Most of our trips in the Winona Rider involve an amount of adventure and seeing new things while we take our time along the road. This was not that kind of trip (See our previous blog). Due to an inconsistent sensor in the van that kept us guessing, we just kept driving and focusing on the destination of Winona Lake. I guess the Winona Rider really wanted to get back to the lake.
After leaving the comfort of our condo in Boulder, we headed out to Ogallala, Nebraska. We stayed at a cute brewery called Second Chapter. The brewery is located in a 1927 building that had previously been the Goodall City Library. The people at the brewery were very friendly and we enjoyed a Beer Sampler with creative names like the Witty Librarian, Trashy Romance, Czeched Out, Overdue Oatmeal Porter. The book geek in me loved the names as much as the beer. We walked the small town, enjoyed a local coffee shop in the morning, and felt pretty good about our chances of making it to Winona. The starts warning had actually stopped beeping at us that day and we were feeling good!
Brewing beer inside an historic library.Fun Beer Tasting at the BreweryFaux Ogallala Sunset with the Dogs
We left the next morning and, no sooner than we had settled in, our Starts Warning began counting down and beeping at us again. We went to nine and then, after a lunch and gas stop, to eight. Uh oh. Time to regroup once more , reschedule our plans and get to Winona as soon as we could. We added three extra hours to our day and camped out in a nice RV Park in Des Moines Iowa. We have a lot of friends in Des Moines and would have liked to see them. But, this was no time for using up our starts. The RV park was in the country so no trucks whizzing by this time. Our minds were just on driving and getting to our destination at this point.
Des Moines Sunset
We had an eight-hour drive from Des Moines to Winona with the addition of Chicago traffic but we listened to a fun audio book called “Guncle” and kept focused on the destination. On the way to Winona, the sensor messed with us again and went back up to 10 and then 16. Whew. Clearly, this device does not know that I like to plan things years in advance and am very tried by not knowing what the next two hours will look like. Definitely a lesson of living in the moment!
We arrived in Winona at 7:00 PM, high-fived and let out a big sigh of relief! My poor husband also had to suffer with having a very challenging, nasty virus called the Adenovirus during our week. The grandkids all had it before we left and as fate would have it, Brad got it half-way through the trip. His throat was so swollen by the last day, he couldn’t talk. I have never spent a day with Brad in my whole married life where he didn’t talk and tell me “interesting” facts and make his infamous eye-rolling puns (Editor’s note: They’re very funny). It was eerily quiet.
Our First Winona Sunset
We are at Winona now where we can take it easy for a few days and not drive! (except for our boats and sailboat). The Winona Rider goes into the shop in Ft. Wayne on Monday and Brad is on his way to improving with a bag full of meds and time to take it easy. Let’s hope both the Rider and Brad find a way to heal together quickly!
On the Pontoon: The dogs take their positions
We were both proud of how we handled this very mini crisis. We worked together, considered our options, and reshuffled our plans based on what we knew at the time. As we discussed in one of our blog posts last year, It Takes Two. While our trip has gotten a bit upended, we still found a way to enjoy the journey – even though it really was about the destination this time!
There is a song in the musical “Into the Woods” by Stephen Sondheim called “It Takes Two”. It’s a song sung between the baker and his wife when they go out for an adventure in the woods and realize that facing their challenges together would be more successful than doing so individually. Its main refrain goes like this, “It takes two, I thought one was enough but it takes two of us.” The married couple realize how much they have changed in their adventure. Instead of always doing things independently they learn to team up as they face life in the woods.
That song kept playing in my head while we were on our 18-day adventure “Into the Woods” up to Canada. Brad and I are both fiercely independent and some might stay a little stubborn. Just ask our friends and family. At home, we have our individual lives and tasks and to-do lists (Well, I make the to-do lists for Brad). We have also been happily married for 37 years on July 6th so we do know a little about working together and getting along as well, but, a small Sprinter van can test that togetherness very quickly.
We do almost everything together in the Winona Rider. We planned the trip together, we did the menu planning, we organized the van, and we packed our things together. Each day on the trip we have to make the bed, do the dishes, make the meals, do the grocery shopping, and do the laundry together. I think you get my point. We each have our own jobs even in the Rider but we have to work together and do a dance at times around each other to make it all work in such a small space. We even write the blog together. I often sit down and just put down all of my ideas with very little attention to grammar or facts in the evening. I am a bit of a night owl so that works best for me. Brad, on the other hand, likes to get up earlier than me so he looks at my draft and “cleans it up” as we like to call it. It’s a team effort and it works!
That being said, I would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge that Brad does the lion’s share of the hard work. He is the man who does all of the hook-ups at our various destinations (including manning the dump station) and also the man who does a combo of gymnastics and yoga trying to make our bed every night. He is also the man who deals with the dogs when they need to get up early and go out! He, of course, does all of the driving while I entertain him with my intellectual chatter about the news of the day or my research about what we should do that day or where we should go to lunch. And, most importantly, he is the man who makes the coffee in the morning and pours the wine in the evenings and I am forever grateful to him for that.
