Archive for the British Columbia Category
Posted on October 20, 2009 by angela
If you drive around in an old Volkswagen you get a lot of recommendations for hippie towns. Nelson is apparently the BC hippie-center, so we headed there. I didn’t find it particularly ‘hippie,’ but I’m coming from Northern California and this was surely one of the more Earthy place we’ve seen in Canada. I think we only saw 3 Vanagons, but we did score some soy yogurt.
The expense and cold has driven us from Canada (the parking meters are a good deal only if you have Canadian quarters)…so we headed to the Idaho border. We got the first motel we came across and then set out for the recommended truck stop for dinner. The next morning we set out for Montana.
For the past few weeks it has been hard to find kids at the playgrounds. Cold, school, or just winter I’m not sure. Bode isn’t too happy about this, so we’ve caved and started hitting Mickey D’s. Their ‘playplace’ usually has a kid or two for Bode to play with, plus he gets a toy. I’m not too sure how healthy their apple fries are, but oh well.
He spotted the golden arches in the weird little town of Libby, Montana so we headed in. Oops, no play structure. Oh well, after a few apples and french fries, he buddied up to a couple of kids at the next table and asked them about the nearest playground. It was just across the street. Bode and I headed over while Jason did his daily van tinkering. It was damn cold, so after 20 minutes we started back to the parking lot. Just as we did, the 2 boys and their mother drove up. The boys could ignore the cold, showed off their new toys, ran around the park and burned off some energy.
The mom, Nicole, and I started to talk. She could tell we were from out of town, so I explained our extended trip. She said she had traveled most of her childhood around the country with her mom. They sold stuff at free markets while running from her father who was chasing them. She found out later that he had actually died when she was much younger. She met her husband about a year ago. He was going door-to-door selling his holiday light hanging services. He annoyed her at first, but eventually they fell in love. He was from California too, but she didn’t know where. My smile and nods encouraged her to keep talking.
She seemed proud when she told me that he’d been in the newspaper and was a wanted man. When he was younger he stole cars. Once he wrecked her car and it was really hard for him not to run from the police out of habit… even though it wasn’t his fault.
There’s really no need to stop at kitschy roadside attractions. We just stop and talk to people and it’s way more entertaining.
Later, it was time climb back in the van and make our destination of Whitefish. We stopped for gas in Kalispell and our one and only credit card was denied. I was sure I paid it, but figured the company had finally noticed all the charges from five states and two countries. I called them from the parking lot and was asked if we’d made a $51 charge to “Dating and Escort Services” that morning. I gave Jason a quick glance, but knew he didn’t really have the time to be dating (and he claims he would have spent way more.) There were a few other preposterous charges, all from that day, so I feel really lucky that the credit card company caught it.
Hopefully, getting the credit new card on the road and settling the charges will prove easy as well. I’m just a little surprised that any company would actually put ‘escort services’ as their business category. Wouldn’t that send up red flags in most households and businesses? Anyway, we suspect it was one of the hotel clerks from the past few nights. Bound to happen if you keep handing out your credit card, I suppose.
A major headache settled, we finally drove to Whitefish. Our new buddy Parker had invited us over and set us up with a studio on the Whitefish Mountain ski resort. It was off-season, so again we were the only ones there. The room was fabulous – thanks Parker!
That night we met up with Parker and his friend Kristy, both VW bus owners (he’s got an early ’72 Westy and she’s got a cool blue ’77 transporter). Parker works at the ski resort and Kristy is a 5th grade teacher in neighboring Columbia Falls. Some years ago, Parker spent some time driving around the US in a VW bus – 62,000 miles worth. He said one day he was on the coast of Maine and wondered how it compared to the Oregon coast. Three days later he was there staring at the Pacific. The whole trip kinda went like that… until he realized he liked Montana enough to stay. We can relate.
Whitefish is a really cute little town. It’s full with Glacier NP visitors in the summer and ski bums in the winter, but tonight the town was ours. We kept Bode out a little later than usual and indulged in a Friday night out on the town. Parker and Kristy were really fun and we had a really great time sharing stories and talking all evening. We’re feeling pretty lucky to keep meeting such great people!
Posted on October 19, 2009 by angela
I’ve been really hoping to spot a moose. I looked all day during the 4.5 hour drive yesterday, but no moose. I did see deer and a lot of loose cows. I didn’t realize there were still free roaming cows in North America, but there you have it. Cows, walking along the highway, cows on the hillside, no fences to be found. The rain finally started just as we were set to leave Kelowna. We headed toward New Denver on a recommendation. It was quite a drive up through a mountain pass. We hit the snow there. And more cows in the snow. Luckily it wasn’t sticking to the road.
