Grandma on The Go

We tried to camp next to Kim but couldn’t fit into the site next to her. It didn’t matter as there was only one other camper and that one was off to the side. This campground is small and campsites are not easy to get into with our RV so it was nice that the campground was empty.
We dropped our RV, packed up a picnic and all jammed into our truck. We retraced our steps from September 22nd.

1st stop was North Lake and the leaves were beautiful. Kim and Zaya walked along the road between the trees while Jasper scampered on the rocks. I shot photos and Dale explored.

From North Lake, we went to Lake Sabrina. The trees were changing and beautiful. The grandkids went down to the water to explore while I shot more photos. I got a photo of Dale and I sitting on a rock by the lake. I’d taken a photo like this several years ago with our faithful Twinkle, this time it was just the two of us.

The last stop was South Lake and like 1 month ago we took our picnic to our private spot. We had a little different food including a fabulous potato salad that Kim had made. I tried to control myself but alas, finished it off.

We stopped at a couple of other spots including the lake at Intake 2. Every place we stopped was so beautiful.

The following morning, we started home but had a couple of stops, 1st Schat’s for snacks and then Copper Top for the best BBQ ribs this side of Memphis!

We sent Kim on her way north while we headed south for home, 1 month after starting out. We were stuffed and happy!

As it turned out, one friend, Dolly, couldn’t make it but Kim could. Kim and I decided that she would drive north from her house and Dale and I would drive south from Oregon, meeting up in Bishop. Kim bought her own little trailer a couple of years ago so it was fun to meet up and camp with someone we know. This is something we never get to do as we do not know anyone else who camps as we do.

Our son had called while we were driving from Oregon City and the 3 of us decided that it would be easier for his 2 kids to be with us rather than with him while he worked. He would be heading north on Hwy 395 and we would be heading south, making it easy to meet up somewhere north of Reno. We found a parking lot at the firehouse in metropolitan Likely! Hopefully, you can locate this city on Google Maps. Nate could not miss us.
On Monday morning we got up fairly early as we had a long drive to Bishop. We planned to meet Kim close to 2 pm, in time to eat lunch. It was another 7-hour drive for us.

We met Kim at the Visitor’s Center parking lot, there is RV parking behind the center, and the parking is within walking distance to Schat’s and the Holy Smoke. Our favorite BBQ, Copper Top is closed on Monday’s, hence we had to have a meal at our next favorite, Holy Smoke.

After a huge meal at Holy Smoke of ribs, brisket, and pulled pork, we walked across the street to Schat’s. We’d kept the Schat’s as a surprise for the kids. They were in wonder at all the cookies, treats, and ice cream. Jasper (4-years-old) ordered ice cream but then wished he had the dino cookie as well. Kim also found several items to decide between, we bought enough to eat something for then and a little something for Tuesday.

With stuffed stomachs, we then realized that it was a little late to start up into the mountains and still set up our camp. We went to one nearby campground but they only had 2 sites for that night. We went to the 2nd campground and the situation was the same. We went back to the 1st campground, got our sites and set up. By then it was dark but we were not hungry for dinner so just had some wine and then bed.

We left Canada on Saturday morning so we could visit Dale’s cousin in Seattle. Of course, U.S. Immigration didn’t like some of our food, after I’d carefully gone through the list of permitted food on the Homeland Security website. Crazy!!! The immigration officer said that we could not rely on the permitted items on the website, and we were given more current information. We decided that we will not bring any fresh veggies or meat across again. It is just too much hassle.

We made it to Seattle by early afternoon and after visiting our cousins we picked up food. It was a great find, we went to the little local Chinese restaurant and found that they made everything in a gluten-free version. We ordered everything gluten-free so that we could share.

After a night in the last Washington rest-stop before Oregon, we made it to Milo McIver State Park. We couldn’t stay in the local county park because we were not going to stay in the RV every night. We got to the park and were told that we could only camp until Friday, as the park was full for the weekend. The ranger gave us a list of available campsites and we grabbed the 1st one. We dropped the RV, grabbed our clothes (everything was dirty), and left for our kids’ house.

It was only with minutes to spare that we arrived to pick up Fynn. Fynn got his stuff, we got the address to the ice-skating rink and we were on our way.