Brad’s Nightly Bed Making Skills…A little bit yoga, a little bit gymnasticsDoing the Laundry…Travel is not alway glamorous
Before we sign off for another year, I thought I would leave you all with a few lists of what we learned and discovered on our trip. We went almost 4000 miles, spending time in five states, two provinces, and one new country over 18 days. It was the trip of a lifetime and possibly our favorite Winona Rider trip to date.
Places to put on your Bucket List
Banff, Banff, Banff! And then really all of the other places we visited. We didn’t have a dud. I would consider going in September next time because we did have cold temps sometimes and had to forego a couple of hikes because they still had ice and snow.
Lake Louise at Banff National Park
Places/Things that Surprised Us
Blind Bay in Canada. One of the most serene lakes we have ever visited. Such a lovely evening and it beat our expectations!
Low Tides, ferries and the Winona Rider don’t mix well.
The overflowing waters in the rivers and lake in the Pacific Northwest and Canada
The genuine kindness of the Canadian people, including drivers on the highway.
Blind Bay Sunset. Ahhhh!
Places that Disappointed Us
Nothing really disappointed us but it was a bummer to have needed reservations to get into Glacier and to be turned away. It was also disappointing that the parking lot was full at Lake Louise the first time. Our advice — plan ahead and do your research when visiting US national parks. Their rules change frequently. It is also sad that we can’t hike with our dogs in the United States national parks. Canadian national parks let you hike with your dogs on leash. Oh, but don’t forget to bring bear spray!
The dogs in the morning
Things that Bug Us
Lack of recycle bins in RV parks. What is with that? It’s really hard to be eco-conscious at places without recycling.
Loud trucks and people who run their generators at night.
Bad Wifi/Cell Reception. We have a blog to write and Wordle to play. We need our internet. (Although I felt a little silly complaining about that fact when one of our RV neighbors was chatting with us and told us he hasn’t watched anything live on a screen in 24 years because his house in Washington has no cable or internet. I stopped whining after that.)
Things in our Van that we still don’t understand:
How our power system works. Seems to be no rhyme nor reason.
How we sleep so amazingly well every night in such a small space!
The day we lost our power and waited 2 1/2 hours for the solar to kick in.
Things to do to be happy for 18 days in a Sprinter Van:
Book a hotel for a few nights at the middle and end of the trip.
Take showers in the camp sites if they have a good one
Laugh at each other’s jokes (sometimes that requires effort)
Play Farkle
Stay off Twitter
Drink good wine nightly
Don’t look in any mirrors
Spend time with friends that you normally wouldn’t get to see and have friends you see often meet you somewhere. We are forever grateful that our friends met us and opened up their homes to us along the way.
The Cohens in PortlandThe Hoffbergs in Vashon IslandThe Frandsens in Bend
And, lastly, Things we Can’t Travel Without in the Winona Rider:
French Press Coffee Maker
Our dogs
A Sense of Humor
Good Wine
And, most importantly, each other
Our 2022 blogging days have come to an end and we’ll see you all next year! We are always ready to take suggestions of where we should go and what we should see. Thanks for all of your feedback these last three weeks. We have enjoyed staying in touch with you, our friends.
When we published our itinerary for this trip, our good friend Lorri Wilke saw that we were spending our last night in Redding. Her daughter Leah lives in Redding with her husband Cody and their two adorable daughters, Pippa and May. In about a year or so Lorri and Bruce are going to make a big life change. They bought property with Leah and Cody and will be moving to Redding from Danville. Both families will live on a 1 1/2 acre property in two separate newly-built houses so they can be right next door to each other. We thought living five minutes away from our grandkids was pretty darn good but Lorri and Bruce will be steps from theirs. What a treat!
We met Leah, Pippa and May at their new property. It is empty except for a pool right now. The original house on the property was burned to the ground in the fires of 2018 but the pool remained. We had a great time reminiscing and catching up with Leah. She was a good friend of our daughter Katie in school and they use to play together on the infamous “Speedsters” soccer team that Brad coached.
Selfie with Leah at her soon-to-be new home.
Their new location in Redding is beautiful and peaceful. The two homes will overlook the Sacramento river and will have plenty of hiking and biking trails nearby. This is good as the Wilke family is one of the most active families we know!! We had a great time envisioning the two homes while we visited with Leah and her two girls. Ralphie and Sophie loved playing in the river and I think they were sad to get in the van.
The Sacramento River. Their property is overlooking this view!Pippa and May with Leah. We couldn’t get them to sit still much so this was the best we got!
We were going to have our last night at the new homestead but the temperature was 95 degrees and we needed air-conditioning to be able to sleep. So, we headed over to an RV park in Redding. It was an uneventful stay although Brad and I spent our last dinner reminiscing about the great trip we had just experienced. More on that to come in our final blog!