The highway literally ends at the water where you drive onto a ferry that takes you across the lake. The ferry is free, part of the Canadian highway system. It only takes about 20 minutes to cross, and there is nothing on either side of the water.
There was only one open motel in New Denver. Jason had to go and find the manager to get a room. It was definitely off-season, and we were the only ones there. The town’s only restaurant was attached to the motel, and they had no customers and Canadian prices (high). So, thinking we had a microwave, Jason went out to gather a dinner of sorts from the van.
Oops. No microwave. Jason headed out for a walk thinking we could find a store or something open… nope, after 6 pm the entire town was shut down except for the red blinking light. Not to worry. Although I was a little skeptical, Jason proved a master of coffee pot cooking. Bode got a hot dog, I got ramen, and he made a lovely red beans and rice dish. Unbelievable.
The tip we got for New Denver was that it’s location made it an awe-inspiring place to just hang out and look up at the mountains. Camping spots right next to the water. With all the rain and cloud cover we missed it. Next time, we’ll come back in the summer.
Posted on October 16, 2009 by angela
Temperatures were dropping fast when we rolled into a motel at the bottom of the Okanagan Valley. When we went to pack up the car the next morning, we found the water jug and everything else frozen solid. It had reached negative 9 degrees Celsius overnight. Good thing we didn’t camp.
Many people have asked us how the heater in the van works, and because we’ve lucked out with the weather, I didn’t really know. Now I know – not well. We bundled up and headed up to Penticton. The scenery was much better than yesterday’s interstate views. We saw lots of orchards and stopped at the first fruit stand we came across. I couldn’t believe how many types of apples they had. Must have been at least 30. They also had a very cute kitten that entertained Bode while I shopped. Jason was under the van doing something.
The beachfront park was incredibly beautiful, but man it was cold. Bode doesn’t seem to mind cold and again we had to talk him into getting back into the car before we froze.
That evening we were Couchsurfing with Jason and Meggan, a super nice couple who make the most out of all the outdoor activities Penticton has to offer. Jason is an Iron-man triathlete and Meggan’s glory day’s included being on the Canadian field hockey national team. Real athletes. Jason entertained Bode by building forts with the couch cushions and letting him raid his movie collection. Meggan was nice enough to make us all dinner. They had recently been on a trekking trip across Peru and had also gone to see some friends compete in the Olympics in Beijing – we talked all evening about travel. Their guest room walls were lined with maps and Bode made sure to go over each one and ask lots of questions… add Antarctica to our list.
The next morning most of the town was closed down because of the Canadian Thanksgiving holiday. Bode and I headed out to hike the Munson Mountain Park, with incredible views of the town.
Brett, a fellow Westy owner had very generously invited us to Thanksgiving dinner at his house in Kelowna, BC. We weren’t really sure what Canadian Thanksgiving entailed, but we were really excited to find out. I was stoked to find it included all the American favorites. Suri, Brett’s girlfriend informed us that the Canadian Thanksgiving actually pre-dates the American version. During the revolutionary war many Americans brought their traditions, including turkey, to Canada.
They were amazing hosts and treated us like family. Brett has 2 kids, so Bode played all evening and probably pulled out every toy in the house. We’re thankful for our new friends in B.C.
We stayed 2 nights in Kelowna. Weather forecasts indicated rain and snow, but that never happened. Our motel had an indoor pool and hot tub so of course Bode had to test that out. Outside, it was still really cold, and I noticed a bowling alley across the street. Bode and I went over and paid for a game and started putting on our rental shoes. I looked up and noticed that the balls were all small. I looked down the lane, and the pins were also small…and there were only 5 of them. I had to go back to the cashier and explain my dumb American status. Apparently, this is 5 pin bowling. 3 balls per frame, 10 frames. The balls are about grapefruit sized, and appear to all be the same weight. So we bowled and had a ton of fun experiencing a new game.
And speaking of new sports, last week we watched a kid’s TV show produced here in Canada called This is Daniel Cook. This kid, who’s maybe about 8 or so was learning about curling. We all watched with great interest, and Bode has been asking to go ever since. We have passed a few curling clubs now, but never at a convenient time. Now we all really want to go curling, and I’m afraid we are leaving Canada soon. I sure hope we can find a place to try it. If anyone knows a place we can go in Montana/Wyoming let us know!
