From the Southwest to the Northwest

[Tom&Shelly]

From William Tugman SP on the southern Oregon coast, we drove to Stub Stewart SP near Portland.

Nice campsite, though, at this point, the details run together! We did stop to buy some local strawberries on the way in, which went well on our oatmeal the next morning.

The next day we went to see Fort Vancouver--originally a Hudson's Bay Company post before Great Britain and the US agreed on the border.

We discovered the Pearson Air Museum next door, and spent an hour or so there, as well

This was an Army Airfield before World War II. Unfortunately, there simply was no room to expand the runways for modern aircraft, so it went away.

The next day, we went to the Evergreen Museum, which has a lot of historical aircraft including the Hughes Hercules, aka "The Birch B*tch", aka "The Spruce Goose". (Newspapers couldn't print one of those.)

Tom

 

[Tom&Shelly]

We spent the weekend at a friend's house in Portland. It rained like you might expect in Portland, and we decided it would be a good idea to get some more water-proof jackets. Not sure the details, but Shelly's friend has a 40% discount at Columbia, so we now have their jackets. Good investment for Vancouver Island, I suspect.

We also went to see the Japanese Garden, where we saw an expert on Bonsai plants. very interesting! Turns out, if you love your kids, you will not leave them your Bonsai plants. Takes a lot of work every day!

On the Oregon side of the Columbia River there are a lot of nice waterfalls a short hike from the highway

We also toured a fish hatchery (Shelly's friend's boyfriend grew up in the Northwest and is big on fishing--and hunting--but mostly fishing.) We ate his catches that entire weekend. I don't think he caught one of these though...

We topped off the weekend by going to Powell's Books, a multi-story new and used bookstore in Portland. I found a lot of World War II paperbacks from the 60's and 70's, when the authors were 1st person witnesses to history. Could have spent my fortune and filled our poor truck, but held back!

Tom

 

[Tom&Shelly]

We spent last week at Big Creek Campground, a National Forest Service Campground near Mt Rainier National Park. Possibly my favorite campsite so far, as we were on a flowing creek. Sounded just like one of those "white noise" generators city folks use to make it sound like they are sleeping at this campground!

Our site was a bit of a tight squeeze for both teardrop and truck, but we made it work. Like most NFS sites, this one has vault toilets, no shore power or showers.

Lots of nice scenery. We drove across the south road, and up the east road. Hiked a short hike to some waterfalls

Saw the museum (and the gas station next door)

and, in three days, saw the peak of the volcano once. If you see it, take a picture! In our case, the clouds returned ten minutes later!

Before driving up to Bainbridge Island Yesterday, we took a short ride on the Mt Rainier Scenic Railway. They don't go to the national park, and to be truthful, there wasn't much to see on the way, but large trees--which we've been seeing for quite a few days. However, they are a non-profit, and are saving to rebuild a burned bridge on their desired route. Steam, with oil fire.

My cold, which had been building since our drive through Mt Rainier, finally caught up with me at this point. Hopefully, we'll see the Undersea museum near Bainbridge Island in the next few days...

Tom

 

[Tom&Shelly]

We've spent the past few days at Fay Bainbridge municipal campsite, which has very small spaces and got real crowded this past weekend.

Got this shot for the few minutes the site to our left (your right) was unoccupied. We are close to a pebble beach on Puget Sound.

Some views of snow covered mountains from the beach, including Olympic (or Olympus, one is a national park on Earth, the other one is on Mars; I always get them confused).

Back in February, when we made most of our reservations for this trip, Olympic NP and the surrounding campsites were already filled, so we decided to spend a few days extra in Vancouver, BC. Hope the Canadians will have us!

We did get out to see the Undersea Museum yesterday. There is another naval museum in the area, but we decided we needed a day in camp to relax.

A month of travel and site-seeing will take it out of us senior citizens! I appear to be mostly recovered from the cold I picked up at Mt Rainier, and Shelly doesn't seem to have been too affected. She says she has lots of immunity after having been an elementary/middle school teacher for so long. She says she's been around "a lot of other sick children". I'm not quite sure what she means by "other".

Fay Bainbridge has a shower (one stall for everyone using the mens room in camp). The next two campsites we are going to have no showers, so I'm taking as many as I can while we are here!

Tom

 

[Tom&Shelly]

Oops! Checking the compass, we now think that's Mt Rainier, not Olympic. Did I mention we hardly ever saw the peak while we were there?

 

[Tom&Shelly]

After a short day trip to Olympic National Park, we took the ferry yesterday and are now at Bamberton Provincial Park on Vancouver Island, BC.