We left Glacier National Park and headed back west to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, our next stop. Coeur d’Alene sits on a beautiful lake and is surrounded by mountains. This was to be no more than a waypoint to our stop in Bend, Oregon. But, we knew it was pretty and would be worth a quick visit.
Then, as we planned our stop, we saw that there was an RV park right on the lake called . . . Blackwell Island RV Park. Yes, the RV park was on an island on Lake Coeur d’Alene called Blackwell Island. Well, we have to stop there. Lisa and I took a trip to the British Virgin Islands and sailed by Necker Island which is owned by Richard Branson. We didn’t own Blackwell Island. Heck, we didn’t even know it existed until now. But, we knew that, unlike Necker Island, we could stay there.
It was a short drive from Glacier to Coeur d’Alene so Lisa and I headed into town for a look before going to “our” island. As we got downtown we saw many street closures and a lot of people milling around. So, we had to stop to take a look. Turns out there was the Coeur d’Alene Ironman taking place that day and downtown was the finish.
The finish line for the half-Ironman
It was fun to experience the energy of the event. We stopped to grab a beer. Well, I grabbed a beer and Lisa got an iced tea. A trio of Irish singers came along and did a number for us. Coeur d’Alene is so welcoming. Of course we had to tip them so maybe not that welcoming.
Our Irish bards
We moseyed over to the lake where people were lounging on the beach. It was 98 degrees here which was a bit of a shock to our bodies that had acclimated to mountain chill. A welcomed shock, however.
The beach on Lake Coeur d’Alene.
We then went back to the Winona Rider and, with great anticipation, headed over to Blackwell Island. We drove up and I went into the RV office to check in. When the woman asked my last name, I said, “Blackwell.” The whole staff (all three of them) turned around to look at me. One of them said, “We’ve been laughing about that one since we saw the reservation.” I wasn’t sure how to take that.
I asked who the Blackwells were and they point to photos on the wall behind me. There they are. They owned a big sawmill and gave most of the land for the beach and parks to the town. There you go. If you want an island named after you you have to have a sawmill and give the town a park.
The entrance to our RV park on Blackwell IslandPictures of the Blackwells on the wall. They look, uh, nice?
It was a cute little island and we had a nice spot overlooking a small park and the water. Other than that, it was a nice, uneventful visit. We grilled a couple of steaks, had salad, and nice bottle of Hall wine and took a sunset walk.
Our spot for the evening.Sophie and Ralphie liked Blackwell IslandWe found a gnome house on our walk. Sophie wasn’t too sure about it.The Blackwells on Blackwell Island
Other than that, nothing really happened. Sorta reminds me of the old Smothers Brothers song, The Wreck of the Old 49, where nothing happens.
The Wreck of the Old 49.
Anyway, it was a nice visit, it was fun to stay on a namesake island, and maybe Richard Branson will read this and invite us to Necker Island. I doubt it though.
We woke up on Thursday morning at the West Glacier KOA RV Park. The thermometer read 37 degrees. Lisa hates the cold.
Every trip has a day that just doesn’t go as planned or doesn’t come easy. We’ve all experienced it. Sometimes it’s a major medical issue like the time Lisa broke her wrist on a remote doctor-less island in the British Virgin Islands. Sometimes it’s a major inconvenience like Brad being detained by Chilean Security for having an apple in his backpack and being interrogated so long that we missed our flight to the Atacama Desert. Other times it’s nothing major. You just have a day where nothing seems to go right.
Our first day in Glacier National Park was the latter.
The entry sign looked so inviting.
It all started early in the morning with a text and a photo of a Covid test. Our youngest daughter, Stephanie, had just tested positive for Covid. She took a few more tests and indeed, she had the dreaded virus. She wasn’t feeling too badly but, nonetheless, we were concerned.
While Lisa was texting with Steph, we got the early morning breaking news alerts informing us that the Supreme Court had reversed Roe v Wade. We felt punched in the gut and the news immediately put us in foul moods and we went on a few expletive-laden rants. Lisa suggested we turn the RV around and head back to Canada, find a nice place to live and send for the kids and grandkids. We pondered that idea as we headed off to Glacier National Park.
We arrived at the West Entrance of Glacier and were confronted with electronic signs that told us to have our vehicle passes and ID ready. We had no idea what that meant. As we pulled up to the nice but official looking park official, Brad asked, “We don’t know what a vehicle reservation is.” She smiled and succinctly ushered us off to an area for cars without park reservations. There, a lovely woman explained to us that we could not go into the west entrance of the park without a reservation. That reservation needed to be made months ago. She did say we could see the park from the East side without a reservation and enthusiastically explained some of the sights we could see along the way. She also gave us hope by saying that we could come back at 4:00 and enter the west side without a reservation, This woman has a hard job telling people who didn’t do their research (like us) that they can’t visit the park yet she handled it with a lovely attitude.