Posted on October 14, 2009 by angela
We left Vancouver to head east, but that involved unsuccessful stops at 2 different Mega-marts looking for tire chains. Ugh. We also had no luck at the walk-in pharmacy for flu shots, and other various big-box store stops. This was just like being in Oakland. To top it off, it was the beginning of a holiday weekend (Canadian Thanksgiving) and we were on a highway with everyone else. No views, just traffic.
So, there were lots of uninteresting stops and I was really glad when we finally made it to Harrison Hot Springs. The hot springs were basically just a large warm indoor pool with sulfur, but the town and view were amazing. There’s also a big fancy resort next door, but we skipped the luxury for an opportunity to camp in the freezing cold. Although it was chilly, the sky was clear so we headed over to Sasquatch Provincial Park for the night.
No Yeti to be found, but we did find other bandits. At one point, I heard Jason talking outside and figured it was another camper, but then I saw him waving his arms and stomping. I finally went out to see what he was doing, and he was trying to scare away a family of raccoons. We ate in the van while the raccoons returned to tear into our garbage. After we cleaned that up, I took the dishes to wash them. I couldn’t find a faucet and it was dark and really cold. So, I piled up the dirty dishes in our plastic camping box, put the lid on it, and put 2 boxes on top of that. The next morning we saw that it was no match for a determined coon.
Bode stayed inside the van most of the evening. It was pretty cold out, and he just got a new movie. So much for his taste in music. This movie featured the 80′s classic Axel F, and he’s been humming it for 2 days now.
After his movie, Jason and I decided to watch one of our movies. We brought a ton of films, but I think we’ve only watched one so far. Jason made an interesting selection in The Mosquito Coast. It is about an inventor who moves his family to the jungles of Central America with disastrous results. Foreshadowing?
The cold morning got us up an out of the campsite pretty quickly. Washing dishes is always a downer, but doing it in sub-freezing conditions is worse. We went back into Harrison and grabbed warmed drinks while Bode played on the beach playground. The wind was carrying sand around us so thick we could barely see, but we still had to promise Bode a better playground to convince him to leave. Luckily, there was one in the next town across from a laundromat. It was still so windy that the laundromat sign kept blowing down.
Once we were on the road again we had to keep stopping for Jason to check the timing, check on weird noises, and adjust something called the dwell. I’m not sure what that all means, but we aren’t getting very far. Luckily, at this pit stop I have found a wireless connection.
We’re headed into the mountains, and it is cold (we’re in one of the blue parts of the image below!) And, now there is some sort of cricket noise coming from the back of the bus… fingers crossed!
Posted on October 13, 2009 by jason
The ferry from Nanaimo to the mainland was yet another nice and scenic ride. They even have a playground and pretty decent food onboard as well. Instead of heading straight to Vancouver, we made arrangements to Couchsurf in Squamish. Squamish is one of those ‘undiscovered’ towns that majors in outdoor recreation: climbing, mountain biking, rafting, hiking, fishing, etc. A town that’s obviously undergoing some growing pains, as it’s half-way to Whistler and the recent Sea-to-Sky highway improvements for the Olympics make it a thrilling hour commute to Vancouver (think CA Hwy 1.) The sunsets around here have been amazing – but don’t take your eyes off the road.
We pulled into Kiva’s place and he was a very welcoming and interesting guy. Hosting fellow travelers seems to be a serious interest, as there were two other folks there and one more arriving in the morning. One British chap was riding his bike around the world. He was 18 months into his trip and he was nearly finished – just a brisk bike ride across North America remaining. His favorite routes were through Kazakhstan and Laos. According to him, Vietnam was ‘too touristy.’
The other guest was making her way to California. She coincidentally worked for a bike touring company and was headed down for a reunion of sorts. The German guy that arrived in the morning was headed to Chile next. Nice folks – the world is full of them.
After crashing at Kivas, we checked out Squamish briefly and then headed for Vancouver proper.
We decided to stay downtown and proceeded to check out the sights and diverse dining. Japadog was delicious. A hot dog with seaweed tastes way better than it sounds. The first bite just tastes like bratwurst, the second like an Alaskan Roll (must be the Japanese mayo), the rest like a weird mix of the two that’s oddly delicious.
