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!
Brad and I weren’t going to blog our 2023 trip in the Winona Rider. This would be our fourth year of traveling in the Rider. We have put on over 30,000 miles. Everyone has heard all of our stories. Most of our humorous mistakes in the Sprinter Van involved our own “User Error”. We are pros now. What can go wrong? Plus, we were going to Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons and everyone besides me, it seems, has already been there. We were just going to post cute pictures of Moose (Meese?), maybe a Buffalo jam or two, and some pretty views and sunsets with the dogs.
Happy Dogs at Sunset
Then Saturday happened.
After our lovely camping spot in Coalville, Utah, we filled up with diesel and headed up to Yellowstone National Park. About sixty miles into our trip, the Check Engine light came on. Not very comforting. I started googling all the reasons that a Check Engine light might come on. There are, of course, hundreds of reasons. Brad said the engine seemed to be running well so we kept going. After another 50 miles an unusual warning sign came on that said we had 10 Starts Remaining. That quickly got our attention.
Well, that’s alarming.
Out came Google again and the “10 Starts Remaining” warning seemed like a reason to stop. We were going to have lunch in Malad City, Idaho shortly so we figured that would be a good place to figure out our options. We looked up Mercedes dealers near Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons. There were exactly none. We called a service agent in Salt Lake City who laughed a little when we asked if we could bring in the van and then she told us they were booked until mid-July. Uh-oh. That’s not going to work.
Brad suggested that we go to our condo in Boulder. If we were going to get stuck somewhere Boulder would be better than Malad City, Idaho. And we calculated that we could get to Boulder in less than ten stops. (Well, nine stops now since we just stopped for lunch)
So…we turned around and backtracked about 100 miles and headed to Boulder. After filling up with gas we had eight starts left. Since it was getting late and we couldn’t make it all the way to Boulder, we booked an RV Park in Rawlins, Wyoming for Saturday night. That’s one more stop down. We figured if we accounted for gas and our stop for the night, we should have six stops left before the Winona Rider shut down for good. We hoped we were counting right.
Brad needed that “We’ve Arrived” beer!
The KOA RV park had a beautiful view of the freeway. And, being a last minute booking, our camp spot was right next to that freeway. Didn’t matter. We were so happy we’d made it this far that it looked great to us. We took the dogs for their customary sunset photo with a nice billboard in the background. They were less than enthusiastic. Now, if we can just make it the 211 miles back to Boulder we’ll be home free.
Sophie and Ralphie clearly didn’t love our campsite!
A funny thing began to happen as we drove back to Boulder. The warning sign went back and forth between 10 and 16 stops. Was the Winona Rider fixing itself? Nice! It was as if the doctor told us he was wrong and we had more than 24 hours to live. The countdown was no longer counting down. We started to think that we were experiencing less of a mechanical error and more of a possible sensor issue or maybe even bad diesel fuel from Coalville. We still didn’t want to mess around though because Google also told us that if we get down to 0 starts, it really means 0 starts and we would need to be towed.
We arrived in Boulder on Sunday and we have never been so happy to see our beloved town! Our great friends, Joan and Steve, kindly let us park the Winona Rider at their place. We completely unpacked it and borrowed one of their cars to get back to the condo. We waited until Monday to talk to our service agent to find out our fate.
After consulting with our service agent twice on Monday, he gave us the green light to go ahead and continue our journey (of course with the caveat that if we break down it isn’t his fault). The good news is for the moment the Starts Warning Sign is no longer on. We just have to contend with the pesky Check Engine light.
So, I guess we will blog a little on this trip since we have had more adventure than we were counting on.
Will the Winona Rider make it to Winona Lake?
Will we end up stuck in Omaha or Ogalalla, Nebraska?
Will the 10 Starts Warning sign come on again?
So many questions and we will fill you in on the answers as we travel Eastward to Nebraska on Tuesday!
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 left Shuswap Lake at around 9:30 and headed west toward Banff. We thought we were in the mountains until, about an hour later, the real mountains appeared. It was one of those moments when your breath catches and you marvel at the beauty of the view.
