Adventures with Meg!

During the week leading up to Thanksgiving, we were excited to have Meg join us for a week's holiday. On the day that we were picking her up at the airport, we planned to have dinner with our Hong Kong friends from the Dempster Highway (see previous post). Ricky was taking us to a traditional restaurant. Unfortunately, the others were unable to join us as they were working as much as possible to make up for their Arctic adventure trip expenses. Mark was curious to know how they made out when they returned the rented caravan they had taken up the Dempster. Turned out they lost their $750.00 deposit, because of the state of the 'white' van and the dust pouring out of every crevice. The rental company will be washing away Dempster Dust for years to come. Ricky made some entree recommendations for us, we ordered, and the server brought us tea. We chatted away, and I casually proceeded to take a sip of my tea. Ricky then explained that in Hong Kong, they don’t actually drink the tea; they use it to sterilize their cutlery. OMG!!! Are you kidding me? How embarrassing!! Here I am sipping away like it is a Starbucks, London Fog. Good grief...I’m drinking dishwater. Blechhh

When we were travelling on our world trip, I always Googled the customs and expectations of the different countries we were visiting to be prepared and not humiliate myself. BUT not in Vancouver! I figured I'd be safe. Thankfully, Ricky said that he and his friends actually do drink the tea at this restaurant, but he cautioned me that when I visit Hong Kong to ensure that I use it for sterilization only, otherwise they will definitely know that I am a tourist!

Ricky is working towards his pilot's licence and also working at the Vancouver airport, so he kept an eye on his app tracking Meg’s flight and even checked that her luggage had been offloaded. After dinner, Ricky escorted us to the airport via a shortcut to meet Meg. We were SO excited to see her!

Before her arrival, we had to do some reorganizing and change up our routines to make sure we were ready to squeeze her into our tiny home. We dropped off our golf clubs and carts with our friends Yan and Laurie in Mission to make some room, and we got her little bunk made up. I had warned her that it would be tight quarters, and she came equipped with only her carry-on luggage and earplugs. Our two-person waltz became more of a Jenga puzzle during meal prep, washroom trips and bedtime routines. Meg really wasn't sure what to think when her first night with us was spent boondocking on a stranger's driveway in Richmond, B.C.

Lisa, our host for the night, was actually part of the Boondockers' site, willing to host strangers on their property overnight. Yes, you know Mark can always find the deals, and it was a good thing, as camping in and around Vancouver was almost impossible to book, and the prices were outrageous! Lisa suggested we visit Steveston before catching the ferry over to Victoria. This turned out to be a great suggestion, as there is just something about small port towns that makes for a fun day of exploration.

We hauled the trailer on the car ferry over to Vancouver Island and were a little worried about the voyage, as our last car ferry trip in Spain was nothing short of a nightmare. Thankfully, the crossing was smooth, and the only motion sickness Meg experienced was from bumping along through the S bends in the back seat of the pick-up truck. We were arriving fairly late, so we were headed to another boondockers in mountainous Saanich. It was quite a trip winding back and forth up the tight roads to this beautiful garden setting. There were gates on the property to keep out the deer, and parking the trailer was another feat. Meg was ready to leave and head home already! We had left her in the truck, as our host (yep, another stranger) popped in to negotiate parking the trailer. He was quite used to parking the rigs that he hosted, and Mark wasn't too proud to say no. I was already outside helping, as Mark expects me to be an air traffic controller with flags whenever he is backing up the trailer. My helping Mark to park the trailer really deserves a whole other blog post!

Meg and I are baking cookies in the BBQ.

If Meg wasn't ready to head home already, surely at 3:00 am on day three, we would definitely need to keep her from packing up and heading out. It was so windy in Nanaimo that the straps securing the solar panels were vibrating against the trailer, making the loudest noise imaginable. It didn't matter whether we had our earplugs in or not. So, Mark headed out in his boxers to stop the rattling. He tucked in a pool noodle under the straps to prevent the slapping noise. A pool noodle... why the heck we have a pool noodle with us on this trip is beyond me, but leave it to Mark to solve the problem.

Family shennanigans!