For some reason, I can't seem to upload pictures or text from my computer here in Canada, but have no trouble uploading Dad Jokes from my phone. So hopefully this will make it, and I can post pictures if/when the US authorities let me return.

The campground is very wooded, with wide asphalted pads. Pit toilets, potable water, but no shore power or showers.

There is a steep 1500 meter hike from the campsite to the beach. (If I did the calculation correctly, that's about 180 miles round trip.) It's even steeper on the way back.

There was an adult swimming off the beach. But it is salt water and there are no showers there either.

Guess we assumed too early about Shelly overcoming her clod. Er, that's a typo, she says she'll never overcome her clod (whoever that is). Her cold, however, which she caught from her clod wore her out yesterday, and really has her dragging today, so we are again hanging around camp.

That's frustrating for our first day on Vancouver Island, but this is a much nicer camp to hang out in than the last one! Hope to be back exploring in a day or two!

Tom

 

[Sara-TNT]

The second day, I toured Balcony House, which features a 30 foot ladder, and a 12 foot long man-made tunnel that requires a crawl. Reading the description, I suddenly remembered my grandparents describing the same tour, with their 35 mm slide presentation, back in the early 70's. They made several trips in their red VW bug after they retired. I must be about the same age now.View attachment 1316164
View attachment 1316165
View attachment 1316166View attachment 1316167

Love these pictures. Mesa Verde is on my bucket list.

 

[Tom&Shelly]

Just in case anyone is keeping track, we managed to talk our way back into the US today, and this evening are in a KOA near Spokane Washington.

Our neighbor just had a Dominoes delivery. Is it actually camping if you can have a pizza delivered?

We are here because it's the best campsite we could find in this area. A little bit civilized for our tastes, but we couldn't find nearby state parks or forest service campgrounds with vacancies. We are in the area to visit family. We also haven't done laundry in 3 weeks and this KOA has its own laundromat. When you are on the road for 8 weeks plus, certain things become important.

I'll try and upload some pictures this weekend of our trip across southern British Columbia.

Tom

 

[Tom&Shelly]

For anyone keeping track, we are now back at home near Albuquirky New Mexico, after 10 weeks and 2 days. Over the next week or so I'll try and catch up on pictures and details of the campsites we've stayed and the places we've been to, in case anyone might be able to use the information for their own planning.

It'll obviously be more in the past tense at this point, but I have lots of pics, and took notes (kept a daily journal) so hopefully won't mistate the facts too much.

Tom

 

[Tom&Shelly]

From Fay Bainbridge Municipal Campsite in Washington, we drove up to spend the morning at the Mt Olympic National Park Visitor Center. Very crowded, even on a Tuesday (July 1)! We hoped to find a nice picnic table for lunch, but found nothing suitable, so we settled for a diner in Port Angeles.

Later we took the Ferry to Victoria, British Columbia, on Vancouver Island. Somewhat choppy crossing, and Shelly was beginning to feel the full effects of her cold.

We weren't absolutely clear on import laws, and to be safe had eaten all of our meat before entering Canada, but we may have accidently brought in a few fresh fruit we shouldn't have. As we drove off the ferry, the Arlow Guthrie tune kept going through my mind: "Sailing in from Port Angeles, bringing in a couple kiwis, don't look in my tear, if you please, mister customs man..." In fact, there were no questions by the customs inspector about what food we brought in for our personal use. Also, I should mention that there were many farm stands and farmers markets on the island all with locally grown produce.

We saw many folks headed to the center of Victoria to celebrate Canada Day. Wished we could join them--I'd like to see how they celebrate, especially in these times--but after a long day we just wanted to get to the campground. Incidentally, this was our first time in British Columbia, but we saw many, many more Canadian national flags on this trip than we did in Ontario or New Brunswick in years past.

Bamberton Provincial Park is nice, in the trees.

No electric sites and no showers. There is a 1.5 km hike down to the waterfront, where you can swim (salt water) but there are no showers there either.

The campground is not too far from Victoria, and a reasonable distance for a day trip to Nanaimo, but this was Shelly's worst day, and so we put off doing anything too strenuous. I went to a nearby grocery store in Mills Bay, found an ATM and obtained Canadian money, and bought food for grilling the next few days.

Was a bit of a rest for me--real camping with less sightseeing. I remember baking in our dutch oven, relaxing with some books, etc.

Our second day there, Shelly was feeling well enough that we went out to check out some Canadian thrift stores. (We may have a problem with thrift stores, garage sales, and the like, but not a discussion for this folder...) I bought some Robertson screw drivers, because, well, it's Canada!

