Summer Vacation - Destination #2 - Coeur d'Alene

After dropping Oliver off in Oliver our next destination was Coeur d'Alene. It's about a 5 hour drive and takes us past the Grand Coulee Dam which is a very impressive structure. There has been a drought in most of the Western United States but you wouldn't know it from this particular reservoir. I'm not sure how big it is but there are a series of gates along the top and the water was almost to the top of them. They aren't super water tight so it meant the water was leaking around the edges. Kerry and I both like the streets you drive through as you go past the dam. They are likely from the original construction and they make for a very quaint tree lined street.

Our route took us through Western Washington towards Spokane. I always think of the Seattle area when I picture Washington state however the eastern portion is more like the prairies of Saskatchewan with miles of wheat and grassland. It is very flat.

We had to leave later in the afternoon as Callie was taking her drivers test. We made it to our hotel in the early evening and checked in. Our hotel was not what we were hoping for. It is quite an old building and the room was apparently a pet room and quite dirty. We will have to do a bit more research on our hotel choices in the future.

The next day we headed to Silverwood which is a them park outside of Coeur d'Alene. It's in the middle of nowhere and is much nicer than you would expect considering most of the nearby cities are quite small. There is nothing like it in Western Canada in my opinion. We park across the highway and take a tunnel underneath. The park appears to have very good lawyers as I'm amazed at how many things seem to be a copy of Disneyland including some of the rides. They have 'Flying Elephants' that look suspiciously like Dumbo as well as a Avalanche Mountain and Thunder Canyon. (Matterhorn and Big Thunder Mountain.)

Luckily the tickets are not as expensive as Disneyland as it appeared that Callie and I were not too excited about going on many rides. We spent much of our time in Chrissy's Quiet Garden and in other shaded areas of the park. Considering this area is closed in the winter due to snow I was quite impressed with some of the plants they were growing. I would have expected them to be better suited to a warmer growing zone. I got a few ideas of how I could rearrange some of my existing beds.

To be honest I only went on one ride but it was a good one for the day. The temperature got up to 36 degrees in the shade so if I was going to go on any rides it needed to be a water ride. One thing I noticed about the rides at Silverwood is the lines are longer then you expect. I think they save money by not having very high capacity. For this ride, the tubes were very spread out. I think they could only have 40 people in total on the entire river. Carter and I got lucky because they were trying to maximize the capacity. They grouped several pairs together and brought us closer to the front of the line. It took me over an hour to dry off when we were done.

Kerry and Carter definitely got their money's worth and went on the majority of the big kid rides. They have multiple coasters and a few rides that I would absolutely never go on. The worst in my opinion would be the pendulum style ride that takes you completely upside down. No thank you. I still had fun wandering around the park and trying out carnival snacks. They weren't as good as I had hoped. The funnel cake seemed a bit heavy. Overall though it was a fun day. We did avoid the water park. It was so hot that was most people headed and it was a bit too busy for our liking. If you do go I recommend it though. It's very nice.

 

Summer Vacation - Destination #1 - Oliver

With Kerry going to Africa this summer, we didn't initially have a big family trip planned however in March we decided we should do something as there aren't many summers left to spend with the kids. We decided on a road trip to Oliver, Coeur d'Alene and Yellowstone. Oliver is where Kerry's parents live so it's a family destination, a convenient stopping point as well as some place to drop off our dog Oliver.  We left early on Saturday and arrived around noon. We didn't have anything planned for the first day but did plan on a hike the following day.

The hike was to nʕaylintn (McIntyre Bluff) and was one we had done a few years ago. We attempted to go to the entrance near a local farm but they have closed it since we were here last. We found the alternate entrance on All Trails but had some trouble finding it. Luckily we saw a car that appeared to be looking for it as well and we followed them until they pulled over. The hike was great and it was cool enough early in the morning. We had a bit of trouble figuring out where we were but we did find Rattlesnake Lake and at least a few good lookout spots before heading back to Barb and Reg's for breakfast.

Out second full day in Oliver included a trip to Hester creek for our traditional picnic. They have an open area with tables where you are allowed to bring your own food. We purchase some wine and juice for the kids and add some of our own food as well. We are allowed to take the dogs and they were surprisingly well behaved. I was a little worried Oliver would not like all the people walking past but he was more interested in our food. We then headed back to Barb and Reg's for a visit with some of their friends and a delicious meal of prime rib. Off to Coeur d'Alene tomorrow.

Callie's Birthday

August 7th was Callie's 17th birthday. She went out for lunch with some friends and wanted to go to White Rock in the evening for dinner. We walked the pier and went to Ocean Beach for dinner. It's too bad White Rock has so little parking down by the ocean because it really is a great place to go in the summer. Every 4th shop sells ice cream and there are some great restaurants. The one we went to had great food and a lot more room inside than I was expecting. After dinner we had to go to Snowy Village for a shaved ice desert. I say had to, because although a fun place to go once in a while I prefer ice cream. I will admit to getting one in Whiter Rock before we left. 

Some of Callie's friends weren't available on her actual birthday so she arranged a party a few days later. They had cupcakes and snacks and watched Momma Mia. They party seemed to go well as it lasted well in to the evening. For the first time I realized Callie and her friends will soon be adults and I will have adults coming over to my house for visits. I will have to make the adjustment from goofy Dad to slightly less goofy host soon. Only one more year until she turns 18 and is ready for university and then another year until full drinking age!