All joking aside, we had a great time with Meg on Vancouver Island. We did some hiking along the rocky Pacific shores, visited the surfer town of Tofino and Ucluelet (bonus points if you know how to pronounce that!) We searched for starfish with no luck, but did see lots of anemone. The views around the lighthouse peninsula in Ucluelet were beautiful! We stopped to visit family in Nanaimo, tasted the original Nanaimo bar recipe, and then headed to Victoria. All of the touristy things were covered: shopping, the Empress Hotel, Stanley Park and Parliament. We watched the little ferry boats shuffling people around that looked like they came out of a cartoon; they were so cute. The street in Chinatown was like Diagon Alley; it was so narrow with eclectic shops. It is actually the narrowest commercial street in North America, being less than .9 m wide in parts. The colourful houses at Fisherman’s Wharf were fun to see, and we hiked out to the Breakwater lighthouse at Ogden Point. We went to the market and ate lots of yummy food and treats. Meg requested garlic shrimp, so we went on a search for that... delicious! During a short stop in Sidney, before heading back to catch the ferry to the mainland, we saw seals waiting for the castaways from the seafood restaurant. 

The return crossing was a little more challenging as the weather was getting pretty nasty. Lots of rain was in the forecast, and we had to plan our days accordingly. We took the SkyTrain into the city from our campground (yes, we gave up camping with strangers) and went to Granville Island, Gastown, and hiked around Stanley Park. We ended the week at the Capilano Suspension Bridge, which was all decked out for Hallowe’en with lights. I underestimated how high we would be and was very thankful it was dark so I couldn't see the cliffs dropping off below us. I am not sure I could have handled the Cliff walk or the Treetop Adventure, for that matter. Unless you have been there, it is really hard to comprehend just how high up in the trees you are. We had a great time and highly recommend it.

We had to get up super early on Meg's last day to get her to the airport on time. We were camping close to the airport, but still had a fair jaunt to get her there. We had checked the maps the days before to gauge the traffic and timing, and had the alarms set to optimize our sleep as much as possible. Everything was running smoothly until we made it out to the gates of the campground at 5:45 am. to find them locked! YIKES!! We had noticed a sign that said the gates were open 7:00 am - 9:00 pm, but we were sure that applied to the day-use area. NOPE, I suppose we should have verified that, but we had been coming and going outside of these hours without trouble the last couple of days. Of course, the only day that we really needed to be somewhere at a specific time, the gates are locked. We started brainstorming what to do. Should we try a Dukes of Hazard, General Lee, stunt? Could we off-road it around the gates somewhere? Did we have to call an Uber? We turned around and headed back to the camp office to look for a solution. There was a host who was tucked into his trailer all cozy and comfortable, who would be really thrilled if we knocked on his door at 5:45 am, but that was looking like our best bet. Just then, I turn and don't we see the host coming out of his trailer. Did I just manifest him opening the gate for us? Yep, I guess I did, as I asked if he would mind opening it, and he said, "No problem, I am on my way". THANK GOODNESS! We made it to the airport with plenty of time to spare, and Meg was off before we knew it.

It was a whirlwind week, but it was so nice to have Megsie visit us, AND she didn't even have to use her earplugs other than in Nanaimo!

When we were on our last world trip, Mark’s brother, Dan, came to visit us during the same week in France. I remember trying to put together a Thanksgiving dinner and how sad we all were when Dan returned home. The same happened this time when saying goodbye to Megsie. We figured it best to keep ourselves busy, so we picked up our golf clubs and headed to Delta, B.C. We cheered on the Blue Jays fireside or tucked into the trailer during the rain and hoped the weather would change, but it really wasn’t looking good! Perhaps it was time to head south. 

Let's go Blue Jays...woohooo... we are going to the World Series!

Golfing anyone?

One of the ways that Mark and I have tried to remain active on this across-Canada road trip is by golfing. We have stopped at many golf courses that are part of the Harvest Host program. This is a great site that allows self-contained campers to camp at different businesses without cost other than patronizing the business. There are wineries, breweries, golf courses and farms that offer this service. We were not ready for what we had signed up for at one of our latest Harvest Host golf course accommodations. I will not name the golf course, as we were grateful to camp on the property, but everything else we encountered during our stay was certainly unexpected!

Us before we headed out for 18 holes on day 2!

As always, we put the address into our Google Maps and set out for our destination. We turned in at the road and made our way up to the clubhouse. This was our first indication that something might not be quite right! An abandoned Mercedes up on blocks and a golf cart graveyard along the road. Oh dear.

