Summer 2010

It's odd to be updating our blog now, 6 months after summer vacation began, but it's fun for me to go back through the calendar to remember the excitement of the year. We've been blessed - another year of more than 30 nights of safe travel as we camped in the

1) Kananaskis - about 30 minutes from our home is a small, quiet, well treed campground complete with a river (did I mention we have a lab?) and a playground. The name of the place that we've camped more than any other is Gooseberry (not that I've seen a single gooseberry bush there ever). One weekend Scott's brother and 2 youngest girls camped in the site next to us. We'd never camped together before and it was fun all around. Scott's parents visited each day.

2) Moyie Lake Provincial Park, located in southeast BC, just south of Cranbrook. Canada Day festivities were small but we did light sparklers at the campground!

3) Hope, Idaho - we reconnected with friends we'd made at the same campground 2 years earlier and enjoyed the 4th of July festivities. Kaitlyn took to tubing behind a friend's boat while Emily mastered the paddle board. Emily entered herself and our lab, Roxy, in a dog show and won BEST OF SHOW!

4) Revelstoke where we had a great time connecting my cousin Melanie & her husband Bob. A highlight for the girls was taking chickens from Bob & Melanie's coop and holding the willing birds on their laps while they sat by the campfire. I didn't know if anyone would believe us - I have pictures! :) We also enjoyed the climb to the summit of Mount Revelstoke (well, the last km of the climb...) where we stood in flip flops and sandals in the snow. It's a beautiful view of a small portion of God's amazing creation.

5) Vernon, BC, where I lived from age 6-10. We camped at Ellison Provincial Park - my sister Melanie met us and camped with us too! The campground is beautiful, which is typical of BC's Provincial Parks. We toured a bit of the town, enjoyed the Saturday evening service at the church we faithfully attended as kids (Vernon Alliance Church), and spent many hours on the beach or in the lake. Melanie, Emily, Roxy and I went to the offleash dog beach at our campground and long story short, another dog attacked and bit (held onto Roxy's left ear for 2-3 minutes). It is still very fresh in my mind and it's affected Roxy in that she's not as eager to meet other dogs. She's not at all agressive; perhaps more timid if anything. The offending dog had taken a lunge at another dog the day prior but they'd been able to call her off before anything more serious happened. They told me that they'd be putting their dog down the next day. Roxy got checked out and was given antibiotics for an infection; her immunizations are up to date so we're thankful we've kept on top of that. She is very much a part of our family - we love that dog!

6) Clearwater, BC - we stayed at Dutch Lake, a small, non-private (sites close together, very few trees) but beautifully set campground. The lake was a 20 second walk from our site and in one area was covered with flowering lily pads. If I had seen that part of the lake on their website I would have looked for another location but having seen it (and the area which we swam in which was clear of the lily pads), I'm thankful that we stayed there. There were at least 2 resident loons swimming on the lake calling... what a tranquil sound. All 6 of us (Mel & Roxy included) enjoyed the swimming, food (as always), and exploring.

Clearwater is located on the south end of Wells Gray Provincial Park which is (so I'm told) well known for it's waterfalls. We visited several amazing falls and one day Mel, Roxy & I hiked to one of them. Mel decided that she wanted to cross the river (shallow and about 15' wide), up the embankment to the other side. She took off her socks and shoes and set out. The rocks were very sharp and the water 'fresh'. I watched her and snapped pictures as she reacted to the beauty and power of the waterfall. She found a trail and ended up walking behind the falls... and out the other side right beside me. (Insert maniacal laugh here) I wanted to see what she saw... with my socks and shoes on and mostly dry I retraced her steps in the opposite direction. AMAZING. When we returned to the campground we told the girls about it and they came with us the next day and also went all the way behind the falls and out the other side. We were soaked from the mist but what an adventure!

7) Jasper, Alberta - I can't recall the name of the National Park we stayed in (Scott was sure it was Wapiti but after waiting in the long line up of campers, trailers and motorhomes to get checked in, we realized we were at the wrong campground). Anyways, I think they're probably all just as pretty as the one we stayed in; at the base of Whistler Mountain. We took the tram to the top of Whistlers Mountain and every now and again the rain clouds would part enough to give us a panoramic view. You can take the tram to it's dock or get out and walk further - we chose to see more. We shared the hike with others, two-legged and four. A very large marmot walked between Kaitlyn and I - it was about 3' in front of me. Just as when we were on Mount Revelstoke in the snow, I was able to get to a snowy spot and 'share the love' - AKA, throw the snow at the others.
Also while in the Jasper area we did another hike through Maligne Canyon and thanks to the erosion saw a number of drops in elevation which showed off the waterfalls. The last time we were at this location Kaitlyn was about 7 weeks old.