 

Kerry's Vacation

Since this was Kerry's vacation and the kids and I weren't there this is more of a quick update of what happened while she was away as well as a description of her trip from her point of view. Kerry's best friend Melissa won a trip for two to the Seychelles. She had to pay for her flights but she got to stay in some hotels that were over $3k a night and go somewhere she would likely never have chosen to go. The flight was quite brutal with an 11 hour followed by an 8 hour with an 8 hour layover. Door to do ended up about 36 hours. The trip was amazing with the exception of catching Covid on the way home.

The kids and I had to fend for ourselves for 10 days. We tried to do somethings we might not do with Kerry here including the Richmond Night Market and Fusion fest. The night market was mostly food and less market and Fusion festival was a lot less food than we were expecting. I made an attempt to teach some life lessons to the kids during the week. Carter was pretty good at taking part including doing laundry without asking. Callie on the other hand was less engaged. She still had to figure out most of her own meals though and hopefully has a much bigger appreciation for Kerry. :) 

Funko Pop

Funko Pop are collectable figurines of virtually every pop culture figure in existence. It's unlikely they will ever have much real value since they are so common but the kids still like buying their favourite characters. Callie has been collecting a fairly random set including everything from Marvel to Stranger Things while Carter has dedicated his collection to the Simpsons. When we went to Disneyland in March one of our plans included stopping at the Funko Pop store in Everette. Unfortunately we were driving back on either a Monday or Tuesday and the store happens to be closed on those days. Callie was quite upset but we promised we would come back.

Since Everette isn't very far over the border ,one of the options for returning was actually just driving down for a dedicated trip. We had some spare time over summer holidays so we came down first thing in the morning and were back by noon. We were a little nervous when we arrived because there was some sort of basketball tournament in front of the building and at first it looked to be closed. Luckily we were just early. The store itself is quite amazing. They didn't have as many options to purchase as we hoped but there were lot's of dedicated displays that were incredibly well done. If you are a fan I recommend you go. 

Summer In Prince George

We took our annual trip up to Prince George this year. The timing was a bit tighter than normal. We usually like to go up for three full days with a day of travel on either side. This year we had to squeeze between Callie's driving lessons and Carter's sport camp which meant we had to leave late on Wednesday and take two days to get up. We left around 3:00p and got into William's Lake around 10:00p and stayed in a hotel. We then got up and drove the rest of the way in the morning getting into Prince George around 10:00a. This year the whole family was able to make it including Jordan and Karla who have recently moved to Quesnel.

Our first destination for the weekend was West Lake where my family has property. This year my first job was to drive some stakes marking out that property. With my Grandmother passing away a few years ago the family is looking to build a cabin so we had the property surveyed so we knew exactly where the property lines were. I was quite surprised at the size. I knew we had about 2.5 acres but it was bigger than I expected. The rear of the property goes all the way back to a secondary access road. The lake frontage was about where I expected it to be and there are a few oddly shaped portions that went farther than I was expecting as well.

The Friday was Canada day so Callie, Carter and I headed to Fort George Park (Recently renamed to something I can't easily recall) The rest of the family wasn't interested in going but we like to go for the food. Each kid got $20 and despite runaway inflation, the prices were not too bad. They each got a food item, a drink and a dessert. The weather was perfect for it and we got there just in time. By the time we got our food, the lineups for all the stalls were quite long. They had a good mix of cultural performers. The only downside is they are quite strict about no dogs in the park. Animal Control was very prominent.

Carter and I went out to the lake one last time on the Saturday. It's been an annual job for me to take the canoe around the bend and pick rocks from the shore line. Eric has been putting in steel baskets to manage the shoreline and it needs big rocks to work well. I took Jackson for a trip and then on our last trip Carter followed us in the canoe and we decided we would head to the public beach. Another item that Carter had no recollection of. I got into a bit of trouble because we didn't bring a hat for Jackson but I was slightly overcast so I think he'll live. We picked up some nice flat rocks on our way back.

We came home on the Sunday and traffic wasn't bad considering it was the end of the long weekend. We stopped off at Horsting's farm for some fudge and bread. Cache Creek was the greenest I've ever seen it. A pleasant change from last year where the fires were so bad and the heat dome brought the hottest temperatures on record. We also stopped off at Hungary Herbies for lunch. The food there is always great. It was a quick trip overall and I still enjoy heading up to Prince George especially when the weather is nice enough to spend most of it at the lake. 

 

Father's Day

Taking a lesson from Mother's Day where the family had to guess what Kerry wanted, I decided to be very clear with my Father's Day wishes this year. My specific instructions were "I'd like Dick Prenoke's book on building a cabin and I'd like to go to Granville Island by boat." The family was able to take care of some of my gift request however Father's Day landed on the last weekend before the end of school so they requested that they postpone a portion of Father's Day to the following weekend. They got me the book I wanted but we had to go to Whiterock for dinner.

The weather has remained cool this year but it was nice enough to go to the beach. We ordered fish and chips and had many seagulls join us for a meal. They seem quite polite until they sense weakness and then they swoop in. There was definitely a hierarchy of birds with the bigger ones getting a bit too close for comfort. We managed to eat our meals but we had to sacrifice a few fries. We then came home for dinner where Carter had made me a red velvet cake with cream cheese icing. It was quite delicious and he was quite proud of his diabetes inspired decorations. 

The following weekend we made it to Granville Island. We didn't get to go by boat but we were still busy so that was okay. The weather was much nicer so it was good thing we did go the following weekend. It was our first nice day this year. One surprise was that we realized Carter had no real memory of ever being at Granville Island. It had been a few years before Covid that we had gone and I guess he was too young to remember. He actually thought we were taking a ferry to an island. I think he enjoyed himself. We even went to the kids market and had him go through the kids door. He's a bit tall now. Father's Day spread over two weekends was great!