Friday, August 1 – Vancouver to Revelstoke

We puttered away the morning. Justin mostly played video games on Grandma’s computer. Cameron watched some, played a bit on my computer, and played some card games. I drove Sue to a doctor’s appointment and back. We got away about 11:45 and arrived in Revelstoke at 6:30.

Leaving Vancouver we had to drive through the city for several minutes before getting on the Trans-Canada. It started off with four or more lanes and things were really moving. Then it narrowed to three lanes and things were still moving pretty well, but a bit more crowded. Then, from about Langley, through Aldergrove and Abbotsford, it narrowed to two lanes and things ground to a halt. We occasionally got up to 90 kmph, but mostly were doing 40 to 60 kmph and a few times came to a complete stop. Things got moving again after Abbotsford. We put on our thinking caps and realized that Monday was a holiday and maybe there was extra traffic for the long weekend. There were quite a few camper trailers, cars with bike racks, and cars piled high inside with gear.

We stopped at Hope for gas and at Salmon Arm for fresh local cherries, peaches, and blueberries, but otherwise drove straight through. The cherries are so big and fat and sweet that they might not make it home. We have not tried the others yet.

Thursday, July 31 – Vancouver

When Justin awake this morning, it was almost as if nothing had happened. He was soon mousing around playing games on Grandma’s laptop. He said his fingers did not hurt at all. Throughout the day he played and wrestled as if nothing had happened, while we breathed huge sighs of relief. 

Justin played computer games for most of the morning with no apparent distress to his fingers. Cameron watched for a large part of the time, occasionally getting a turn and sometimes breaking away to play something else with Grandma or me. We were unsuccessful in getting them to go to the spray pool/water park a few blocks away, but we did get them to Science World after lunch. We followed that up with a stop at the gelato store. Another Game of Life took us to supper and soon after the boys were in bed again.

Wednesday, July 30 – Golden Ears Park

We cooked up a generous breakfast of bacon, eggs, toast, and pancakes on the camp stove, reminding us that most of your time camping is consumed in the preparation and cleanup of meals. I promised the boys ice cream cones if they helped me find the garbage bin, prompting a trip to the camp store. 

On return we played Uno or Game of Life or both. I can't remember when we did what. At some point we also played some soccer and the game where two players each have a plastic scoop and throw a ball back and forth. After lunch Grandma spun some yarns for a while in the tent.

Finally we headed down to the spot by the river again. There was a small sand area where the boys played with the sand toys while Grandma spun more tall tales. Then the boys put their Super Soaker water guns to good use on Grandpa.

We returned to the campsite for another meal of hot dogs and s’mores, followed by sitting around the fire. 

Things were going swimmingly until Justin let out a holler. He was playing with a stick in the fire and throwing twigs in, as any boy would do. We had warned him several times about being careful, but he had a momentary lapse in focus and actually reached out and touched the metal campfire grate, burning the pads, but not the tips of the index and middle fingers of his left hand. He was in substantial pain and quite upset. We did not know how bad it would get in the hours ahead, but we were pretty sure he would have a sleepless night. We decided to break camp and head home a day early. Justin got some relief by keeping his hand in a pot of cool water, so we hung a pot on his arm rest and away we went. He actually fell asleep for a while on the way home and, by the time we reached home, was fairly comfortable as long as his hand was in the water. He fell asleep with his hand hanging over the side of his bed in a pot of water.

Tuesday, July 29 – Vancouver to Golden Ears Provincial Park

We spent the morning getting organized and loading the van, getting groceries, and purchasing The Game of Life, which Justin became a big fan of at the cottage in Ontario. We got away about noon and reached the campground about 1:30. After some lunch, we set out exploring. We found a pretty little spot on a river where we hung out for a while and then hiked down a trail to the beach. We did not stay long in either place – this was just a scouting trip.

We did not receive a map when we checked in, but it seemed that we had walked a long way down to the river and then walked in exactly the opposite direction down the path to the beach. Sure enough, there was a steep trail right behind the beach that led directly to our campsite.

We rustled up some hot dogs and s’mores over the campfire and retired early. Since we had not thought to bring along any books for bedtime stories, Grandma regaled the boys with imaginary stories about two boys named Justin and Cameron. She had the boys in stitches, as usual.

Here is Cameron's custom made hot dog.

Monday, July 28 – Spokane to Vancouver

Today was all driving. We left about 9:30 and arrived at Darren’s about 8. We would have been much faster except for a few stops, some construction slowdowns, and some traffic jams. Our first stop was for lunch northeast of Seattle at a McDonald’s in Kirkland. We stopped there to use the wifi to find a nearby Costco. Who would have guessed there would be a Costco in Kirkland? We had seen Blue Moon beer at the Spokane Costco on our first visit, but did not buy it. We sampled it a few times over the succeeding days and decided we would like to take some home, thus the stop.

Another stop was at an outlet mall. A few years ago we had stopped at an outlet mall in northern Washington that had a Corelle and Corning store. We needed some new plastic lids for our Pyrex bowls, and hoped to find the same store. This was not the same mall (It was on the opposite side of the highway.), but we thought we would take a wild chance that there might be one here. And guess what! There was. Not only that, but the lids were on a buy two get one free special. Mission accomplished. And right next door was another Costco with a gas station. Gas was 365.9 a gallon, compared to up to 399.9 on the highway. Now that’s more like a Costco discount.

Approaching the border, a sign said the wait at Customs was 45 minutes, and sure enough, we were within a minute or two of that. We confessed that we had an extra 24 beer and the agent waved us through.

Leaving Spokane we were in a thin forest of pines with a floor of dry grass. Further east the forest thinned out and it began to look kind of like southwest Saskatchewan around Swift Current with rolling hills and dry, short grass prairie. The difference was that there were frequent rock outcroppings. Further east there was less rock, more cropland, and more pivot irrigation. Then we got into foothills and the Cascade Mountains. These were again lower and less rugged than our Rockies and quite heavily treed.

At Darren and Sue’s we managed a short visit with the boys before bedtime and made our plans for tomorrow’s camping adventure.

Weather was great – sunny and warm with a light wind. Too nice to spend the whole day in the van.

Sunday, July 27 – Spokane and Coeur d’Alene

For breakfast this morning we went to IHOP (International House of Pancakes). Despite all the exotic concoctions that attracted us there, we both had bacon, eggs, hash browns, and toast. The other options just looked so large and, for me, too carb heavy. Maybe another time for dessert.

From there we backtracked to Coeur d’Alene. We drove around the resort area exploring and got out and walked around the beach and park area for a while. 

On returning to the hotel, Celeste had a short nap. She still did not feel ambitious when she woke up, so I set out for some exploring on my own.I thoroughly explored Riverfront Park, which was created as part of the 1974 World Expo. They cleaned up an industrial wasteland and turned it into a jewel, kind of like what Regina hopes to do with the downtown rail yards. What they created is kind of like Wascana Park, except with several small waterfalls, 

islands, pedestrian bridges, an amusement park, 

a train, 

and pony rides. The place was teeming with people, although I don’t mean to imply that it was crowded, just busy.

Also, I cruised many of the downtown streets. They have so many turn-of-the-last-century buildings here and they are all so interesting. They all have a character, unlike so much modern, sterile construction.

After my return, we went for supper at the Steel head Bar & Grill, where I enjoyed a 32 oz. Schooner of ice cold draft beer for only $6 (pint for $3.50). Usually it is $6 or more for a pint or less. No wonder the joint was jumpin’. The meals were good too.