The Phamlee

West Coast to West Yellowstone With Kids

2016-09-03T19:13:00.000-07:00

Our family is no stranger to camping as during the summer we spend more weekends in our travel trailer than we do at home. Most of these trips are within two hours of home but we always do one week in Oliver which is 4 hours away and then another week to a far off land. The past two years the far off land has been the Oregon coast which is still a reasonably short trip; Astoria was about 6 hours away and the central Oregon coast was 8 hours. So, when we decided to go to Yellowstone which was 1450km away I was a little worried about how the kids would react to being in the car that long but I think we planned it perfectly...This is the longest post ever, for random thoughts, what we would have done differently, regrets, etc. just scroll to the bottom and pictures are scattered through out...

There were 5 fires in Yellowstone while we were there, one of the larger ones was only a couple miles from West Yellowstone so you will see a lot of smoke in some of the pictures.
If you see a picture of Cohen holding an iPad he is not playing Pokemon Go but taking pictures, both the kids got pretty excited about taking pictures on this trip.

Day One: Chilliwack to Moses Lake - 490km
As if often the case for our longer trips we left after work on the Friday with the intent of staying in the Moses Lake Wal-Mart parking lot for the evening. We use the Allstays Camp and RV App which allows you to filter which Wal-Marts allows over night stays and which dont; that being said we have stayed in some that say No Overnight Stays and had no problems; this is a great app with more than just Wal-Marts and a must for any frequent road tripper. Doing a few hours of driving after work allows us to get across the border and do some driving on the boring familiar roads without wasting a day off; this give us more time to enjoy the new destination when we arrive. We stopped for dinner in Snoqualmie (I think that is what its called) on the west side of Snowqualmie Pass. We must have been in the new part of town as all the houses we saw seem to have been built in the past 5 years as did all the retail space and restaurants located in the area where we ate.

Once our bellies were full we made our way to I90 which is the interstate where we would be doing most of our driving. It was after 7 by the time we got back on the road but the drive was nice as once you got over Snoqualmie Pass the roads were pretty straight. One hicup on the way to Moses Lake involved my timing of getting gas; I dont like to let the gauge get too low but it was getting there when I turned off at a town to fill up only to find the only gas station closed for the night! My heart skipped a beat but we headed off down I90 again and found an open truck stop within 20 minutes just as the low gas light came on. It must have been after 10 that we arrived in Moses Lake and it is always comforting to see other rigs in the Wal-Mart parking lot, something about safety in numbers I guess!

Day Two: Moses Lake to Missoula, Montana - 483km
My biological clock got me up at 5:30, or maybe it was the excitement of what was ahead. Regardless, when camping I really enjoy getting up before the family and having a coffee as the day gets warmer - even when I am sitting on a camping chair in a Wal-Mart parking lot. We were fortunate to have a Starbucks near by so I walked over there for my morning brew. After enjoying my coffee, fixing a flat tire on my mountain bike, walking through Wal-Mart and buying Chelsey a coffee I decided 8:30 was the time to wake up the family...

Not a road trip without a night at Wal-Mart

Breakfast on the tarmac

A quick leg stretch before the next haul

From Moses Lake to Missoula we took a quick detour into Spokane so Chelsey could grab a few things from Trader Joes as its always a treat to go there as we dont have any in Canada, the kids and I hung out at the trailer...

From Spokane we crossed our first state line into Idaho. From Snoqualmie Pass in Washington and to the state line the driving was pretty easy as they terrain was mostly flat but once we hit Idaho it got a little tougher again as we wound our way through a couple mountain passes. The truck is fine pulling through these slopes but its always a little more stressful with the winding roads. Once we got through the passes in Idaho the roads opened up into Montana and we were treated with some great scenery. Driving through Montana is awesome as you cruise on through the high plateau with open fields everywhere and high mountains off in the distance, it is one of the nicest areas I have ever seen. This stretch that we were on crossed the Clark Fork (a tributary of the Columbia River) numerous times which just added to the awesome scenery. Our goal was to ensure we didnt keep the kids in the car driving for too long and with less than 500km scheduled for the day we had ample time. But, to make sure time wasnt wasted I made sure all pee stops were at a gas station, even if I didnt need gas I would still fill up just to ensure we didnt make any extra stops. It was around 3:30 when we rolled into Missoula and we had the trailer parked and we were ready for fun by 4:00.

