We started the day by walking the Brook Loop trail. We admired the engineering for the train track completion in the early 1900s, when they made figure 8 loops for the trains to gradually ascend and descend making the gradient Read more…
Pete celebrated his birthday morning with an early start from Sun Peaks and then cyling around Kamloops while the garage fitted a new transmission sump and selector shaft seal. Thankfully this was being done under warranty, agreed by the garage Read more…
So what is Sun Peaks like in the summer? Pretty cool actually. Much busier than Big White, which we took a short detour to see on the way. There are people golfing, biking, hiking, or going to the lakes to Read more…
At some point in the night, our little riverside paradise at Jolly Creek, became shared by a couple of blokes sleeping on a picnic table in a swag. I’m not sure if that classes as “being bear aware” or not.We Read more…
Following a lazy morning in Nakusp we watched a kids’ swimming lesson in the lake and then headed to Nelson. We visited a beautiful, flower-filled Gyro park overlooking the town and lake and where a kid’s outdoor swimming pool operating Read more…
The first place in Alberta that we went to after Waterton Lakes National Park was called Cardston. We needed some groceries and beer was on the shopping list. We found none in the supermarket but we thought, perhaps it is Read more…
Before we left the USA we decided to pop our Wal-Mart cherry, finally try a five layered dip and treat Fred to four new tyres (cheaper than in Canada) . The overnight stay in Wal-Mart wasn’t looking too wise (near Read more…
With only 8 days left on our US visa we got Fred back, complete with new gear box. We set off straight to Yellowstone knowing it would be busy with Independence Day only two days away. At West Thumb Mud Read more…
To get to Jackson we crossed the Teton Pass which is probably the steepest pass we have been over in Fred yet.His new brakes worked well which was a relief as you wouldn’t want to have to use the braking Read more…
We ummd and ahhd whether to go all the way East across to Yellowstone National Park. It was going to be 670 miles from Hood River but we decided that we may never be that “close” again so what the Read more…
A trip down the Historic Colombia River Highway was filled with sightseeing stops but also lots of other tourists. Wow, we think the school vacations have begun and it was suddenly busy everywhere. First stop was at the Portland Women’s Read more…
We spent two mind blowing days exploring the John Day area with its painted hills and fossil beds. The river is called John Day River but it turns out that John Day never even came to this precise area. He Read more…
We followed some road signs for a lava cast forest and found ourselves exploring the Newberry National Volcanic Monument for a couple of days. We saw volcanic flows that have surrounded trees and when the trees burned away left casts Read more…
We had never heard of Ashland but ended up spending a few days there. We found a idyllic campground at Emigrant Lake with showers and a lovely lake to swim in which was only $20 a night. While there we Read more…
After leaving Shasta Lake we were treated to spectacular views of Mount Shasta which is over 14,000ft and very impressive covered in snow. We headed West down the Klamath River and pitched up for the night in the shade, desperately Read more…
We headed North out of Quincy with its railroad history – train spotters would love it here!A little lunch stop at the lakeside in Chester was beautiful as we watched rainstorms moving all around us.Our destination was Lassen National Park Read more…
So we thought we were done with skiing but then woke up to this ….. Down at the village level there had been about 5cm of fresh snow overnight and more forecast throughout the morning. Out came our ski gear Read more…
So just when we were breaking out our shorts and flip flops, heading to Lake Tahoe to kayak on the lake, mother nature decided to send snow this way instead. No worries – let’s get out the skis (as we Read more…
Some days we have had an amazing time at the beach or in a park or mountain biking in a forest. We get back to the van and cook our dinner and it would be lovely to just kick back Read more…
So we had planned to dash off from San Francisco to Lake Tahoe to go kayaking and SUPing on the lake, only with the crazy rainstorms we were experiencig on the coast, Lake Tahoe was getting fresh snow! And lots Read more…
I’m pretty sure Chicago owns the title of “The Windy City” so flip – it must be windy there if it beats San Francisco!!!! We knew our arrival was coinciding with rain storms so our first day we checked into Read more…
So we may have just discovered a new favourite animal – the sea otter. They are so cute, playful and then they just wrap themselves in kelp to stop them drifting and chill while keeping their head and front paws Read more…
To quote the Lego movie (maybe not a mid-forties person’s best reference material ) “Everything is awesome”! ! P.S. This is Pete’s first Blog !!Two bucket list goals ticked off this last week – are cycling Laguna Seca racetrack, and Read more…
We decided to see a bit more of Monterey and Carmel, so first we visited the Carmel Mission and Basilica (well I did while Pete had an afternoon snooze) to see how the town was first lived in by the Read more…
Next we headed to Monterey to meet up with a special friend from the Isle of Man, who now lives and works in the USA. She was going to be working at Leguna Seca and Pete was very excited to Read more…