Now, we have seen mountains before. After all, we met in Colorado and got married there. And, we love Colorado mountains. These mountains, however, were different. They went straight up. They had craggy cliffs and jagged peaks. It’s hard to describe. And, the photos clearly don’t do them justice. But, let’s just say we were awed. And, for these world travelers, that’s hard to do. We now know why Lisa’s mom and dad so wanted us to visit, as they did thirty years earlier.
The Canadian Rockies overlooking Lake Minnewanka.
We only had two days to explore Banff National Park. So, we knew we couldn’t possibly see all it had to offer. But, if we could get in a couple of nice hikes, see some of the key offerings, and enjoy the views, we would be satisfied. We arrived at our camp on Monday evening. It was stationed at the base of the towering Mount Kidd. We set up camp and then set out to explore the area.
Sophie and Ralphie posing before Mount KiddIf the dogs get a photo, well, then so do we.The Blackwell Campsite Bar and Grill
Those hikes we mentioned? Well, we were constantly being warned about bears. Not those friendly black bears we have in California. Grizzly bears. Signs told us not to go hiking without bear spray. That’s like super, ultra, extra-strength pepper spray. You’re supposed to carry it with you and have the presence of mind to pop off the safety and spray a charging bear in the eyes before he eats you. Even our campsite had constant reminders along with a big fine if you left bear “attractants” out overnight. Attractants are anything a bear might want to eat — leftover food, an ice cooler, Ralphie. That kind of thing.
We had many opportunities to be educated about bear behavior.The sign as we entered our camp.There were four of us but two were dogs. Hmmm.
Fortunately, we keep the Winona Rider equipped with bear spray so we were ready. So, off we went on two beautiful hikes. One began at Lake Minnewanka and headed up the canyon on the river that feeds it. And, one hike was from Tunnel Mountain to “the Hoodoos.” We learned about hoodoos at Bryce Canyon National Park so this hike held promise.
Before we show you photos of the hikes, we need to explain the aqua blue water you’ll see in the rivers and lakes. The landscape at Banff National Park is largely influenced by glaciers carving the stone in the mountains. As these glaciers move down the rock, they grind the stone into a super fine powder called rock flour. This rock flour flows in the streams, rivers, and lakes creating silty water. The stone isn’t bright blue, rather, it absorbs all incoming light except this aqua color giving the waters a magical turquoise appearance.
The shore of Lake MinnewankaLake MinnewankaThe Cascade River flowing through Stewart Canyon and feeding Lake Minnewanka.A ranger let Lisa holding a bighorn sheep horn. She learned how they get their name.We hiked along the Bow River on our way up to the hoodoos.The view on our way to the famed hoodoos was spectacular.If you look closely you can see rock climbers scaling this wall. No, thank you.The hoodoos. Needless to say they were underwhelming. But, the hike itself was incredible.No bears, but, we did see a pair of Canadian Geese with their baby.
Lake Louise
Lake Louise is the most famous site in Banff National Park. So, of course, we wanted to see it. We got up on our first morning and headed out to the lake. It was an hour-and-a-half drive so it took us a while to arrive. Once we approached the turnoff to the lake, signs informed us that the parking lot by the lake was full. We needed to go to the park and ride lot. Lisa, never deterred by these things said, “let’s just drive up and see if we can get in.” So, we drove up. And, we didn’t get lucky.
So, we drove back down to the park and ride where they summarily informed us that dogs were specifically not allowed. (I think they read our blog about Ralphie.) So, we drove home with the beautiful mountain views as our consolation prize.
The next day, we decided to head up at the end of the day. While we wouldn’t be able to get in a hike this way, we might be able to get in to see the lake. As we approached we got the same no parking available signs. Lisa, still not deterred, said we should drive up and see if we could get lucky.
We got to the top by the lake (You can’t see the lake from your car, by the way), and the same people that waved us back down the mountain appeared to be doing so again. But, no . . . They were sending us up to another lot right by the lake. We’re in!