The week was jam-packed with activity; taking care of the babies, making meals, getting big kids off to school and back, taking them to their various activities. But watching the babies participate in gymnastics, playing games with big kids and things like jumping on the trampoline was lots of fun. Dale taught Fynn to play chess, we played lots of Mexican Train and Uno.

The big kids had a school holiday on Thurs and Fri. We took them to our RV and spent Thursday night camping. They had great fun running on the trails in the campground.

On Friday morning we packed up the RV and drove the county campground near Clayton and Jen’s house. We left a forest for a crowded campground. We were happy to be close to the house but sad to leave the beautiful state park.

The kids wanted and we promised to take them to the pumpkin patch, they wanted to go thru the corn maze, eat roasted corn, ride the train, eat honey sticks and drink a milkshake. On Thursday we only had time to walk the maze so we promised to go back on Friday. On Friday we stayed and played, doing everything except eating roasted corn. We had to go back on Saturday for the roasted corn. There we found the best gluten-free apple pie that we have ever had. Unfortunately, there was no apple pie left by Saturday. Alas.

On Sunday, we had breakfast then packed up the remaining things and headed on down the road.

While walking in the village around we found a store “Ecologyst” with clothing made from organic fabrics and most everything made in Canada. Unfortunately, we hadn’t planned to buy a new wardrobe so we only touched the silky soft fabrics and drooled. In the “Amos and Andes” we found hand-knit sweaters that we must have someday and at Roots, we looked at new bags that we are sure that we need.

At Benz Coffee, we like to sit at the window counter and look out at the Plaza with our coffee. We feel very decadent! It’s always a must-stop for us.
I took Dale to a waterfall at Narin Falls, this is a waterfall at the campground where we camped at with grandkids a few weeks ago. Grandkids and I walked had walked to it without Dale. The waterfall is a nice afternoon walk so I was glad he could see what we’d seen.

The Whistler Interpretive Forest is just south of the village and there is a trail that runs from the Interpretive Forest to the village. The main trail is paved and we waked about 1-mile in. We were joined by bicyclists, runners, and other walkers. The trail is steep in places and we were huffing and puffing. There is a dirt bike trail along most of the trail we walked on which was steep and crazy.

There is a dirt trail through the Interpretive Forest with signs that point out various plants and trees. This is a nice easy trail but probably not for wheelchairs. I loved the branches covered with moss laying on the ground.

The final day we drove past Pemberton, looking to see if there was any land or houses that we’d be interested in buying. We drove this road to Alaska so a little beyond Pemberton we remember the road being steep and narrow, not something we’d be happy to drive in the winter.

We didn’t find anything that would interest us to buy. It appears that most of the ground is on First Nation’s land and we didn’t see anything that would work for us.

We went back to the village where we bought British Columbia Ice Wine and for one last coffee.

We started our Monday morning at the Canadian version of the DMV. We were going to start the process of obtaining our drivers’ licenses but then decided we’d better wait as we were not ready to give up our California licenses.

From the DMV we went to the provincial insurance company with a list of questions about importing our cars. Needless to say, some of the procedures are different so we had to sort through those issues. We didn’t make it down to immigration but we still need to find out how much it will cost to import the sports cars. Hopefully, we can find some answers by phone.

Although we do not anticipate living in Vancouver, we did want to visit the local ski resorts. We have been to Whistler and planned to go there again, but we have heard about the local resorts and were anxious to check them out.

On Tuesday morning we packed up a lunch and started at the furthest one from our campground, Cypress Mountain, 30 min away. We walked around looking at the ski slopes and maps. Then we happened upon a trail, a loop around the Yew Lake.

The 1.5-mile trail is an easy walk and although the trail is not paved, we did see someone pushing another person in a wheelchair. The lake is quite beautiful, however, the light was not great so photos, while fine, are not great.

From Cypress, we drove another ½ hour or so to Grouse Mountain. Our Vancouver friends ski Grouse and had lots of good things to say. Unfortunately, the parking was not free and one must take a gondola to the mountain so we could not see anything. We decided that we’d just come up and ski sometime in order to check it out.

Our last resort to check was Mt. Seymore. We did not find a hiking trail but did walk around. The resort reminded us of Shirley Meadows, the resort near Bakersfield. It did look like a great little place to take some of the younger grandkids.

We hope to return to Vancouver in January and actually ski some of the ski resorts.