A few other things she mentioned ever so nicely were: 1) Our dogs weren’t allowed on any of the trails in the park except one short paved one. 2) We couldn’t’ take our RV on the infamous Going-to-the-Sun-Road because it was too long. 3) It didn’t matter anyway because most of the road was closed because of ice and snow. 4) Have a Great Day! Things she forgot to mention: 1) The two east entrances to the park are an hour-and-a-half away.
As we turned around, Lisa mentioned that there is an old wives tale that bad things happen in threes so we had just had our three bad things for the day. Again, off we went with hope of seeing the sights the park ranger had suggested. As we drove along, we watched the temperature drop to 45 degrees and it started to rain. It had warmed to 60 degrees on the west side. OK, well, maybe four things and then we were good to go.
The day continued to confound us. We did see the cool sight at Goat Lick Overlook. — a family of mountain goats rock-climbing and yes, licking rocks. That was cool. We think our luck is changing.
Goats licking rocks, of course.Goats on rocks.
We got to the Glacier’s Two Medicine Lake entrance at noon. Great! We can have a nice lunch at the lake. We pulled up to the gate and the ranger said sternly, “This entrance is closed. Come back at 2:30” Really?!?
Ugh. This is becoming a very bad day.
As we drove away we found a pullout and stopped to have lunch. As we pulled in a guy had stopped to pee. I’m sure we embarrassed him. He was also having a bad day. There was, however, a nice little waterfall and the view of the mountains was pretty good. So we stayed and ate lunch.
The view at lunch
The drive to the other east entrance — St. Mary — was a slow winding road. It took us a while to get there.
The high and winding road . Don’t look down or take your eyes off the road.
We got to the St. Mary entrance and were allowed into the park. Yes! But, we only got six miles in before a sign informed us that only vehicles under 21 feet could continue. The Winona Rider is 24 feet long. We stopped to walk along the lake a bit but because it was 45 and raining we didn’t stay long. We took a few pictures, saw some bear poop, we think, and figured we could at least check off Glacier National Park on our map at home.
St. Mary LakeThe view from our long and winding road.Our short walk in the rain even had grizzlies.A cold Lisa walking our bear attractant.Maybe we’d better get back in the van.
The St. Mary entrance was about a hundred miles from our campsite and it was now 4:30. We decided it had been a long day and we should head home. There was a lot of road construction on the way up so we decided to go home on a different route. About 20 miles in, we came upon a very serious accident that blocked both lanes of the road. We sat for a while but realized it could be closed for a long time so we turned around and back tracked to the winding road with the heavy construction. It took us another two hours to get home. We were tired and in bad moods. Even the gnocchi dinner we made was mushy and not too good.
Yeah. It was raining.
We went to bed vowing that our second day would be a better day.
Day 2: Our Wonderful, Beautiful, Not Bad, Very Good Day
We woke up on Day 2 and the sun was shining with a forecast of 73 degrees. It was already a better morning than the day before. Daughter Stephanie, although having Covid was feeling reasonably fine and was mostly just bored. The Supreme Court decisions of the week still infuriated us but we resolved that we would get more politically involved when we get home and start doing what we could to take action (instead of moving to Canada), and lastly we had a plan to get into West Glacier at 4:00 pm.
With such a beautiful day at our beckoning, we had to take the dogs on a hike. We found an area that accepted dogs near Kalispell and drove 30 minutes to the West. It was a beautiful hike with lots of wild flowers and good views. Sophie and Ralphie were quite happy, maybe even giddy, because they could be off-leash for much of this hike.
We’re hiking and it’s sunny!Beautiful views along the trail.Lots of wildflowers
We went to the quaint town of Whitefish for lunch where we indulged in a post-hike beer and some pizza at a local pizzeria. It was some of the best beer we have had in a long while! While at lunch we talked about the day before. Those goats on the rocks were pretty cool. Remember when we were on that winding drive? Wasn’t the view amazing? Oh, and lunch by the waterfall. How often does that happen?That lady that told us we couldn’t come in was so sweet. It was interesting how we remembered the highlights. Maybe yesterday wasn’t such a bad day after all. Then Lisa noticed a sign on the street at our pizza place.
Wisdom and perspective from Jersey Boys Pizza. Oh, and their beer is really good.
On the way back to West Glacier, we just had to stop at the Huckleberry Land and buy ourselves some huckleberry pies for dinner. I’m not sure we’ve ever had a huckleberry before. It’s a bit like a blueberry but tases more like a blackberry. They grow them here. Huckleberries are everywhere.
I’m sure this place is for locals.
The 4:00 hour arrived and we got in line, holding our breath that we would be let in to the park. They waved us through and we were in, just like that! We took a scenic drive along Lake McDonald and stopped whenever we could to take pictures. We did have to turn around about 14 miles in because of the size of our RV but we were thrilled with what we got to see.
The mountains overlooking Lake McDonald.Beautiful mountainsAvalanche Creek was flowing and had many waterfalls.Parking to see the waterfalls.