The owner wasn’t there, but the woman at the clubhouse told us where to get set up, and we decided we would head out for a quick 9 holes before nightfall. The ground was hard, there hadn’t been rain in a long time, and the tee boxes were not great, but hey, the golfing was cheap, and lord knows neither Mark nor I were putting on the green jacket any time soon. We were just happy to hit the ball around and practice. The weather was beautiful, not too much to complain about, right?

Now, I am no expert, but usually when you hit a line drive down the middle of the fairway, that is usually a pretty good shot. Not here, you could land your golf ball in the middle of the fairway and still lose a ball. The ground was curved down to the left and right, and since it was so hard, your perfect shot ended up rolling off the side of the mountain. Anyone who has golfed with me knows that I like to use my fancy pink balls, but after I lost about three balls on my "perfect drives", out came the white balls! The yucky, dirty, marked-up ones.

It very quickly became evident that there wasn’t much maintenance happening on this course at all! The garbage bins had been knocked over and rubbish was all over the ground. The trees had grown up blocking your view from the tee boxes, and we couldn’t even find the red tees for one of the holes. We had fun, lost a few balls and had a good hike. The sunset heading back to the clubhouse was beautiful, and we captured this shot. 

Upon our return, we chatted with the owner. We explained what a hard course it was, but in a beautiful setting, and he was very indifferent about our experience. He told us about the weather lately, and we mentioned that it must be hard to maintain the course in those conditions, and he said, ‘We don’t really care, it is all good’. Hmmm, he then proceeded to ask us for our help. But the conversation was strange; we didn’t know what he needed, but he was certainly agitated. He proceeded to explain in a roundabout way that he had been helping an unhoused woman on the property by providing her with the beer can empties, and she was out on the course with a cart. He wanted our help in finding her. Oh boy, we were being asked to join a (wo)manhunt!!! I start thinking: if I go out and try and help find her, they will then be looking for two unhoused women out on the course. I think I will stay back or join Mark in his cart. Luckily, as my heart rate was starting to increase, we heard her heading up the roadway just as we were getting ready to hop in a cart and go help find her. Crisis averted. We headed into bed and reflected on how strange the interaction was.

The next morning, we decided to head back out on the course for 18 holes. The first nine were not great, but maybe the back nine would be better. Why I do not heed warning to the signs that are actually yelling at me is beyond me. This was the sign we saw on the way to hole 10!!

Now the course was very hilly (mountainy), but we didn’t mind a little workout. But we were not ready for the cart paths with roots and potholes bigger than the Dempster Highway and inclines unimaginable, which faced us on the back nine. Mark started to take pictures of me pushing my cart, so flattering! 

The excitement didn’t end there. On the 11th hole, don’t we see a woman walking back and forth across the fairway with a golf club in hand. She was oblivious to us wanting to tee off, but it very soon became apparent that this was the woman that we were to be helping locate last night. She wove her club around like a magic wand, and we waited for the trees to disappear in a puff of smoke as she wielded her magic spells. Finally, she went off into the trees, and we proceeded with our game. I’m not sure how well she was doing at collecting the beer cans, as we continued to see scenes like this at almost every hole. Then two mangy coyotes passed in front of us. Wowzers!

We ran into another pair of golfers in a cart on about hole 13 who asked us what the heck we were doing walking this course! We had to reply that we too were not sure and obviously didn’t know what we had gotten ourselves into. Clearly, when the golf carts were abandoned throughout the golf course, that was an indication that the conditions were challenging for motor vehicles, and here we were challenging it with our bodies!

As we continued to lose balls and make our way up and down the mountain faces and crazy cart paths, our game became more and more comical; we couldn’t even keep score anymore; there was just no use!

One of my tee boxes was on a steep uphill grade; there wasn’t anything flat about it, and yet five or six feet away, there was a flat spot… why wasn’t the tee box there? That would require work, I guess, maintenance, and hey, they didn’t care about that here!’

At about hole 17, this notification comes up on my watch. Mark and I burst out laughing; even Uber wanted to help us out on the course at that moment. I think we both would have been happy if an Uber had shown up to help us make it back to the clubhouse!!

Finally, we made it to the 18th hole, and we desperately needed showers, and thankfully, the clubhouse had that! The clubhouse was actually beautiful; it was just everything else that was a little questionable. We ran into another golfer who saw us returning with our pushcarts, and he talked to us like we were his heroes. He couldn’t believe that we had walked the course! He told us that he hadn’t been golfing here in years, but that back in the day, it was a pretty fancy course. The owner and his wife had separated, and they each took ownership of the different golf courses that they owned. The wife’s had been turned into a housing development, and this one… well, you know what has happened to it. 