While we were only staying at this KOA for one night we were super happy with it. They had tonnes of friendly staff, the sites were long enough that I didnt need to unhook the truck and the facilities and surroundings were all super clean and well kept - the only weird thing was that it seemed to be surrounded by a trailer park - I would go back.

Our first stop in Missoula was to REI as we needed to get some bike tubes. After a quick trip there on the bikes we headed back to the KOA for a quick dinner. After dinner we decided to ride our bikes into downtown Missoula to get a gander of what it looked like and there was a carousel Chelsey wanted the kids to ride. Missoula is a pretty bike friendly town with good bike lanes throughout and a path that runs parallel to the river. The ride into town from the KOA is around 10km round trip and quite flat (https://www.strava.com/activities/683216202) perfect for a jaunt with the kids. After the bike ride was done it was time for a quick swim in the pool at the KOA and then off to bed to get ready for the next days drive.

Day 3: Missoula to West Yellowstone - 425km

After once again rustling the family awake we embarked on the leg of our trip that will take us into Yellowstone, boy were we excited. This drive started off how the last one ended through the awesome Montana country side. We made a quick stop in Drummond for a pee and gas and I realized how many towns in this state have a sign with the first letter of the town up on a hill. Drummond was a small town but a great place to get gas...

Our route from the I90 was to take the 287 south. Around the town of Cardwell we got off the I90, took some back road and was on the 287 in no time. We headed south on the 287 and then came over a little pass where we took a quick stop for some pictures and a nice view.

This pass took us into the Madison River Valley which is by far my favourite part of Montana, the wide open plains were still there but the mountains were closer and we were now following the Madison River which I later learned is a Montana gem! After the pass we drove through the town of Ennis, which is a cute little town (we stopped here on the way back for a walk down main street and a good coffee). After following the 287 further south, a quick jump through part of Idaho again and a drive over Targhee Pass we were in West Yellowstone!!!

Before long we were at the KOA in West Yellowstone. There are two KOA's in the West Yellowstone area. One is considered a "Journey" more for people driving through and the other, closer to the park, is more of a resort style KOA with a pool, eating facilities, etc. We stayed at the later and if you are looking for full hookup's while camping around Yellowstone I would recommend this place. Everything was clean, the staff was plentiful and polite, the store was well stocked and the ribs were phenomenal (more on these later). The one downside is it is about a 10 minute drive into West Yellowstone and then a further drive from the gate through the park in order to get to a lot of the "attractions" within Yellowstone. It took us about 45 minutes to drop the trailer, get everything set up and we were ready for our first drive into the park. We were pretty anxious to see some animals and geysers so we hoofed it pretty quick. We stopped at the Ranger station in West Yellowstone to get our pass into the park and it was here that we signed the kids up for the Junior Ranger program which gave them some activities to do while walking around the park.

Since it was already after 3 we had limited time as we needed to make the kids dinner so we made our first stop at the Norris Geyer Basis. On the drive out we spotted our first wildlife which was some elk grazing along the other side of the river; we were pretty excited to see our first animals!

When we turned left at Madison heading towards the Norris Geyser Basin we saw our first sign of volcanic activity, while the bubbling water was small relative to what we would see later in the week it was still exciting to see the bubbles coming out of the lake. There was even an elk sitting in the grass by the boardwalk - we stayed 100 yards away at all times!

After that stop we continued to head north in the park and made a brief stop at Gibbon Falls...

