It was time to say farewell to Vancouver Island for a few weeks and head to BC’s southern mainland. We took a morning ferry from Nanaimo using the travel time to tackle some English exercises and leaving ourselves an entire afternoon to spend touring Vancouver. We stayed at Capilano River RV Park just north of the Lion’s Gate Bridge. Despite hauling the trailer and navigating city intersections, it was an uneventful trip to get to the site. We were really excited to be right in the hub of city life.
Erik found a reasonably close bike rental shop and rented two adult bikes so that the five of us could ride up and over Lion’s Gate into Stanley Park. We had planned to grab some food at a food truck in the park but, with COVID, we had no success (unless ice cream counts as a meal). So our hungry and tired cyclists pushed up and over the bridge one more time with the promise of mac’n cheese at the other end. Everyone felt quite proud for having conquered the really big bridge. Also, the harbour and city views were worth the sweat!
On our second day, we ventured downtown to a yummy salad spot for lunch followed by an afternoon at Science World. Between this place and the Calgary Zoo, I’m not sure which one is the kids’ favourite, but I can say that Science World was definitely my favourite. What a great place! We had timed ticket entry and some uni-directional ways to visit certain exhibits plus face masks and sanitizing stations and both entry and exits of each room, so we felt pretty good to try everything out. There was a LEGO exhibit showing off scale models of many of the world’s most amazing buildings, each highlighting how many bricks were used, how many hours were spent, and the toughest part of getting the building model just right. Each kid was also given a bin with sanitized bricks and encouraged to try creating their own buildings. Simon saw the opportunity to use his bricks to build a weapon. Why not?!
Claire and I discovered that our combined strength can lift a 150kg hippo if we use a 1.5m lever. Erik found a visual display of atomic particles as they collided with a specific material within the display case. We lit up an entire wall using the cellular signal from our phones. The kids had a great time staring at optical illusions and playing music on a theremin using hand motions through open air. Claire and Molly tackled the challenge of fitting our internal organs properly into an empty cavity – it was such a great way to introduce them to our organs. Now, when I say “don’t kick your sister there, you could hurt her kidney”, they know what I mean. We stayed until closing and were sad to leave.
With our campsite being only minutes to the Capilano Suspension Bridge, we made this our afternoon activity on our second full day. It took a bit of time before we were able to cross the bridge as the park was implementing one-way, socially distant crossings, but it was worth it! The bridge itself is impressive and swayed more than I was expecting. Everyone did well and we all made it across without hesitation. We followed a tree-top path through the rainforest canopy using a phone app game to find clues and solve questions. If you’ve read my other posts about the rainforest trees, you’ll know that I’m in absolute awe of these giants. We walked from tree to tree learning about climate, the ecology of the forest, and tree-living species like the banana slug. We met a peregrine falcon and a horned owl and chatted with their handlers. We found some ice cream too, big enough to be a meal!
The park’s Cliff Walk took us along a rock outcrop hanging over the river. To my surprise, all three kiddos had no issues being up that high and walking on transparent planks. Once we had completed our phone app quest, the kids were given a prize of a paper bracelet made of compostable material which contained flower seeds. They were congratulated and encouraged to plant the seeds before the winter. Smiles on all faces as we headed back thome for dinner (that no one ate because we were so full of ice cream) and a game night. Claire had created an entire board game about popsicles complete with trivia questions about the history of the sweet treat, their global annual revenues, and other interesting facts. We got to finally play it together and we all had a good time trying to remember her rules as well as the popsicle facts she shared in her pre-game briefing.
We rolled out of Vancouver after morning rush-hour and made good time to Hope where we grabbed lunch. We had decided to take the southern route into Penticton on Hwy 3. It was a beautiful drive with clear skies and gorgeous mountains. I couldn’t peel my eyes off the scenery! We passed ranches and farms nestled in the valleys between ranges. Eventually the terrain became more arid and the ranches were replaced with vineyards and fruit orchards. I was amazed and the number of fruit stands along the highway. We worked our way North along the side of Skaha Lake into the southern end of Penticton. Our campground was right on the north shore of Skaha Lake. We were all happy to arrive and looking forward to a quick set-up and dinner. Well, we weren’t so lucky this time. Our site was shallow but wide and was a tough site to park in. The kids were tired and hungry from a long day of driving and everyone was a bit on the moody side. There were a few beach-side restaurants within steps of us but all were closed, so we jumped back in the car and went to White Spot for dinner. It was a wonderful recovery to a tough afternoon! Anyone who has eaten there with kids will know about the pirate ships. They became the newest, coolest toy for a few days. Phew.
The weather proved to be phenomenal. We saw 20 degree days and cool evenings. Not once did we turn on our heater during our ten days in Penticton. We had a number of beach days and even swam a few times. It was a great late September extension to summer.