There were definitely remnants of a once beautifully manicured and well-maintained golf course for sure, and the setting was quite fantastic. We certainly got a workout, so we couldn’t complain too much, and how can you complain when you are playing golf on a weekday anyway! AND I’m not sure we would have faired much better if we took out a golf cart anyway!! This one was waiting in the lineup, ready to take out its next unsuspecting customer!!

Southern B.C.

After many days of rain, we were happy to make it to the balmy, sunnier weather in Southern B.C. We haven’t put nearly as many miles on the truck the last few days, but we have enjoyed getting back to golfing and hiking again, which has been great! 

We stayed at a Harvest Host golf course in Grindrod and enjoyed 18 holes of golf before we headed off to Kekuli Bay Provincial Park. It was absolutely beautiful here! There are trails all along the lakes for bikers and hikers, and we took advantage of a lovely hike before making our way to the Okanogan. When we were out hiking, we saw lots of kids on the trail, and I finally asked if it was a holiday. It wasn’t; they were out biking with their class. I was chatting with the teacher, and she tries to do this bike trip with the kids every term. They left at 9:00 am and we saw them at their halfway point where they were stopping for lunch. Parent volunteers had joined them, and it was so great to see them taking advantage of the beautiful trail system. I wish we had something like it close to us at home. 

We continued south and stopped at this really cute farm in Cache Creek and bought some apples and caramel popcorn. I loved how they had decorated everything for fall with the pumpkins lining the roadways. As we travelled, Mark and I were both surprised by the landscape. We didn’t expect to still see the mountains, and the desert-like conditions were really unexpected! Amazingly, all of the crops are irrigated, and even the farmers have to irrigate their pastures for the grazing animals. Then there are all of the orchards and wineries. In some areas, every square inch of land is used for grapes or apples or whatever they are growing. Beautiful houses were in the middle of crops without any yard around them. It really is amazing to see the contrast in the land within a few feet.

You can see me standing in the desert overlooking the grapes.

The Okanogan was stunning with beautiful weather, and we decided to camp for a couple of nights at Okanogan Falls Provincial Park. We enjoyed t-shirts and shorts and spending lots of time outside again, which was welcomed after so many days of rain. There are loads of wineries and fruit markets, and Mark has been enjoying sampling the local wines. We learned that this past winter caused many of the vineyards to lose their crops due to the -21 degree temperatures, and many have had to replant and source grapes from the U.S.

Yesterday, we ventured off on a hike to a winery, which, true to the name of the winery, was very much like a Wild Goose chase! We started along a beautiful hiking trail, then across a bridge over the drowning machine! We then cut across a cricket field, up a private lane way (which did say no trespassing), then along a very busy highway for a very short time, phewwww. Lastly, up a steep climb to the vineyards. After about 4 km, we made it to the winery. We saw two snakes on our way, so although we could have cut through some brushy areas, I was sticking to the roadways where I could see what creatures were ahead of me with lots of warning. After being startled by the second snake, I made Mark lead the way!! 

So you could imagine my surprise when, on today’s hike in the desert, we see this sign.

We did see snakes, but no badgers! Then we see this sign at the golf course!!!

Yes, that says rattlesnakes!! Oh, how I LOVE snakes. I couldn’t believe that we were walking in the desert with snakes at one moment, and across the fenceline was beautiful, lush grape vines or apples. The golf course was absolutely stunning, despite the rattlesnakes (thankfully, we didn't see or hear any). The course was on Indigenous land and beautifully maintained. I think it has been my favourite spot to golf. 

We had lunch at this quaint restaurant in Osoyoos and enjoyed the most delicious leek and potato soup and sandwich. Mark enjoyed another wine tasting and hit the Fire Station brewery on the way back to the campsite to fill up his growler from Haines, Alaska. I did some shopping. I love it when the winery has local artisan work on display, and as long as I keep Mark busy sampling, I never get in trouble… for shopping that is! Although he always gives me a hard time when I mispronounce artisan and say ar-tee-shun. If we keep visiting all these wineries and breweries, I’m sure he will be mispronouncing more than artisan!