We spent our last evening at our RV Park by getting a delicious meal of huckleberry chicken and huckleberry ribs all served with some delicious homemade mac and cheese and cornbread. We even shared some huckleberry pie for dessert. Our RV Park was a KOA near the entrance of West Glacier. At first, Lisa thought it was a bit too crowded and busy (she hates crowds of all kinds) but we both grew to love it. The spa-like showers won us over at the beginning of the stay but the homemade meals, the attention to every detail, the kids who were having the times of their lives riding bikes and making tie-dye shirts made this place unique and special.
The dogs enjoying our campsite.
Our stay in Glacier was a tale of two very different days and attitudes and experiences. But that’s the magic of travel; every day tells a different story and no day is like the other. Perhaps our first day wasn’t really a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day after all. And, really, a bad day traveling is better than a good day anywhere else, right?
We drove out of Vancouver saying goodbye to the friendly staff at the Fairmont Pacific Rim. The doorman was particularly fond of Ralphie. Lisa offered to leave Ralphie with him. I quickly ushered Ralphie into the van.
As we entered the Canadian Rockies, Google Maps kept trying to get us to Shuswap Lake, today’s destination, via a longer circuitous route. Highway 5, the trans-Canadian Highway, is the most direct route but, for some reason, Google had a bias against it. We decided to ignore Mr. Google and obey geometry — the shortest distance between two points, and all. Given the popularity of our “something went wrong” blogs, you’ll be disappointed to know we arrived an hour-and-a-half faster than Google’s suggestion with no mishaps.
Lisa and I stopped for lunch in Kamloops, a town of about 90,000 residents in the foothills. Apparently, Kamloops is known for being the Tournament Capital of Canada. Hard to tell. We just stopped at a nice park on the river and had a picnic lunch. Ralphie nipped at a little girl who tried to pet him. Lisa asked if we could go back to the Fairmont and give him to that nice doorman.
The river was quite high. There has been record rainfall in the area so lakes and rivers are overflowing their banks.
The Thompson River overflowing its banksThere used to be a trail under the railroad tracks here.
We arrived at Blind Bay Resort, our RV Park, at around 4:00. The nice woman at the check-in desk sent us to our spot, a beautiful site overlooking Shuswap Lake (pronounced shoe-schwap). It is a beautiful place and we have been sorry this is only a one-night waypoint on our trek to Banff.
We set up camp, went on a walk, grilled up some burgers (accompanied with Hall wine, of course) then went to watch the sunset on the pier. It was a beautiful evening and we marveled at the little but rewarding experiences we are having by traveling in our little RV know as the Winona Rider.
Enjoying a beer upon arrival at Shuswap LakeNo one on the pier for Lisa to give Ralphie to.Oh well, the beach is largely consumed by the high lake level anyway.The end of the dock at sunsetBlind Bay at Sunset“No, really. I’m innocent.”
People keep asking us, now that the pandemic is winding down or at least becoming endemic, if we will sell the Winona Rider. They also ask with raised eyebrows and incredulous looks if I really like traveling in it or if I am just being a good sport about it. The answer is that we still love traveling in the Rider. We have now been to 18 states and Canada with a total of around 26,000 miles so far. We have our routines down and don’t make nearly as many mistakes as we did at first. We get to see friends that we normally wouldn’t see and places that we know we wouldn’t see and we actually still really like spending time together after all these years!! Our living space is tiny but some of that is freeing and stress-free. So, yes we are keeping the Winona Rider until at least the year Brad turns 66 and he does his much-anticipated Route 66 ride!
See how happy I am?!!?
All of that being said, when we started planning this three-week trip, I was pretty adamant about staying at a hotel once or twice. I knew that getting out of the van would also be relaxing and freeing! So I used my “Bring Fido” App and booked us two nights at the Fairmont Pacific Rim in Vancouver. For such a nice hotel, it is completely pet-friendly and very welcoming to our two dogs. I am actually a little shocked about that. I am also like a little kid in a candy shop in our hotel room ordering up room service, taking long hot showers, using a blow dryer, and admiring all of the extra perks and views our room has to offer. I used my brother’s logic when he splurges on things. If you take the cost of the two nights at the Fairmont and divide them by the 14 days of our trip, the cost looks actually reasonable.
But I digress over my giddiness of being in a hotel room. Today’s blog is about Canada and our stay in the beautiful city of Vancouver. The last time Brad and I were in Vancouver was fifteen years ago for a Sales Conference with Wells Fargo. We fell in love with the cleanliness and the beauty of the city back then. Our visit had a lasting impression on me because our friend Jenny Clark was able to book my boyfriend James Taylor as the performer for the sales conference attendees. Jenny made sure to let me have some time to chat with James and the picture is still framed and in our house!
My love for James is steadfast! Here is when he made eye contact with me at Red Rocks!