Then we made it to Norris Geyser Basin and our first real experience of the Geysers. It was so cool to see all the steam and water coming from the ground and the whole area was so neat. The smell was something else but the scenery was unreal.

Forest Fire Smoke

It was now time to head back to the campsite and make some dinner. On the way back as we headed along the Madison River we saw four more elk and of course had to stop to take some pictures and do some more work in the Junior Ranger Books.

Day 4: Old Faithful, Mud Volcanos and The Hayden Valley

Day 4 would prove to be the most exciting of all days as it is when we got to see some of the most iconic spots in Yellowstone. Like most mornings it stated with me getting up early for a quiet coffee and reading time outside and then waking the family up as I got bored waiting for them to stir. Once organised and with our lunch packed we made our way into West Yellowstone where we visited the book store and grabbed a coffee. We also took a stroll down the main drag and I made my way into Bud Lilly's Trout Shop for a fishing license and some recommended flies! Once we were done we made our way back into the park. The camp site was full of fire smoke when we left, to the extent it made your eyes water, but by the time we reached Madison Junction the sky was clear. As we were heading towards Old Faithful we drove down a couple of the side roads to see what they contained, the first one took us to a view of Firehole Falls.

The kids with Firehole Falls in the back ground

When I was in Bud Lillys I asked the guy where the fishing was good and he recommended some of the tributaries to the Firehole River, one was the Nez Pearce and as we left Firehole Falls on our way to old Faithful we came across another road that ran parallel to the Nez Pearce so we scooted down to check it out, at a parking lot we did not encounter many people but we did see our first bison and the kids were stoked! Our goal in Yellowstone, like most people, was to see bison, bears, wolves, any other animal, geysers and for me was to fly fish on the Firehole River; so when we saw our first bison everyone was ecstatic.

The next leg of the day brought us to the iconic area where Old Faithful is! Parking was pretty tight but we realised that if you go where the staff housing is you can easily find a spot, a hint for future travellers. Old Faithful is the main tourist trap of the park with a good visitor centre, gas station, The Old Faithful Inn, restaurants, etc. While we worked our way around the visitor centre the Beehive Geyser blew which gave us our first true geyser experience. The Beehive Geyser can actually have a bigger "eruption" than Old Faithful but as it is not as frequent and predictable it is much less known...

From the visitor centre we embarked on our first hike which took us to Observation Point and the Solitary Geyser (https://www.strava.com/activities/685599205). This was by no means a hard hike but it provided an awesome view point to see Old Faithful blow away from the crowds.

The walk from Observation Point to the Solitary Geyser is pretty easy...

They say the solitary geyser erupts about 4 feet every 12 minutes, we sat there for a while and it was closer to 4 inches. I guess you cant predict mother nature, especially in a place like Yellowstone!

The walk back to Old Faithful brings you back onto the boardwalk which circles many different geysers and springs around Old Faithful.

Once we got back to the main tourist trap we got some frozen yogurt which was phenomenal. The kids also partook in a Park Ranger led program on wildlife safety where they learnt about safe distances, what to look out for and how to react around various wildlife; this was part of the Junior Ranger program. We also got to experience Old Faithful "erupt" up close and it was quite the sight to see.

Since we visited the park the day we arrived and already saw the Norris Geyser Basin we had some extra time on Old Faithful day. It was around 3:00 that we were finished in this area so we decided to take a drive around the grand loop which would take us past Yellowstone Lake, the Mud Volcanos and into the Hayden Valley before returning back to the campsite. I was telling the kids that our best chance of lots of wildlife was in the Hayden Valley or Lamar Valley so our hopes were quite high, at this point we had only seen one Bison and a few Elk. As we drove south and along Yellowstone Lake we started getting glimpses of the Grand Tetons which is an awesome mountain range. There was another massive forest fire burning in the area which limited some of our view (the fire ended up closing the road to the south gate for about a week as the flames jumped the road) but even with the limited visibility you could see how awesome this area is. I have a theory that everything looks better in the winter covered in snow and I would love to visit both Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons during this time of year. Jackson Hole is in the Grand Tetons and is definitely on the wish list for either a winter or summer road trip. Unfortunately it was also at this time that Chelsey decided she could no longer take a straight picture...