Tom

 

[Tom&Shelly]

From Bamberton, we drove up to Strathcona Provincial Park for the weekend. This was one of my favorite campsites of the trip, and possibly for as long as we've camped in the teardrop!

It's very remote. You drive about halfway up the island on the East Coast, then in to the interior. For our campsite, we then drove another 20 km or so South along a lake shore. The lake has steep mountains on either side, and very few buildings along the shore.

Again, no shore power, and no showers. (At this point, we set up a cabana tent and took sponge baths.) The trees were a slight problem for our solar panel. The trees cover the campsite in shade (as they did at Bamberton), so we never got a full charge and the battery slowly lost its charge.

We don't fish and didn't have a boat, but you can do either at Strathcona. I hiked a lot, while Shelly relaxed and fully recovered. We actually talked about trying to extend our time on Vancouver Island, but we'd already made reservations for campgrounds beyond, and it is difficult to change those in July, especially since there was no cell service.

This is likely the most remote campground we've been to, by most measures. It is also the furthest North (as well as furthest West). We gave a young man a tear tour and he brought his significant other over and told her a home-made tear drop is what he has in mind for exploring the Yukon. Boy I envy him!

Tom

 

[S. Heisley]

Thank you for sharing your pictures and stories. I guess Shelly's years of teaching kids did not protect her from the monster cold that you caught and she got it too! Glad to see you made it home safe and back to heathy.

 

[Tom&Shelly]

I guess Shelly's years of teaching kids did not protect her from the monster cold that you caught and she got it too!

Ya, the fact that viruses and bacteria can invade our bodies without our permission just makes us sick!

Tom

 

[Tom&Shelly]

From Strathcona, we drove down to Goldstream Provincial Park, near Victoria BC. We tried to go through Cedar Grove in McMillian Provincial Park on the way down, hoping to hike a little and eat a picnic lunch, but there was very little parking and it was taken to the point of being dangerous on the side of the roadway.

We thought about taking a tour of the Provincial Parliament in Victoria, but realized we didn't have the proper dress--as we were camping all we had were jeans, long and short and tee-shirts--and jeans are frowned upon in the Parliament building. We didn't want to look like ugly Americans, so decided to pass on that and instead saw the Maritime Museum (a small museum) and Miniature World Museum (large for a doll house museum), both near Inner Harbour, where we also ate lunch. Later in the week, we came back and visited the Royal British Columbia Museum, about the history of the province.

On the second day, we toured Ft Rodd and Fisgard Lighthouse, across the bay from Victoria.

The fort was manned during World War II to prevent Japanese invasion. They didn't say so, but it must have been boring to the men at this fort, so far from the war, though probably a relief to their mothers.

This is a neat building

Sure, it's obviously a life boat station. Not so obviously, the "boat" is nailed down, the windows are painted on, and the wall used to roll away to reveal a search light!

In the afternoon, we went and toured Hatley Castle and Gardens. Didn't bring my camera, but the gardens are very nice. The castle was built by a local rich family, and housed a RCN training college during and after the war.

Goldstream campground itself was nice. Had showers (first for us in Canada). Also had flush toilets.

No shore power, and with the heavy trees blocking the solar panel, this is where our battery temporarily gave out.

We had brought a Ryobi lantern along that uses a rechargable 18 v battery, so we used that to read by in our teardrop the last night at the campsite. Gave off a warmer light that was kind of pleasant. At our next campsite, we had shore power and the battery hasn't exhibited any permenant damage.

Tom

 

[Tom&Shelly]

We had hoped to take a day trip to Nanaimo (a port city) and see everything there, and also take a day trip in a whale watching boat and/or fishing boat. Missed all that due to illness. As mentioned above, it really wasn't practical at that point to extend our stay. (Although, if we had, we still might be on the road somewhere right now instead of sweltering here in New Mexico. Oh well!) We decided the best way to make up for the boat rides is to wait until Winter and do them with friends in Long Beach and San Diego California. Hope we will get back to Nanaimo to see the waterfront someday!

However, we did go through Nanaimo on our way to the ferry for the mainland. While there, we stopped at the Nanaimo Military Museum. Free to all veterans (no matter which country), it had some history of Vancouver Island veterans of all wars, especially World War II. It was small--probably best to figure an hour to an hour and a half if you have enough interest to want to go.

The ferry took us to Horseshoe Bay, just north of the city of Vancouver, and we drove on to Klahanie, a commercial park near Squamish, with shore power, flush toilets, and showers. the showers are pay as you go--they take loonies, toonies, and Canadian quarters. (I didn't try American quarters--why risk jamming!) Oh, also a view!