But back to Vancouver, we left Vashon Island and had no problem getting on the ferry this time. We drove a couple of hours and had a lovely walk and stroll in the town of Bellingham and then had lunch by the water. After lunch, we headed up to the Canadian border where we waited for a good long hour to get across. Those of you who have traveled with us know about the Blackwell Curse — whatever line Brad picks will take the longest and that’s what happened to us again at the border. We are used to that happening so took it in stride.
Line at the Canadian BorderLeaving the United States
We arrived in Vancouver and checked into the Fairmont looking a little bit like the Clampetts from The Beverly Hillbillies. We had our van and all of our camping belongings and our two dogs as we walked in with the finely dressed hotel guests. The hotel couldn’t have been nicer as they problem-solved where to park our Van and greeted our pups with dog biscuits, a water bowl, and a dog bed.
The Winona Rider in VancouverRalphie snuggling in his personal dog bed. He likes the Fairmont, too!
Vancouver is incredibly clean and green — literally and figuratively. It plans to become the greenest city in the world. Vancouverism is the city’s urban planning design philosophy and is characterized with a large residential population living in the city center near the water with the creation and maintenance of green park spaces. Vancouver also has a Greenest City Action Plan with the goal of becoming the Greenest city in Canada and the world. The action plan has ten discrete goals to build a green economy, green buildings, green transportation, access to nature, zero waste, clean air and water and to increase the amount of locally grown food. Their efforts are obvious everywhere you go and we know that our friends Mike and Mary Frandsen would give their efforts a big thumbs up. We didn’t see a single piece of trash to pick up on our walks which would also make Mike very, very happy.
Even our room key reminds us to be green.
As for the color green, everywhere you look and walk is green. We spent the day today in Stanley Park (Vancouver’s equivalent to Central Park) and walked about six miles with the dogs, taking in the sights, smells, and sounds of Vancouver and taking in all of the green-ness. Stanley Park is a densely forested 1000 acre public park surrounded by waters of Burrard Inlet and English Bay. It has frequently been listed as one of the best parks in the world. The photos tell a better story than I can so here are a few from our day walking around Stanley Park
Hard to believe we are near a large cityWalking the dogsStanley Park Bar and Grill–great lunch spotTotem Poles from various First Nation TribesThe Girl in the Wet SuitVancouver City Scape
As the sun sets on a great couple of days in Vancouver, we are ready to drive East to Banff via Blind Bay and Salmon Arm in the morning. No more hotels for at least ten days! Wish me luck!
We woke up to a sunny day in a field of hazelnuts on Wednesday with plenty of power. We had a really easy day ahead of us so we took our time and caught up on the news, played Wordle, did our Spanish on Duolingo, and returned some emails. A typical morning for us except we often don’t find ourselves in a hazelnut grove doing these things.
Hazelnut Trees as our view
Our first event of the day was a wine tasting at Domaine Drouhin. We learned about this wine on a barge trip in Burgundy a few years ago when we received a tour at the Joseph Drouhin winery in Beaune, France. The wine was delicious and the story of the winery even more fascinating. The over 100-year-old winery has miles of caves running under the city of Beaune. During World War II France was being overrun by the Nazis. Joseph Drouhin knew that his winery would be a target of Nazi looting so he built false walls in the cave and hid his most expensive wines behind them. His eight-year-old son even placed spiders on the walls every night to build webs so the false fronts looked old. He then left the cheap stuff to the Germans to take. Not being wine connoisseurs, they gladly took the bad wine and lost out on all that delicious juice behind the walls. After tasting that wine and hearing the old tales of glory, our quest was on to go to their sister winery in Oregon.
Domaine Drouhin in the Willamette Valley was started by Veronique Drouhin, Joseph’s granddaughter. She was sent to America to be tutored in winemaking in the 1980s. Of course, this young woman wanted to come to California to surf, hang out on beaches, and learn winemaking. But, her family had other ideas and sent her to Oregon because the climate and soils were much like Burgundy. Well, she didn’t surf much but she did learn winemaking very well. In our opinion Veronique, to this day, is making the best Pinot Noir wines in Oregon.
This is our second time at Domaine Drouhin and we loved it just as much as the first time. In fact, we luckily got the very same server from two years ago. Her name is Katie and she is the best wine story-teller we have ever met. We remembered each other from last time (even though she changed her hair color from blond to brunette) and chatted and drank the mid-day away.
Katie–best wine server!Are we in France or Oregon? Hard to tell!French Soul, Oregon Soil
After about 2 1/2 hours of wine tasting, we realized we better get some food in our stomachs and headed to McMinnville- a darling town in the heart of Pinot Wine Country. We settled in for some salmon and iced tea and enjoyed the sights and sounds of this cute, small town.
You have to love a Town that has a Sustainable Living FestivalBrad awaiting some much-needed food!
After lunch, we were off to Portland. I have never been to Portland and it is a city I have always wanted to see. My only impression of Portland is from the show Portlandia and this infamous clip that made the rounds several years back.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErRHJlE4PGI I like chicken but I am not ready to name it Calvin and visit its farm!!! Clearly, I need more experience with the city of Portland!!
