May's Cafe - Blackbird Bakery (Pemberton)

Pemberton is a small town in BC just north of Whistler. If you ever do the drive from San Francisco (March's Cafe) through Portland (July's Cafe?) to Vancouver (April's Cafe) and then keep driving North, it'd be hard to believe the scenery can keep getting more beautiful. But then you see the Howe Sound, with its snowcapped peaks to the north and the slate sea and islands to the west, and then further up the 99 to Squamish, with its great granite dome—the climbing mecca of the Stawamus Chief—and then past the Black Tusk and Green lake and up the Soo River, finally to Pemberton, the sweeping Lillooett Lake and the north edge of the Garabaldi range (below) — it does just keep getting better.

Oh yes, coffee. The nice thing about Blackbird cafe is that you can sit and eat your pastry and stare up at the epic Mt. Currie, the northern summit of Garibaldi which is itself part of the Coast Range (running north from the Fraser River all the way to the Yukon)—all from the nostalgic seating of an old train station. The space feels trapped in time, in a good way. To that point, Bob the cowboy makes a daily appearance in his ten-gallon hat (he rides a bike into town, rather than a horse, but still). I'd driven down from Owl Creek Campground around 10am, and sadly Bob had already been in that day (his tab was taped on the register). I even heard another customer say, "No Bob, today." (My dad, as it goes, is also called Bob, and had made an inquiry into the whereabouts of the cowboy).

Anyway, coffee and pastries. They're the best at Blackbird. They roast their own (I think), but certainly their baked goods are all made in-house. You can see it happen, and smell it. They're also super friendly. The bakers and baristas seem happy to be there. Being a barista is not always fun. It's often boring. You burn your hands. Customers can be a nightmare. But at a place like Blackbird, I mean — you're in a recreational hotspot, meeting people who are there from all over the world to do fun and interesting things, and you're in an old railroad station-turned bakery at the foothills of the Garibaldis. It's not bad. 30 minutes to the north is Joffrey Lakes, simply one of the most beautiful places anywhere.

To say what works and what doesn't work is redundant. Almost everything is firing on full cylinders here. The pastry was the right amount of flaky, the right amount of chewy. Despite being piled with raspberries, it wasn't even overly sweet. It was, in fact, a perfect pastry. I went back after to get another americano in my open mug, so I could really see that crema on top (top photo -- aesthetics matter here). You can see for yourself just how smooth the crema looks, and imagine how good it tastes. Okay, the only issue is that it's tiny inside and gets crowded fast. Even if you're lucky to get a seat, the line might be forming next to you. But, there's plenty of seating outside, which is probably where you'll want to sit anyway and soak in the sunshine, the mountainsides, that strange and enjoyable time-warped feeling of sitting by a railroad that's now a bicycle route. Caffeine always speeds up time. Trains and train tracks somehow slow time down. Good coffee makes you sit still but makes your mind (and mouth?) race in multiple directions. On trains, you sit still and are pulled towards a fixed destination. Somehow this juxtaposition adds a dimension to Blackbird. (This is Fisk-esque. I realized, but I hope in a good way).

Blackbird is rustic, nostalgic, and a perfectly situated mountain cafe. A short walk to the dreamy One-mile Lake, and a fifteen minute drive to Owl Creek Campground. You can do, as I did—enjoy the cafe before returning to camp to take a dip and enjoy the fire (returning with more pastries, of course). Last thing I'll mention: no book in this image but I was listening to Liz Moore's God of the Woods for my drive to Pemberton, which was the perfect spooky woodsy lit thriller (set in the Adirondacks). It's immersive, powerful, and addictive. It's not above a little plot convenience, succeeding more as a drama than a mystery, but its weak points are outweighed by strong writing and rich characters who are forced into compelling situations. It's well worth a read / listen especially for summer road trips through the forest and camping. Netflix is making a series and is currently casting for it. Check it out. Blackbird: 4.9 / 5

(Below ... Maggie taking a swim on the way back from Pemberton).