15 years ago, Erik competed in an Ironman triathlon here in Penticton. In the name of nostalgia, he decided to re-live some of that race by running the marathon course, for fun, without training at all. He rose early, strapped on a pack with some provisions, and just did it. Myself and the kids drove to the “finish line” to meet him. He jumped into the lake to cool off and rinse off and then took us out for a Denny’s brunch.
As this was going to be our last site with the trailer, our time was spent focusing on schooling and organizing. We had to decide what would stay in the trailer and what would come with us for our next adventures. Knowing we were heading to cooler weather, most of our summer items were separated to stay. We also had to confirm that we would have enough space in Chuck to fit everything that needed to come. Erik was able to take Chuck to Kelowna and get him outfitted with a new, extra-large, roof-top carrier. We decided to use strong, stackable bins in the back with our soft suitcases and stuff sacs up top. Purging was tough but necessary.
One of the programs we are using for our home school is the Brave Writer program by Julie Bogart. I have many great things to say about this program, which I hope to share in a later post on our home-schooling experiences, but the best part is the many party suggestions that accompany each book. In a nutshell, you read the book, do some work with certain passages from the story, and then celebrate the experience when done. Our party-planner latched onto the suggestions from her book (The Wild Robot Escapes) and planned both her completion celebration and our 100 days of travelling with a beach and city-themed party complete with a pigeon food truck, a city traffic obstacle course, marshmallow robot building, and a dance-off competition. We had a blast, just the five of us on our private beach.
With all of our necessary items packed into bins, bags, and stuff sacks, we pulled Taylor to Kelowna where we left her in good hands to be tuned up and stored for the winter. We swung by the Play-it-Again Sports store to “just see” if they had some good deals on skis. Well, it was perfect timing on our part. They had just put out their winter inventory. We were able to get everything for every family member’s skiing adventure. We stuffed helmets and mitts and goggles and boots and skis and poles into every nook we had left. Amazingly, it all fit! It was off to Golden where we planned to spend two nights and take advantage of being close to Glacier, Yoho, and Banff National Parks.
We decided to make a tourist trip to a number of sites on our down day. Although foggy and rainy and grey, we really enjoyed the drive from Golden, along Hwy 1 and through Yoho Park. The scenes were breathtaking. I loved skirting along the cliff sides and seeing deep valleys. We made stops, and took in the world-famous views at Emerald Lake, Takakkaw Falls, Lake Louise, and Moraine Lake. We saw some horned sheep and a few elk. We even treated ourselves to a fancy lunch inside the Chateau Lake Louise. Fortunately, with tourism numbers being lower then normal, we were able to find parking and see the lakes without too many others photo bombing. My personal favourite spot was Takakkaw Falls, not just for its size and power, but also for the nostalgia it evoked. When I was 12, my family did a camping trip to BC and we stopped at the falls. It was fun to see it again just as I had remembered.
Our final travel day was a short one as Golden is only 1hr 20 min north of Invermere. We stopped to see the World’s Largest Paddle, because why not?, and found a spot to have a sandwich lunch. We were gifted two weeks in a condo on the Panorama Ski Resort so we had to time our arrival to align with check-in. It was so great to unpack into some real space – we had three whole bedrooms and two full bathrooms! It didn’t take long for everyone to get settled and we filled the fridge. This was the first grocery shopping I had done where I was buying for more than two days of meals. Our trailer fridge and freezer can only hold enough fresh and frozen food to cover 5 mouths for two full days. I went a bit nuts with the shopping. Thankfully, it all fit into the condo’s kitchen. Oh yes, and it happened to be Thanksgiving weekend so I snagged one of the last turkeys in the store. It happened to be 16 lbs and I was only feeding us 5, but whatever. This was my first time cooking a Thanksgiving turkey as I’ve always lived close enough to my parents that I could eat my mom’s turkey and, frankly, she’s a much better cook. We ate like kings and queens and had leftovers for the better part of two weeks.
As it was the shoulder season, the resort was mostly vacant, but there was one warm pool and two hot tubs operating. We used our two weeks to explore the trails and slopes, and swim in the warm pool (especially whenever it was snowing). We had a surprise visit from Erik’s parents from Manitoba who brought extra entertainment. The kids got a much-needed break from Erik and I while we also enjoyed the new distraction. We were also fortunate to have a chance to visit the Hot Springs in Radium Hot Springs which had been closed for COVID up until shortly before our arrival.
Two weeks flew by quickly and it was once again time to pack into our bins and stuff the truck to the brim. We drove the southern BC route from Invermere to Osoyoos a day after the province saw the first big dump of snow. The scenery throughout the entire trip was gorgeous with the white dusting. One night in Osoyoos, one night in Vancouver, a morning ferry to Vancouver Island, and a quick drive to Duncan got us to the horse farm that we were going to call home for the next two months.