It was worth it. The lake is all that was advertised. It was a bit of a cloudy day so the blue wasn’t as iridescent as it could have been. But, no matter. It was spectacular.
Lake LouiseThe dogs mugging it up by the lake.Shameless Lake Louise selfie.A bit of sun caught this corner of the lake to give you a sense of the color.
We went into the town of Banff one afternoon and, as we always do in a new place, bought a Banff Christmas ornament for the tree. While it was clearly aimed at tourists, it was clean and beautiful.
Downtown BanffLot’s of clean public transportation.The Fairmont Banff Springs. We had lunch here. It was really nice.
Canadians
We’ve spent the past week in Canada and, while the country is beautiful, our lasting impression will be of the people of this country. They were polite, kind, friendly and accommodating. Not just some of them — but, everyone we met were plain good people. Even the drivers were polite. When Brad mis-communicated an order at lunch, the wait staff were so apologetic that they got the order wrong, they brought out this amazing dessert for free and offered coffee and tea and water for the dogs. Now that’s hospitality, eh?
Not sure what this dessert is, but it had a Twix bar on top and in the middle. And, it was delicious. Sophie’s not impressed.
This trip so far has been an incredible experience. We highly recommend both Vancouver and Banff National Park for your future travel plans. On our way out of town we did, finally, stop at a Tim Horton’s. We do recommend Lake Louise. Tim Horton’s — well, you’re on your own for that.
Glazed donut and black coffee at Tim Horton’s
Next, we’re back in America at Glacier National Park, Montana.
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 left Portland and continued our trek north on Interstate 5. The Winona Rider had never been to Washington so we were excited to cross the border and bag a new state. Lisa and I compete to see who gets into a new state first, usually by sticking our hand toward the windshield at the border, therefore having a body part enter the state first. As we approach the border I distract Lisa by pointing a random something-or-other and then stick my hand out to enter the state first. She looks at me with pity and shakes her head.
Vashon Island sits in the middle of Puget Sound between Tacoma and Seattle. An old friend of ours, Kevin Hoffberg and his wife Eddy live on Vashon Island. When we drew up our route for this trip, I reached out to Kevin to see if we might stop by for a visit. He enthusiastically invited us to stay the night with them and we enthusiastically accepted.
Kevin and I met over 20 years ago. I had just started my job at Wells Fargo and I needed to develop a mortgage growth strategy for the West Coast. Wells was then a distant third in market share. Our goal was to get to number one but that would need discipline and a good plan. Someone told me Kevin was a great consultant and could help. We met and almost immediately developed a connection. From that point on, Kevin and I worked together on bigger and bigger projects. His brilliance helped refine the knowledge and expertise of the Wells team and his ability to articulate the key issues and strategies to address them was unrivaled. We often met at High Tech Burrito for our meetings. That’s why, to this day, we never say we need to catch up. We simply say we need to grab a burrito.
Our relationship goes beyond a professional one, however. We have seen each others’ kids grow up, we have spent time with our spouses, we have gone through career changes, and life changes. We trust each other without question. In short, we have a long and rewarding history together. Lisa and I were looking forward to seeing Kevin and Eddy.
Now, Vashon Island, with about 10,000 residents, has no bridges. It is a relatively rural island (one might call it rural chic, however) and the people who live there want to keep it that way. So, the only way to get to Vashon is via ferry. Kevin texted me the ferry schedule and said to simply drive up pay the fare and drive on. The Winona Rider’s first boat ride!
We arrived at the line to get on the ferry at 1:15 to catch the 1:40 ferry. As we pulled up to the toll booth, the woman in the booth looks at our van, shakes her head, looks at me and says, “This van can’t get on.” “Um, ever?” I replied. I know I had checked the length of vehicles that could ride and we should have been fine. “We’re at low tide,” she said and that meant a vehicle of our length and clearance couldn’t get down the ramp without bottoming out. You see, the further north you go, the greater the tidal variation. Being in Seattle, tides go up and down a lot. That means the ramp onto the ferry was angled steeply down and 1:40 and the nose of our van would go straight into the floor of the ferry. “OK, when can we go?” I asked. “The tide will be up far enough for the 3:40 ferry. Come back then,” she responded. As I pulled out of the line and turned around, I hoped this wasn’t one of those Wizard of Oz “Come back later” moments.
