Hello readers. It's been a while. We've had a couple of short camping trips since our return from California. The first one was in late May, to Monck Lake Provincial Park on beautiful Nicola Lake, north of Merritt. Gorgeous, tiered campground, giving each site a view of the lake. Camped with our good friends and neighbours, the Goodyear's and the Grant's. Not exactly short and tee shirt weather, but not too bad. A couple of storms skirted around us and provided us with a bit of a light and sound show, and some rain, but we later learned that it put most of the power out in Merritt, and caused extensive flash flooding in Cache Creek, about 100km to the northwest of us.
The rig went back into storage until early July, when we headed out to Cultus Lake and were joined by Alison and Aaron, and Graham and Amanda, and the grandkids (including Amanda's two). The weather had been scorching hot up until the kids arrived for the weekend, and then it got overcast and we had a few sprinkles of rain. But it didn't dampen our fun, and it was actually a much needed respite from the heat wave, particularly for the farmers and the wildfire fighters.
So, we are now on a trip to areas we've never been before. Started out on Sunday, July 26 with an afternoon departure to Summerland. Parked the rig at our friend, and former neighbour, Jason's place for the night and had a great visit with him and his sweet, not-so-little (boxer/mastiff cross) dog, Emma. She seemed excited to see us, and I think she remembered that I was the cookie lady, because she immediately sniffed my hand to see if I had anything for her. Jason's family was away for a few days, so unfortunately we didn't have a chance to see them.
Next day we made our way as far as Creston, up and down three mountain passes. Then we were on to Fernie for Tuesday and Wednesday, parked at one of our favourite places, Birch Meadows Lodge (a B&B with a few camping spots). Nice to catch up with the owners, Sonya and Marcel, and her brother JP. Graham has become good friends with them, and they invited the 3 of us for BBQ on Wednesday night. Always a pleasure to spend time with them.
Thursday found us on new-to-us roads, as we headed east on Hwy 3 from Fernie to Lethbridge. We arrived at Bridgeview RV Resort early afternoon. This is quite a nice park, but ridiculously priced at $63/night on the long weekend (regular $57/night with full hook up). And even at those prices, it is pay showers, and, other than a very weak hotspot at the office for free wifi, you have to pay for a so-so wifi connection at your site. This is quite ridiculous compared to most places we have stayed. It is a Holiday Trails Resort (a membership campground), so don't know if it is priced so high to entice you to buy a membership, or if it's so high because it is pretty much the only "game in town" reasonably close to Lethbridge. At these prices, and with the heat wave we are experiencing again, I won't hesitate to run the AC as much as we feel is needed (which so far has been just about all day).
Anyway, we are here for five nights, while we get to know Amanda's home town and meet a good portion of her very large family. So far, we have been quite impressed with Lethbridge. Reminds me a lot of Edmonton, but on a smaller scale, with river valleys, and 4-lane thoroughfares to get you through town. Very clean, and beautiful tree-lined streets just about everywhere we have gone, and you don't get a sense of prairie until you head a bit east (and maybe north and south, but we haven't ventured that way yet).
Amanda and the kids joined us Thursday around 6:30, for dinner and a swim. Unfortunately, the swim lasted all of about 3 minutes for the kids. We weren't aware that swim hours for the kids only go until 8pm and then it's the adults' turn for the next hour. Nothing in the literature/brochure we were given, just a sign on the fence around the pool. I can truly appreciate setting aside that hour for adults, but try to explain that to a couple of kids who have been excited all day about swimming in the pool, only to be asked to leave after a couple of minutes. Bit of drama for a while, but an ice cream bar from Gramma's freezer quickly offset the disappointment.
Friday (July 31) we headed east, out into the PRAIRIE, to visit folks we met this past winter in Desert Hot Springs. Lawrence and Wilma live in Taber (actually, 13km south then 13km east from Taber) and own and operate Chin Ridge Farms. They grow various crops for making bird seed (manufactured under the brand names Mother Nature's, and Bird's Choice), as well as providing certified seed for other farmers to grow their crops. They also run about 400 head of cattle for meat purposes. What a fascinating and fun time we had getting a tour of the "plant" as well as a vehicle tour over a small part of their 14,000 acres (that's about 56 square kms). They grow all kinds of crops (wheat and durum, flax, canola, sunflowers, chickpeas, mustard, oats, barley, dried peas, and on and on). They have 1500 acres (about 6 sq km) planted in sunflowers, and they still need to purchase from other suppliers to make their bird seed mixes. And what a gorgeous site one of those fields of sunflowers is. Reminds me of Wizard of Oz when the seekers find the massive field of flowers that surrounds Oz. Great to see Lawrence and Wilma again, and to catch up on each other's travels since last February. A delicious lunch and most enjoyable visit with them, and we got back to camp just around the time Amanda and the kids arrived to join us for an earlier dinner this time, and plenty of time to swim in the pool.
