Our View From The Road

Day 34: June 22 – Tappen, BC to Yoho National Park, BC

After a restful night at the winery, we enjoyed a quiet breakfast and headed out. Destination today, Yoho National park.

Our first stop was in Revelstoke where we enjoyed a Tim Horton’s bagel BELT and coffee before filling up with fuel. Starting to reacclimatize ourselves to CDN prices for fuel, Yikes!

We visited the Revelstoke Railway Museum and learned more about the history of the railway through Revelstoke and the Canadian Rockies. Definitely worth the stop if you’re in the area.

Continuing our journey we headed towards Roger’s Pass. It was raining. By the time we arrived at the Roger’s Pass information center it was raining, a lot. We learned that needed a Parks Canada park pass to drive up the Icefields parkway (tomorrow) and so purchased this here as it also provided us access to sites in Glacier, Yoho, Banff and Jasper National Parks.

At Golden, BC the highway is undergoing some rather major reconstruction East of the town. The section of the highway that descends into the valley is being widened to four lanes. Now as the existing two lanes were carved into the mountain sides you’re probably wondering where the new lanes are being built. Well, from our perspective it appears that they are building in thin air above the valley; however, in reality the lanes are being built as bridges clinging to the side of the mountains. The workers appear to work in very perilous conditions daily to build these new lanes. The heights and where this is being done made our heads spin.

We soon arrived in Yoho National Park where we would stay at the Kicking Horse campground just West of the CP spiral tunnels. Our campsite is wonderfully level and close to brand new showers & washroom facilities. The view is amazing and we walked around the campground taking it all in before dinner. If your a light sleeper the sound of squealing brakes from the trains descending the hill into Kicking Horse pass might put you off of camping here, luckily we tend to be sound sleepers but will let you know in the morning. Good night.

Day 33: June 21 – Galiano Island, BC to Tappen, BC

We have booked travel on the 8:25am ferry to Tsawwassen as our drive is looking to be about 5 1/2 hours for the day. This meant an early rise so that we can load the bikes, enjoy a quick breakfast and say our goodbyes before leaving for the ferry terminal at 7:00am. After a week of being lazy and sleeping in more than a little, the early morning was a little trying but we did it and managed to be on our way shortly before 7.

We’ve had a great time visiting and catching up on ‘life’ over the past seven days and the island has been a perfect place in which to recharge ourselves ahead of the drive home across the country. We can’t thank Tony’s parents enough for their hospitality.

Back on the mainland our first stop was a Walmart to top-off our provisions and remount the bikes onto the rack. I kept them in the van for the ferry ride as the ramps can be notoriously bumpy and I was afraid of dragging the rack while embarking or disembarking. Wouldn’t you know it though, on this crossing the ramps were almost level and bump free.

We drove from Tsawwassen to Surrey via Hwy-17 in order to join the Trans-Canada highway. From there we headed towards Hope, BC and enjoyed an ever thinning traffic volume as we went. By the time we had reached Hope, the traffic was quite light.

We drove up the Coquihalla highway (Highway thru Hell) and have a completely new appreciation for the truck drivers that take this route in the Winter months.

The scenery changed as we approached Kamloops to something similar to what we had seen in Utah/Nevada, mountain grassland meadows and scrubland.

From Kamloops we turned and headed East further into the mountains. Our stop for the night is a charming winery in Tappen, BC. Only a few kilometers from the highway, but peaceful and serene. Good night one and all, enjoy the pictures from today.

Days 26 – 32: June 14 to 20 – Galiano Island, BC

We spent 7 days relaxing on Galiano Island while visiting Tony’s parents. Rather than detail each day we’ve included a few of our favorite photos from this week below. Activities included walking, cycling and reading. Enjoy, we most certainly did.

The island is as peaceful and laid back as the photos portray. There are only a few options for accommodations or you could try tent camping (Montague Harbour provincial park). There are no camping facilities for RVs anywhere on the island, as such unless you are staying with a resident options are few.

Dining options are also limited and no ‘fast food’ chains have outlets anywhere on the island, this has resulted in fewer tourists and visitors in general making the island a destination meaning that it is an ideal place to come for peace and quiet. Let’s hope that places like this stay just as they are.

Day 25: June 13 – Tsawwassen, BC to Galiano Island, BC

7:00am and we’re awake. The ferry isn’t until 10:25am but we want to be in line early to ensure we don’t get bumped. BC Ferries in the Summer are almost always full and reservations, even mid-week are a must. We arrive at the terminal by before 8:30am and are at the front of a line of cars. Phew. Now to wait. Time for breakfast.

A short wait passes quickly and before we know it we’re being loaded onto the ferry “Salish Eagle”. As our stop is the first of several for this route, we get loaded so that we’re near the front on the top car deck. The photo below shows us about to enter the ‘belly of the whale’.

Above you can see us all tucked away for the voyage, and below a shot from the passenger deck above the car decks.

The sun came out for our crossing but as you can tell from Barbs attire above, it was not warm. We went to the other end of the ferry deck out of the wind and it was much more enjoyable.

After about 45 minutes we arrived at Sturdies Bay on Galiano Island and drove off of the ferry and back onto land. I was very happy to have purchased and installed the hitch mounted skid wheel because (as expected) the skid wheel did hit the deck of the ferry as we drove onto the ramp at the dock.

The 30 minute drive ‘up’ the island took us through some wonderfully lush West coast forests as the Summer heat has yet to arrive in Southern BC. We arrived at my parents home and parked up in their laneway. This will be our ‘campsite’ for the next week.

