In 2018 we changed our lives in a huge way: sold home and cottage in Michigan where we had lived since our marriage in 1980 and moved to Vancouver Washington so we could be closer to family in Vancouver, BC and Bend, Oregon. Then of course Covid restricted travel . Now that that travel restrictions are finally lifted, we’ve been able to not only explore new places in our camper but spend more time with family and friends! We thought to share some of our travels from the year as they were the highlights of these last 365 days.
In late February we spent a relaxing and delightful week in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico with son Mark, Claire, Jack and their friends. In early May we flew to Florida to visit with John’s sister Nancy and her husband Lynn. Spending time with them after severalyears of not being together face to face was truly a gift! We not only enjoyed our time together with them but also visited John’s Cousin Marilyn who we had not seen even longer.
In late May we traveled to Boise, ID to attend a session of Antiques Roadshow, which we have watched and enjoyed for years on TV; John was able to have three antique swords and his collection of baseball cards assessed by two of the appraisers there. We were surprised that the swords had less value than we had thought, but also learned what we had never known before about their history: how antique swords from overseas wound up in the middle of Ohio. The baseball cards were a reverse surprise, with a value significantly higher than we had anticipated. The entire experience was delightful, and allowed us to cross off a bucket list item of many years standing.
From Boise we traveled to Coeur d’Alene, ID to visit John’s high school friend and his wife, and then on to Canada.
Our next destination was almost 500 miles Northeast: Drumheller, Alberta, Canada. We had initially planned to meet up with grandson Jack and his family at the Royal Tyrell Dinosaur Museum in Drumheller 2 years earlier, but Covid derailed those plans. Finally it was time! John and I took our time driving those 500 miles, staying not in State and National campgrounds as we usually have done, but rather staying at places offered through Harvest Hosts: farms, wineries, and other small businesses and private hosts that offer overnight stays for anywhere from a single camper to at most 4 or five campers at a time. Arrangements are made similar to getting reservations through Airbnb, and accommodations vary. Some places offer full hookups, but most offer only power and water, as well as the beauty of the natural surroundings in which they are located. We stayed: (1) with an apple farmer who welcomed us with a bottle of wine from a local vineyard and prepared a full dinner for us, all complimentary; (2) on a family farm homestead, where everyone - from the teenagers to the new baby - were weeding their huge garden. Here I took the opportunity to ‘dig in’ and weed with them for a while, feeding my need for having my hands in soil again three years after leaving Michigan and my own large vegetable garden behind. (3) We stayed in a winery that was so far off the beaten path that we were sure we were irretrievably lost, until we rounded a corner and there it was! The owner came over in late afternoon and held a private wine tasting for us and another couple also traveling through, and regaled us with the story of generations of his family living and working in this remote, bare land. Each of these stays enriched our trip well beyond what we had hoped or expected.
Our time in Drumheller was dampened somewhat by the days of rain and a muddy, fairly remote campground (which we mistakenly thought was minutes from town), but the time spent with Mark, Claire, and of course, grandson Jack was irreplaceable. We were pleased that Jack loved spending time with us in the camper as well as enjoying the museum, which we had anticipated as the highlight of the trip. The little dinosaur expert, however, seemed to already know all about the dinosaurs and was most intrigued with the exhibits of ancient ocean-dwelling creatures both large and small, captured in fossils.
The drive back home to Anacortes was less eventful, but no less beautiful, as we traveled mountain roads across the Canadian Rockies, visited Banff, traversed flat prairies, drove through heavily forested areas and next to rushing streams and rivers.
In early July we spent several wonderful days at Sproat Lake Provincial Park on Vancouver Island in Canada helping celebrate Claire’s birthday. Mark and Claire had rented a houseboat on the lake and invited a number of close friends to share that with them, while Jack stayed with us in our camper and we visited back and forth between the two sites. Weather was damp, but Jack had a great time going for ‘rain hikes’ and counting the vast number of banana slugs and snails that had emerged, and commenting on the various colors and sizes. I had never thought of slugs and snails as entertainment, but, “there you go” as Jack would say. John and I took advantage of being on the island and stayed a few extra days to visit Tofino, on the beautiful west Coast before heading home again. We have loved the various opportunities to travel by ferry since we’ve moved to the Pacific Northwest, and this trip to Vancouver Island was no exception. We love taking our ‘cottage on wheels’ with us on these travels, always our familiar touchpoint as we explore new areas, and enjoy that it gives us the ability to share our travels with Annie, who has become a well-traveled dog.
At the end of August we spent a week in our favorite campground on the Washington coast: Cape Disappointment State Park, on the spot of land where the Columbia River enters the Pacific Ocean, and we also took several other week-long trips to nearby campgrounds that we have come to know and enjoy. The Pacific Northwest has made an indelible impression on us, and is now definitely feeling like home!