The rig went back into storage until early July, when we headed out to Cultus Lake and were joined by Alison and Aaron, and Graham and Amanda, and the grandkids (including Amanda's two). The weather had been scorching hot up until the kids arrived for the weekend, and then it got overcast and we had a few sprinkles of rain. But it didn't dampen our fun, and it was actually a much needed respite from the heat wave, particularly for the farmers and the wildfire fighters.
So, we are now on a trip to areas we've never been before. Started out on Sunday, July 26 with an afternoon departure to Summerland. Parked the rig at our friend, and former neighbour, Jason's place for the night and had a great visit with him and his sweet, not-so-little (boxer/mastiff cross) dog, Emma. She seemed excited to see us, and I think she remembered that I was the cookie lady, because she immediately sniffed my hand to see if I had anything for her. Jason's family was away for a few days, so unfortunately we didn't have a chance to see them.
Next day we made our way as far as Creston, up and down three mountain passes. Then we were on to Fernie for Tuesday and Wednesday, parked at one of our favourite places, Birch Meadows Lodge (a B&B with a few camping spots). Nice to catch up with the owners, Sonya and Marcel, and her brother JP. Graham has become good friends with them, and they invited the 3 of us for BBQ on Wednesday night. Always a pleasure to spend time with them.
Thursday found us on new-to-us roads, as we headed east on Hwy 3 from Fernie to Lethbridge. We arrived at Bridgeview RV Resort early afternoon. This is quite a nice park, but ridiculously priced at $63/night on the long weekend (regular $57/night with full hook up). And even at those prices, it is pay showers, and, other than a very weak hotspot at the office for free wifi, you have to pay for a so-so wifi connection at your site. This is quite ridiculous compared to most places we have stayed. It is a Holiday Trails Resort (a membership campground), so don't know if it is priced so high to entice you to buy a membership, or if it's so high because it is pretty much the only "game in town" reasonably close to Lethbridge. At these prices, and with the heat wave we are experiencing again, I won't hesitate to run the AC as much as we feel is needed (which so far has been just about all day).
Anyway, we are here for five nights, while we get to know Amanda's home town and meet a good portion of her very large family. So far, we have been quite impressed with Lethbridge. Reminds me a lot of Edmonton, but on a smaller scale, with river valleys, and 4-lane thoroughfares to get you through town. Very clean, and beautiful tree-lined streets just about everywhere we have gone, and you don't get a sense of prairie until you head a bit east (and maybe north and south, but we haven't ventured that way yet).
Amanda and the kids joined us Thursday around 6:30, for dinner and a swim. Unfortunately, the swim lasted all of about 3 minutes for the kids. We weren't aware that swim hours for the kids only go until 8pm and then it's the adults' turn for the next hour. Nothing in the literature/brochure we were given, just a sign on the fence around the pool. I can truly appreciate setting aside that hour for adults, but try to explain that to a couple of kids who have been excited all day about swimming in the pool, only to be asked to leave after a couple of minutes. Bit of drama for a while, but an ice cream bar from Gramma's freezer quickly offset the disappointment.
Friday (July 31) we headed east, out into the PRAIRIE, to visit folks we met this past winter in Desert Hot Springs. Lawrence and Wilma live in Taber (actually, 13km south then 13km east from Taber) and own and operate Chin Ridge Farms. They grow various crops for making bird seed (manufactured under the brand names Mother Nature's, and Bird's Choice), as well as providing certified seed for other farmers to grow their crops. They also run about 400 head of cattle for meat purposes. What a fascinating and fun time we had getting a tour of the "plant" as well as a vehicle tour over a small part of their 14,000 acres (that's about 56 square kms). They grow all kinds of crops (wheat and durum, flax, canola, sunflowers, chickpeas, mustard, oats, barley, dried peas, and on and on). They have 1500 acres (about 6 sq km) planted in sunflowers, and they still need to purchase from other suppliers to make their bird seed mixes. And what a gorgeous site one of those fields of sunflowers is. Reminds me of Wizard of Oz when the seekers find the massive field of flowers that surrounds Oz. Great to see Lawrence and Wilma again, and to catch up on each other's travels since last February. A delicious lunch and most enjoyable visit with them, and we got back to camp just around the time Amanda and the kids arrived to join us for an earlier dinner this time, and plenty of time to swim in the pool.