Bay on one side of the campsite, waterfall on the other. I didn't take the campsite picture from a drone, there is a small hill there. We recommend getting a campsite in the back away from the enterance if possible. Has everything but level ground.

Tom

 

[Tom&Shelly]

Our first full day at Klahanie, we drove up to Whistler. The main part of Whistler is called "The Village".

Is anyone beginning to get a vibe? Perhaps memories of a certain cult classic from the 60's? Patrick McGoohan was walking round wearing a badge with the number 6 on it.

We decided we wanted to take the Peak 2 Peak tram. It is a tram between two peaks, so kudos for truth in advertising. To get there, you have to take another tram. To get down, you need a third tram. What is there to do on the peaks? Well, you can take a ski-lift to the very top of one peak and walk across the Sky Bridge.

Fairly exciting day. Of course, there are restaraunts between the trams.

Tom

 

[Tom&Shelly]

The only other interesting thing to note about the mountains around Whistler is that folks ski there, in the Winter. (I think there may have been an Olympics there in the recent past.) They have screw drivers on chains for folks to fix their equipment.

No Robertsons!

BTW, the actual Village, from The Prisoner, is in Wales. I have no idea why Whistler chose to call theirs The Village, or, frankly, to seemingly duplicate parts of the Welsh Village. Coincidence or Irony?

Tom

 

[Tom&Shelly]

On our second day, we toured the Britannia Mining Museum in Squamish. The building literally goes up the side of a mountain (20 storeys), which is fundamental to the process of getting copper out of the mined rocks.

Late in the afternoon, we rode the Sea to Sky gondola, in Squamish, not to be confused with the others in Whistler. Normally we wouldn't have done two trams on back to back days, but we aren't sure we will ever be there again, so had to do it all!

At first, I thought Canadians may have a different definition of gondola

but no, this isn't part of the actual gondola

Spectacular views, just as in Whistler. That bay is the one our campground is on. Oh, there is a scary foot-bridge on this gondola too

Our last day at Klahanie, we went back to Whistler to tour the Squamish Lil'wat Cultural Centre, run by the two First Nations Tribes, and presenting their history. Very educational. Evidently the tribes always got along and even jointly ran a village in the mountains set up for trade between them.

Tom

 

[Tom&Shelly]

Our next stop was Okanagan Lake Provincial Park, near Pinticton. To get there, we had to drive through Vancouver. Traffic, even East of Vancouver was heavier than I expected.

In the early afternoon, we stopped at a rest stop, and tried to help jump start a camper. In the course of events, I forgot I'd unplugged the teardrop's electrical tether cable from the truck. Realized it while we were a few kilometers down the road, but by then it was too late. Burned several wires by dragging it, and we couldn't trust our trailer brakes, on a very hilly freeway. We figured maybe we could find an RV repair place in Haggerty, or we might have to drive all the way to Kamloops. It would be a long day!

But, as we came over the hill, we could see all of Haggerty, and there was a Canadian Tire! They had one cable, complete with crimped on eye lugs. About C$ 60 and a very warm hour later, in their parking lot, we had the problem solved. We were right next to a guy who was replacing his camper's tires.

Goes to show: Stuff happens, and you should always carry a complete tool box that is at least reasonably accessible. I used a large Phillips head screw driver to get the junction box open, and a socket set with nut-driver handle to remove and replace the nuts on the terminals. If I didn't have the tools, I would have spent that much more money buying them. Also, since we built the teardrop, and I'd wired it, I knew exactly what I was looking for and how to fix it.

The new cable hasn't given us any trouble for the past month of camping.

Okanagan Lake Provincial Park is nice, but crowded with small sites. We all needed to cooperate and use each other's space to maneuver our campers in and out. (Our space was wide, but not deep.)

We did not have shore power, but the sites are clear enough that the solar panel kept up. They did have showers. However, the water is on a boil restriction. We mostly used the water we'd filled from Klahanie.

The lake was just across the road, and the neighbors' campsites, from us.

There was also a common area. A field with some playground equipment, and also geese.

Walk at your own risk--the geese learned potty training from the geese at the state parks in Upstate New York.

Tom

 

[Tom&Shelly]

Pinticton is a large city, with a large, and popular, public beach on Okanagan Lake. Before the roads, they were supplied by a stern wheeler, the S. S. Sicamous, which is now a museum. There is also a rather large bookstore in town--The Bookshop. We did both our first full day, and ate at one of the restaraunts on the waterfront.

Our second day, we took a ride on the historic Kettle Valley Railway.

I didn't spit!

Tom