Tuesday, August 14, 2012

ROAD TRIP SUMMER 2012

Road trips are great for testing relationships, man and wife and parents and child.

After 16 days on the road, 5 showers, 2 boat rides, 2 Ferry rides, one flat tire, one actual bear encounter, one potential bear encounter and one cartwheeled baby in the lake, I am happy I can say that our family relationship is stronger than ever! 

I somehow deleted all of the pictures from the first few days of our trip, but we camped at Cataract Creek our first night and hiked to the falls the next day. It was a beautiful, spot in K-country. From there, we headed towards the Crow Nest Pass where we stopped at a spray park so Ryder could splash and get a "bath" of sorts. We BBQ'd hotdogs and headed to Fernie where all the campgrounds were full! We ended up staying in the parking lot at the ski hill. At least it was free. LOL We got up early in the morning and headed to Moyie Lake in BC.  We got there in time for lunch and we snagged an awesome campspot really close to the beach access. Moyie also had a great dog beach, so the whole family got to enjoy the water! :)  After a great beach day, we had our first fire of the trip.  Ryder missed it though cause he was already in bed. He slept awesome, by the way. The whole trip, he napped like a champ and he slept 11 or 12 hours every night! In the morning, we headed to lockhart Creek. I have those pics!!! :)

We stayed at Lockhart for a few days. Every morning we'd take Scout to the beach (ofcorse, it was a no dogs allowed beach,) but like most other dog owners, we assumed the sign wasn't for OUR dog and it certainly couldn't apply to first thing in the morning when no one else was up....

We'd throw sticks for her. She's nuts for sticks. Here, she's digging in the sand for her stick.

Here, Marty and Ryder and having morning snuggles while I throw the stick.

 Ryder ventured down to the water to watch Scout swim for sticks.
I am to the Ryder's left. So is Scout. I threw the stick and Scout took off after it, en route to her stick she completely cartwheeled Ryder into the lake! I mean she knocked him head over heels!!


Here is my poor, cold, wet baby!!!
Don't worry, he and Scout are still BFFs!!
Mom to the rescue. I wrapped him up in my hoodie! All warm!

 There was a great hike behind our campsite. I was kinda scared of bears, so we just went for a short little walk.

A guy Marty plays hockey with, has a summer house 2km from where we were camping. 
They have a boat and offered to take us to a beach you can only get to by boat!
Thank you!!

 Ryder loved his boat ride and he loved hangin on the boat even when it was parked.



 In the background you can see Scout's butt. She totally traded us in for another guy.
She just walked right over to him, cuddled up to him and started spooning. Hilarious!!


 They had a life jacket for Scout. She is not a terribly brave dog, but we wanted to see if we could get 
her to jump off the boat.
She did!!
 One night, after Ryder was asleep, the wind came up. Marty raced down to the beach so he could kite before it got dark!

After a few days at Lockhart we headed down the road a few km to Gray Creek where our neighbours in Calgary, have a family campground. We stayed there for two nights.

 Gray Creek is still on kootenay Lake so we hiked to the Pilot Bay lighthouse and climbed the stairs to the top. 

 We also hiked to Sawmill Bay where the whole beach was just layers and layers of sawdust.

 Our neighbours came on the hike with us and brought their dogs, Enzo....

...and Lola.

Day 12, after having spent a good portion of our trip on the East bank of the Kootenays we took the Ferry to the West side.


We drove straight to the Kokanee Creek campground and spent our remaining days on the west side, there at Kokanee Creek.  Marty's Dad and Trish joined us for a few days there too. It was fun to see them and Ryder loved the extra attention. :)
 Kokanee Creek had a pretty nice beach! Lots of sand!


Ryder played with Gramma and Grampa!


 

 
 The weather on the West side was even warmer, so lots of time was spent wearing very little clothing! Yay!


 Watermelon is always best when it is HOT outside!

One day a Fire Rescue Chopper landed right in the campground! Cool!
 Ryder LOVES Gramma and Grampa's dog, Angel!!


 Grampa was an awesome babysitter. One day, he and Gramma stayed with Ryder while Marty, Scout and I went for a hike. At one point, Scout started acting weird. The hair on her back stood up and she began sniffing the air, not like she smelled steak on a BBQ, but like she smelled something...different.  We became super alert after that and....we actually SAW a black bear in the bushes beside us!!!! Well...Marty did! He pushed me behind him and grabbed Scout.  I panicked. I didn't cry, but I wanted to. I was soooo scared! I have always been  worried about running into a bear and finally we did!!! I reached into the pack for the Bear Spray but grabbed the bug spray instead. Marty thought it was funny. I did not!! The bear spray was on Marty's belt. Right where it should be.  Lucky for us the Bear took one look at Marty and ran the other way, but I was too scared to keep hiking. We turned around and headed back to camp. I felt bad for Scout who was quite enjoying her hike.

We were sad to leave Gramma and Grampa, but it was time we started the journey back home.  After the Ferry ride back to East Kootenay, we drove to White Sawn Provincial Campground. The place was infested with mosquitos and we could not find the campground host, so we didn't even get any wood for a fire. Booo!

The next morning, we wanted to get a jump start on the travel day so that we could arrive at our next destination with time for fun! Ryder though, was in NO mood for co operating. He spent the entire morning, screaming and crying and just being loud and difficult!! I am sure the campground applauded when we left...LOL

We arrived in Radium to sunshine and a great campground, Redstreak, with a much happier baby in tow.  Radium is only 3 hours from our house, but we have never camped there before. Turns out, we should. I loved it!! Beautiful campground and lots to do in the family friendly area...and a beach, my fav!!!


 Marty thinks this swim outfit is embarrassing, but I love it!! I was totally validated when a stranger came up to me and asked if she could take a pic of Ryder. She is a painter and said, she often gets her inspiration from the beach.  I wish i would have asked her to send me a painting if she chooses to paint one of RJ!!





 We only got to stay at Redstreak for one night. The next morning, after Marty fixed the flat tire on the trailer, we headed for home. Our family vacay over! 

Our two exhausted passengers in the backseat!


1 comment:

Nicole said...

Looks like lots of summer fun packed into one epic adventure!