We spent the remainder of the day catching up and sharing the story of our trip so far. The next week has been planned to be completely downtime for us, time to recharge and enjoy our visit. Stay tuned for another blog update when we leave the island.

Day 24: June 12 – Abbotsford, BC to Tsawwassen, BC

We slept until 9:00am, that was a treat and a testament to how quiet our location is. As a treat, we headed to Tim Horton’s for breakfast and a coffee where we made plans for the day.

Today has been set aside for reprovisioning before we head to Galiano Island for a week of downtime and complete relaxation.

We decided to drive to White Rock as we’d not been before. The seaside of the town is very busy (Sunday morning) with folks going to their favorite cafes for breakfast. Parking was too tight even for a campervan and so we pressed on to Crescent Beach. What a nice little community tucked away on the shore just North of White Rock.

We found a parking area at Blackie Spit park and went for a walk. It was cool and breezy and threatening to rain, but it felt good to walk about and breath that sea air.

From Crescent Beach we headed to Tsawwassen where we visited the Tsawwassen Mills shopping center for the afternoon before enjoying an early dinner followed by a nap in the van.

In the early evening we relocated to the Walmart parking lot where we joined several other campers who had chosen this as there overnight spot ahead of catching a BC Ferry this next morning. We stocked up on groceries for the week and settled down for the night. Hopefully a quiet one.

Day 23: June 11 – Lynden, WA to Abbotsford, BC

Knowing we only have about 20km to drive for our stay tonight, we got to sleep-in and take our time getting ready today. The campground here is very picturesque; however, the neighbors didn’t seem to have volume control of their voices and so that spoiled the site a little. We spent last evening at in the van (it was raining) watching Netflix and therefore didn’t have to listen to their entire conversation.

We left at about 11:30 and went into town to get our last fill-up of fuel in the US before heading to the border crossing. A quick stop at the duty-free shop and onto Canada customs. 3 minutes later and we were wished well on the remainder of our trip. This was by far the quietest and easiest border crossing we’ve ever experienced.

We drive into Abbotsford looking for a place to have lunch and settled on the Field House Brewing Co. on West Railway St. We each enjoyed one of their beers as well as a plate of bruschetta and an order of chicken tacos. Yummy, we highly recommend.

Acre upon acre of raspberry bushes growing adjacent to the Abbotsford airport.

That night we were staying at Campbell’s Gold Honey Farm and Meadery just outside of Aldergrove. They have a wonderful shop where they sell their wares and also locally made crafts. A quiet and secure location where we slept exceedingly well.

Day 22: June 10 – Port Angeles, WA to Lynden, WA

Today we awoke early as we were heading around Puget Sound to our last overnight stop in the USA, Lynden, WA which is just South of Abbotsford, BC our destination for the next day.

These is a way from Port Angeles to Bellingham using ferries; however, we found that these were already fully booked and so we would have to drive to Olympia, Tacoma, Seattle and then onto Bellingham before turning toward Lynden. This would take about 2 hours longer but as we had the time we enjoyed the scenery and didn’t dwell on it as an inconvenience.

Approaching Olympia we’re down at sea level

However, our borrowed GPS thinks we’re a little lower than that! (BTW, notice the name of the road we’re approaching) 😜

Arriving in Seattle. The Space Needle can be seen near the left side of the skyline

The I-5 takes you right under the downtown core of the city

Arriving at the KOA in Lynden, we quickly setup camp and set about relaxing after a day of traffic jams and busy roads. Tomorrow we go home to Canada!

Day 21: June 9 – Fort Stevens State Park, OR to Port Angeles, WA

Today we packed up our campsite and headed toward the Northern shore of the state of Washington. We would drive around Olympic National forest in which is Mount Olympia; however, the weather would not give us a chance to see the mountain as it started raining shortly after we left the campground and rained all day.

Leaving Warrenton and heading towards Astoria, OR

About an hour North of Astoria, Barb finds that South Bend, WA has a statue of the worlds largest oyster. We stopped and in the rain located the statue. Voila!

We stopped in Forks, WA at the Timber Museum and ate lunch in the van before touring the museum. Although small they had some fascinating relics from the BIG timber days of 100 years or so ago.

At the other end of the town of Forks, another museum displayed thousands of items that the owner, John, had collected over the past 47 years from the beaches in the area along the Washington coast. Although a high percentage of his collection is fishing floats, he also has a large collection of items from the 2011 Japanese tsunami that washes across the Pacific.

Day 20: June 8 – Fort Stevens State Park, OR – Day 2

I managed to get up early this morning and go for an hour long walk. The first of the trip ☹️

The walk took me along the shore of a small lake near our campsite and then I headed toward the beach. It’s early so there was almost nobody about.

I managed to get these two pictures of what remains of the wreck of the Peter Iredale. This was a 3-masted steel hulled barque that ran aground in 1906 during bad weather when trying to navigate into the Columbia River just a half mile North.

After returning to the campsite, we spent a relaxing morning enjoying the sunshine albeit somewhat cool at just 14 degrees C.

After lunch we decided to take our bikes down onto the beach to ride them along the hard packed sand.

Tony found a much better cell signal and did some writing.

Barb enjoying the experience of riding on the sand

For dinner we enjoyed steak, potatoes and grilled vegetables with some wine we picked up at Arcadian Moon Winery in Higginsville, Missouri. For the record, the mosquitoes were really bad and the citronella candle was required to have them leave us alone.

Day 19: June 7 – Fort Stevens State Park, OR – Day 1

Today was the first of two full days we are spending at Fort Stevens State Park, a little downtime from traveling and time to enjoy the West coast a little.