Exercising your taste buds is one of the main things to enjoy in Vancouver. Random Indian food – worked well for us. Sushi a few blocks away – yum! Italian – just as good as anywhere. Dim sum… yes indeed – if only we can find you everywhere else in the world. Poutine? Tastes way better than it looks.
It wasn’t all about eating. Bode loved the Science museum. He liked riding the water taxi over to Granville Island, but the market, brewery, and ‘kids only’ thing was otherwise pretty forgettable. Stanley Park was nice, but it was cold and there were no other kids around. We had been moving around a bit recently, so we planned on being here a few days so everyone could have some down-time and lounge around. We’re not going to see it all, so we may as well relax and save some stuff for next time.
Posted on October 10, 2009 by angela
After a few days of lounging, playing football, soccer and rugby (thanks high school rugby team on a surf trip!) on the beach we decided to go. I was hoping we would never have to leave this campsite, but there is so much more of Canada we’d like to see before the cold drives us south. So, after two nights in Tofino, we headed east across the island to take the ferry to the city of Vancouver. Tofino is really out of the way – in a good way. I think the Volkswagen bus ratio may rival Portland, but I’ve heard it’s only right in Tofino. We’ll see.
But first, a stop at the Ucluelet mini-aquarium. All the sea creatures were caught within 3 kilometers of the building. It’s a non-profit aquarium with plenty of touch tanks and cool things to look at.
Here’s the really unique part: at the end of the season they release everything back into the ocean. What an amazing concept.
On October 18th they will host a release party and all these little guys go back to sea with the public’s help. Bring your rubber boots and a bucket. Wish we could be there.
Posted on October 9, 2009 by angela
We woke up and decided to head to Salt Springs Island, but then almost immediately turned around and went to Tofino – four hours across the island. It was a good time to go, as the weather was perfect.
The drive was long and winding, but we managed to find a few diversions along the way. Kennedy Lake is huge and looked spectacular but there doesn’t appear to be any way to get to it by car. Totally Pristine. We did manage to find a few places to pull over and scramble over boulders and explore some rivers. Bode decided it was time to graduate to the DSLR – those point and shoots are for kids. As long as Jason and I can now have proof that we are sometimes in the same place at the same time.
Closer to our destination, we pulled over at Long Beach and found a great spot with tons and tons of… surfers? The waves were perfectly formed – it all makes sense now.
Bode immediately found a 6 year old friend who had been boogie-boarding that morning. His dad said the water was about 8° C, and they lasted only 20 minutes with a 4 mm wetsuit. I didn’t need to bother converting that – I wasn’t going in. Everyone had serious wetsuits, but several had dry-suits. Under their dry suits? Wet suits. I wasn’t surfing. The waves looked so perfect that Jason talked a bit like he might go tomorrow, but I know better.
And I thought it was too cold to surf in SF. These people are hard-core. I heard that the swells on to the north are the largest in the world, and that there are pro surfers coming later this month for a major competition – the first ever “Cold Water Classic.”
We got into Tofino late in the afternoon and checked it out. Well, mostly we checked out the playground in the center of town (great zip-line!) It is a really cool little surfer town. Except for the frigid water and chilly evenings, it kind of feels like Mexico. On the way into town, there are surfboards tied to trees with signs that say something like “Bob’s surf shack” and an arrow pointing down a dirt road. We even managed to find a taco truck. The town consists of a few restaurants and stores, 10 tour companies, 10 surf shops and 3 glass blowers (required in these kinds of towns for some reason.)
Our campsite was incredible. Right on the beach. Weather- we’re totally lucking out, it was still perfect and supposed to stay that way for the rest of the week. The Germans at the site next to us passed over some cooked oysters and I even tried one (are you proud, Mom?). Not too bad actually, but I still wouldn’t order them at a restaurant.
Bode and I left Jason to make camp and dinner while we goofed off for a couple hours on the beach. Bode was down to his last pair of dry pants (too many beach stops this afternoon) so was wearing his skivvies. He does usually wear them. The temperature is dropping with the sun and he is still running around in the surf and petting every dog that comes by. The sunset was amazing. Once the sun went down, the nights got pretty chilly. I’m not a great cold weather camper.
Campsite game time came and it was Bode’s turn at our new favorite game – Name That Tune. What does he hum? The Kinks‘ “You Really Got Me”. I can be with that kid all day every day and he still surprises me. Later he asks… “Do The Kinks have other rockin’ songs?” Yes. Yes they do.
So with all this great weather and scenery, we planned on staying awhile.
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