264-4297.

Flora
Dutch-trained florist, Sarah Mayerson’s flower shop on Edmonton Trail is a chic backdrop for her custom arrangements and if you aren’t the market for centerpieces, bouquets or succulent plants, there is also jewelry and art by local artists for sale. Flora, 902 Edmonton Tr. N.E., Calgary, 403-457-1175, www.floracalgary.com —Jaelyn Molyneux

Our latest visit to BC's capital city uncovered the best new places to, eat, drink….and shop.

Shop
The neighbourhood of Oak Bay is home to a brand new women’s store Public, stocked with eye catching jewellery by Giles Brother (modeled after the designers’ grandmother’s estate collection), fine cashmere sweaters from England’s John Smedley, and Tibi New York. After, head next door to the new Vis-à-Vis winebar for a charcuterie plate. Public, 201-2250 Oak Bay Ave., Victoria, 250-590-6405, www.publicboutique.ca

(Let’s Hear it) For the Boys
Public’s sister store, Citizen, carries-carefully curated menswear and accessories like Filson bags, handmade shoes, reams of silk ties, Denham jeans and retro bicycles for the dapper man about town. Citizen Clothing, 2541 Estevan Ave., Victoria, 250-590-6716, www.citizenclothing.ca  

Do
Renting bikes from Cycle BC will get you to Oak Bay along the oceanfront in no time. Start at Beacon Hill Park, do the seaside route, and return via the Empress Hotel Veranda for a glass of rosé. Cycle BC, 685 Humboldt St.
, Victoria, 250-380-2453, www.cyclebc.ca

Spa
What’s a getaway without a spa stop? The boutique-size Spa at the Grand does a top-notch pedicure (while you recline on a bed) and the RMT massages were both therapeutic and relaxing. Hotel Grand Pacific, 463 Belleville St., Victoria, 250-386-0450, www.hotelgrandpacific.com

Dim Sum
A surprising discovery was the Ocean-Wise Dim Sum at The Pacific with locally-sourced ingredients. Order off the Asian tea menu (we loved The Philosopher Brew) and start with the BC Seafood Congee ($12) which is light and delicious. Cowichan Valley Springrolls ($8) and Qualicum Scallop Dumplings ($8) are a modern spin on locavore fusion—and a great idea, we might add. Hotel Grand Pacific, 463 Belleville St., Victoria, 250-386-0450, www.hotelgrandpacific.com

Fly
Helijet’s 25-minute harbour-to-harbour flights are the preferred mode of island hopping for those (like me) who hate to wait. The aerial views of porpoise pods? Bonus. www.helijet.com

Dine
Open daily with no reservations, the new 200-seat Zambri’s is truly an international-level restaurant in the shiny-new downtown Atrium building. Would saying it was the best meal of our year be too much? I think not. Dish after sublime dish—vegetable-forward and ultra-progressively Italian—was a delightful surprise. House-cured meats pushed appies up (bread dumplings with ground salumi wrapped in spec, do you hear me?) and silky, egg-y pastas roll off the tongue like the romance languages. Zambris, 820 Yates St., Victoria, 250-360-1171, www.zambris.ca

Dine Again
Ulla’s proprietors are a young couple who honed their skills at Vancouver’s Cibo among other fine dining establishments. On the edge of Chinatown, it’s a loft-y space with a formidable cookbook collection (try the Momofuku chicken wings, an ode to New York’s David Chang). A $7 glass of Cava sets the tone for a fun evening and pairs perfectly with the octopus salad ($12). Ulla, 509 Fisgard St., Victoria, 250-590-8795, www.ulla.ca —Sarah Bancroft

Read more about our Victoria trip in our Editors' Diary.

Contrary to what you might assume the Saskatoon Farm is not in Saskatchewan.

Instead this hybrid of an attraction is 10-kilometres south of Calgary at the end of a country road that dead ends at a valley. The berry from whence the farm is named can be found in the tarts, waffles and biscuits in the café or frozen by the box beside the take-and-bake pies in the gift shop. U-pick opportunities for the berries have passed for the season, but farm fresh veggies are pulled from fields overlooking the valley and sold at the market stand. Back inside, two floors of hallways and alcoves are stocked with home décor from hefty wood dining tables to dainty wall lighting.

Eating, shopping and fresh country air, it’s a win-win-win and it’s open year-round. —Jaelyn Molyneux

Highway 2 and 338 Ave. E., De Winton, 403-938-6245, www.saskatoonfarm.com

Less than two hours by air will get you to the Emerald City where an entrepreneurial spirit has created a petri dish of Pacific Northwest-only business for us to enjoy.   

stay
Art gallery meets luxury lodging at Hotel Max where more than 350 paintings and photographs from local artists accent the old hotel that has been retrofitted with modern amenities and a rock star attitude. 

shop
Ballard Avenue boutique, Ketch carries Pacific Northwest themed tees from Poppy and Moe alongside James Jeans and House of Harlow jewels.

do
Hop the Bon Vivant wine tour 25 minutes out of town in Woodinville where more than 50 Washington wineries operate out of country estates, hillside homes and garage bays.

eat
Start with crab cakes and end with coconut cream pie at Etta’s. The Pike Place restaurant is one of chef Tom Douglas’ 12 Seattle eateries, all of which are worthy of mealtime.

drink
Caffeinate at Caffé Vita where farm direct beans, hand roasting and a grind-to-order system lead to a cup of Joe comes that comes with tasting notes. —Jaelyn Molyneaux

When Canada Olympic Park’s ice house melts in the summer, bobsleigh drivers attach wheels to their wagons and roll their way down the concrete track.

This year COP shares the downhill thrill usually reserved for Olympians by allowing groups of four to ride the summer bobsleigh. A professional driver steers the sleigh as it bobs and banks at speeds up to 100-kilometres-per-hour through 14 turns before coming to a screeching halt at the bottom of the hill 60 seconds later.

If only the Jamaican bobsleigh team had this hot track to practice on. Cool Runnings would have been a much different movie. —Jaelyn Molyneux

$69 per person at Winsport Canada’s Canada Olympic Park, 88 Olympic Rd. SW, Calgary, 403-247-5452, www.winsportcanada.ca