Lisa and I went into the town of Ruston for lunch and then hung out at Point Defiance Park to see their gardens, run the dogs at their dog park, and stretch our legs.
The Antique Sandwich Company. A delightful place for lunch.Garden of Eatin’. My kind of pun.The dog park. Sophie had a great time. Ralphie got a time out because he doesn’t play well with other.Point Defiance Park is, like much of the Northwest, quite wooded.Lisa loved the rose gardens.
Once 3:00 rolled around we drove back to the ferry entrance. The woman who sent up away before gladly took our money and sent us into the ferry line. Soon we started loading and a guy directed us onto the ferry.
Driving onto the Vashon Island Ferry
Kevin and Eddy bought an old five-acre farm in 2012. The farm had been owned by a Japanese family for nearly 100 years. When they were sent to an internment camp during World War II a local farmer watched over it for them. The place is oozing with history. It also needed a lot of work.
We arrived at the Hoffberg property after a beautiful drive through Vashon Island. Kevin and Eddy greeted us with hugs, Sophie and Ralphie enthusiastically greeted Kevin and Eddy, and soon we were off on a tour of this magnificent place.
No matter how long you’ve known someone, there is always more to learn about them. Kevin, a business consultant, and Eddy an accomplished artist, also are quite capable farmers (they are adamant this is a “hobby farm”), carpenters, mechanics, gardeners, beekeepers, furniture makers, bakers, and overall fix-it people. Much of the renovation of the original home, and construction of outbuildings has been done by Kevin, Eddy, or both. I had no idea. And, the fact that I have no talent for any of these things made this discovery all the more impressive.
The property has many apple trees that Kevin and Eddy use to make cider. It also has pear trees, buckwheat, lavender, beehives, any vegetable you can name, a wood shop, art studio, flowers of all variety, tractors, an ATV, and even an area where people can glamp (luxury camping). The property is simply beautiful.
Rows of apple trees. They are cultivated a bit like grapevines.Kevin and Eddy’s home. They did most of the renovations themselves.The view from the house.An outbuilding containing a wood shop, art studio, and soon a production studio for their professional dancer daughter’s videos.The orangery that Kevin built. Basically a hothouse with citrus and other warm weather plants in it.PoppiesGlamping TentA magnificent table that Kevin made himself in the glamping area.
We had a delicious dinner on their patio. For dessert we had Eddy’s homemade biscotti with Vin Santo, an Italian dessert wine that, I am embarrassed to say, had never had. It was delicious.
Kevin somehow remembered we were fans of the Golden State Warriors so he ushered us into the house to watch the fourth quarter of game six — one that the Warriors would win to take the championship. We cheered them on, turned off the TV, gabbed for a while longer then went out to watch the sunset. The days are very long this far north so sunset is quite late. In the morning we had a delicious breakfast of egg salad on homemade sourdough toast. We also got to sample honey from the bees out back (delicious).
Our conversations continued apace in the morning. Too soon, we had to leave before the tide went down and we couldn’t get off the island. As we said goodbye, I’ll confess to having a bit of a tear in my eye. You see, old friends are woven into the fabric of our lives. They are irreplaceable. Lisa and I are fortunate enough to have many old friends. The past two nights we were able to visit with two of them — Jon and Sallie Cohen, then Kevin and Eddy. We’re less than a week into the trip and it’s already created many memories.
If you have a chance today, reach out to one of your old friends and say hello. You will both be glad you did.
Kevin and EddyOur daily “Dogs at Sunset” shot. I think Sophie and Ralphie are getting bored of this.Ralphie at the front door as we were getting ready to leave. I don’t think he wanted to go.
Lisa and Brad's Travels 