After working our way through the city of Portland, we found our RV park on the West Side of Portland, identified our spot for the night, and turned around and went back near the city to have dinner with Jon and Sally Cohen. Jon is a fraternity brother of Brad’s from the University of Colorado and is a master at staying connected with people. We have seen him frequently throughout the years and have always had a wonderful time. Jon and Sally welcomed us to their charming home complete with a thriving vegetable garden and brand new landscaping. We hoped that Ralphie and Sophie would behave and not dig up the new plants and flowers!!
The highlight for me was hearing about Sally’s Little Library of Kindness in her front yard. This Library is not your everyday Little Free Library like mine. Sally’s library is colorful with an accompanying bench so her patrons can sit down and read or peruse her book selection. She encourages Compassion Through Literature with the mission of sharing books about different ages, religions, sexual orientations, gender identities, family structures, nationalities, and more! Sally has now been given a grant by the local professional soccer team, the Portland Timbers, and Little Libraries of Kindness are being built all over the city of Portland. I loved everything about her mission and realized I really need to up my game with my own free library when I get home! John Grisham…you are out of the library upon my return!
We had a great time catching up with Jon and Sally, talking about the past and and today’s current events. The great thing about old friends is that it doesn’t take long to pick up right where you left off.
Jon and Sally brought in a great Pacific Northwest Seafood Meal for us.A pic by the Winona Rider before we headed out!
We were off to Washington the next day. A state the Winona Rider has not experienced!
Brad and I are heading out on an almost three-week trip on the Winona Rider to Banff, Canada and back. This has been a dream trip of mine since my parents went in the 80’s and loved it so much they did another trip in 1995. (My brother and sister have also done a BackRoads trip to Banff so clearly I had some making up to do) On the last weekend that I was with my Dad at Easter this year, we looked at all of his pictures from his past trips to Banff and he was so excited that Brad and I were following in his footsteps. He was eager to read our blog after we sat and looked through all of his pictures from 1995 (My Dad was a great photographer.) He told me all of the places I needed to see and visit. His itinerary was very close to ours on this trip so indeed I feel that I am following in his footsteps. Sadly, my father passed away last month. Yet, I can’t help but feel that he and my mom are with me on this adventure.
Mom and Dad’s Itinerary in 1995…they started at our house in Northen California
Our send-off this morning was full of joy and hugs and artwork. We stopped by the kids and grandkids homes on our way out and they gave us good-bye hugs and waves! We promised to send pictures of Canadian roly poly bugs to Max (his favorite thing) and we gave Maile and Noa a little joy ride around Waterman Circle in the Winona Rider. Maile greeted us with the brand new haircut that she did herself yesterday while Katie was at a wedding shower. She’ll be going to a professional tomorrow to try and tidy up the variety of lengths that are now Maile’s hairstyle! There were a couple of tears on my part as we waved good-bye and gave the horn a good honk.
Max showing his latest Roly Poly before we go!Maile sporting her new DIY haircut from yesterday!Van Art WorkThe Winona Rider and a person!Max adding some color to our windows.
We set off for Medford Oregon today with a Harvest Host destination of EdenVale Winery. It was a beautiful six hour drive with Mount Shasta out of our window for a lot of the drive.
Mt Shasta
We did have one unfortunate mishap or shall we say grim reality of our trip. We filled up with Diesel Gas. Our gas total was a shocking $133 and we only had about 3/4 of a tank to fill! Ouch!
The new reality of road-tripping!
We had a little stop on the way in Ashland at the bread store that we have discovered in previous trips. We are going to try and emulate Brenda and Chris Dittmore as they bike through Europe by buying and consuming delicious pastries along the way. Our only problem is we won’t be burning the calories that Brenda and Chris are doing. We’ll be driving six hours while they are cycling! Ooops!
Our Harvest Host location at EdenVale is just one big exhale. The property is beautiful and expansive and we have a vineyard and a 100 year old barn as our backdrop. Tonight, we went back and forth from enjoying our beautiful view of the vineyard to enjoying the Warriors victory on our television! Life is good back on the road…crazy gas prices and all!
Our spot for the nightIt’s mandatory to have a wine-tasting at the Winery! Would be rude if we didn’t.The Vineyard at EdenValeVoorhies Mansion at the VineyardOur traditional first night meal of wine and cheese A Warriors Victory to make the night complete!The flowers and greenery of OregonSophie and Ralphie at SunsetThe Winona Rider, a hundred-year old barn and a Southern Oregon backdrop
The last load of laundry is put away and the mail is all opened. Before we move on to our next project and say “What Van Trip?”, we thought it would be a good idea to share our lessons learned from our second month-long trip in the Winona Rider. We visited 14 states in the past month. I checked off two new states; South Dakota and Minnesota and we both checked off two new National Parks; The Badlands and Wind Cave.
We have been to 19 states total in the Winona Rider–14 on this trip!
Here are our lessons learned from Round 2 on the Winona Rider:
Trust your van (and driver) and have an optimistic outlook about being on the road.
We had three things go wrong before we got out of Danville. I thought they might be omens for the trip. Brad just concluded we got all of the mistakes done at the beginning. Brad was right.
‘Tis a Gift to Be Simple, ‘Tis a gift to be free
Keep it simple and downsize. Don’t worry about hair products or blowdryers or shaving. Make-up is a thing for a different world. We wore a lot of the same clothes because it’s just easier. Wear sunglasses in all of your selfies. Our dinners were very simple ones with minimal dishes and plastic wine glasses. Yes, Hall Wine still tastes as good in plastic glasses…almost. Simplicity is freeing.
Be a planner and spontaneous at the same time.
I am a planner and sometimes a bit rigid with my schedule. It is necessary to have reservations during peak travel times but there are also times when you have to be ready to be spontaneous and make changes. We changed a few locations during the trip and that allowed us to visit with a childhood friend in Ketchum, Idaho and stay at a farm house in Montana. We went off our route to see Lake Winona in Minnesota and Devil’s Tower in Wyoming. It added an hour to our day but it was totally worth doing. New rule for me: Be a plan-taneous person or a spontaneous-er.
Be aware of the number of days you are on the road and the days and dates when you are driving.
We kind of blew some of our travel times by traveling through Chicago on Fridays and coming home from Nevada/Tahoe on a Sunday. You get the point. Also, we undercounted the days we would be on the road and ran out of wine on the last night (the horror!) and you can ask Brad about his mis-counting of his underwear.
Audio Books and Podcasts make the driving through long stretches in Nevada and Wyoming more tolerable.
We listened to the book “Running with Sherman” and enjoyed the Podcast from NPR, called “How I Built This”. We found a station on Sirius Radio called Road Trip Radio but Brad nixed it after hearing the country song “She thinks my Tractor’s Sexy” for the fifth time. You can never go wrong with Spotify. We were in the Van together for over 5500 miles. It’s good to have other things to listen to besides our own voices.
Routines save us from ourselves.
We follow a lot of routines when we get to a new spot and when we leave. My favorite personal routine is the one where Brad makes me French Press coffee before I get out of bed. Brad’s favorite routine is when we share a beer when we get to our camping spot after a long drive. Routines also help us from driving off with our awning out (well, we did that once), leaving the dog bowls, or even worse leaving Ralphie. We make our bed every morning, do all the dishes, clean and vacuum daily. It’s a small space and will overwhelm you if you don’t keep it tidy. We do ALWAYS forget to turn on the Hot Water before we shower or do dishes so we still have room for improvement.
Nature is Healing.
When we weren’t driving, we were out in nature. Some days we were outside 90% of the time. Our times on screens were minimal except to write this blog or text our kids and friends. Hiking on new trails is good for the soul. Sleeping in our van with neighboring rescue goats, fireflies, chickens, and chipmunks was peaceful. We slept like babies almost every night.
Dogs are joyful traveling companions.
Our dogs really got into the lifestyle. They found their spots in the van when we traveled and were thrilled to run around as soon as we parked. Every new location had new smells and places to run and explore. Harvest Host spots are better for dogs because there are few people and the owners usually have dogs as playmates. Yes, sometimes they can be a bit stinky (Lookin’ at you Sophie) or wander to other campsites and go missing (that would be Ralphie) but overall they made the trip a lot of fun! Just be aware that there is virtually no hiking with dogs in National Parks so you need to find trails in nearby State Parks.
Harvest Host is our favorite but there is a place and time for RV Parks.
When we stay at Harvest Hosts, we get the privilege of staying in grapevines in wineries, a beautiful meadow, or near a fun brewery. We are usually the only RV there. Sometimes there is one other van but no more. The dogs don’t have to be leashed and everyone is free to stretch out. RV Parks are less private and and a little noisier but they have the advantage of having all of the amenities like water, power, dump stations, and cable. It’s good to do a combo of both and both in moderation just like in life.
Slow this Thing Down
Life is busy and full of to-do lists and meetings and events back home. On the road, you have a chance to go slower and simpler. Slow mornings drinking coffee and relaxing evenings looking at the sunset are part of every day. Eating lunches at parks in small towns like North Platte, Ashland, Anita,or Schereville gives you a chance to see a small sample size of the people who live there and what they do for fun and recreation. Playing the dice game “Farkle” or working on a crossword puzzle together are luxuries we don’t do often during our busy life at home in Danville. It is really nice to live the slow life for a few weeks out of the year.
Hope you enjoy these lessons we learned from Round 2. We thought we might only keep the Winona Rider for one season but it seems now we are hooked on traveling in our 6ft by 20ft long, 120 sq foot Van. We aren’t exactly turning into Fern from “Nomadland” but we do feel like “One of those lucky people that can travel anywhere”
Lisa and Brad's Travels 