After passing past the lake and heading north again we turned into the Mud Volcanos. There is a story about seismic activity at most of these areas but the mud volcanoes actually had pictures of what the area looked like before and after an earthquake struck the area; I dont have the pictures here but it is an interesting read for any visitor....The area was quite active though with the mud constantly boiling.

I was constantly scanning the landscape with the binoculars looking for wildlife

Bison Poo

From the mud volcanos we continued north to the Hayden Valley. For most of the drive we had meandered through forests and along the lake then out of nowhere you hit this massive clearing which is the Hayden Valley. As you can see below the Yellowstone River flows through it and the scenery is amazing...

At this point we had still only seen the one Bison but as we continued driving north we saw some cars stopped ahead. Typically cars stopped at the side of the road is a good sign of wildlife and what we saw when we arrived was awesome. When we rolled up we saw a few bison to the left but then we looked right and saw a herd of close to 50 grazing. Having been excited by one you could imagine how we felt at so many; Cohen was the happiest and it was nice to see that our trip was becoming worth the experience for the kids. As we left the area we got to experience the iconic Yellowstone bison experience by having them cross the road in front of you!

The sun was setting so it was time to exit the park for the day but we had to stop again to see the elks along the Madison River. We also took a quick shot of the fire, there were spots along the road where this blaze, called the Maple Fire, was coming over the ridge by the road and was probably a 3 wood away

Day 5: The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, Tower Falls and The Lamar Valley.

Day 5 started off cold! West Yellowstone is over 2000 meters above sea level and parts of the park are above 3000 meters; when I woke up for my morning coffee it was -3 in August! Day 5 would also prove to be the most scenic day. Once the family emerged from their cocoons we headed into the park towards the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. We started off at a lookout on the North Side which gave us a nice view of the lower falls. We then made our way to the South Side and did a hike from the parking lot by Toms Trail along the South Rim Trail to Artist Point and back. Once again the hike was relatively easy (https://www.strava.com/activities/689073129) but the views were some of the best I have ever seen. I will let the pictures do the talking...

These first few pictures are of the lower falls from the North Side...

And onto the south side and some of the views from the hike

This is the view from Artist Point and no picture can do it justice

The Upper Falls from close to the lookout.

From the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone we made our way past Mount Washburn towards Tower Falls. We stopped up a road by Mount Washburn and checked out the hiking trail to the top, the trail ascended a few thousand feet and was recommended you take 5 hours to complete; this is a hike I would like to do but we thought it may have been too much for the kids - throw in the forest fire smoke in the area and Cohens asthma and there was no way...Next time hopefully. As you can see from the pictures below the area was hit in the past few years from a pretty bad fire.

Our next stop was Tower Falls which I must say was disappointing after what we saw in the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. I guess I would recommend seeing Tower Falls first!

From Tower Falls we then made our way into the Lamar Valley. They say the Lamar Valley is the Serengeti of Yellowstone and we were fortunate to see many more Bison and an Antelope. The fire smoke did dampen our view but we took some time to hang out on the Lamar River. I talked to one of the locals asking about seeing wolves and bears and she said you best bet is to arrive early or close to sun down and wait, no guarantees but that is your best bet. Obviously we cant sit there for 5 hours with the kids as they would get bored, hopefully when they are older and appreciate this stuff more we can take that opportunity. That being said you can see the bears anywhere as in the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Centre that we visited on day 6 they had a list of recent sightings and they were scattered throughout the park, not many sightings but they were there.

Once we headed back into town we decided to go out for dinner and chose an establishment where they had fake chuck wagons in the back that you got to sit inside and eat. After a long day I was really looking forward to a plate of ribs and a beer but when I ordered my beer I was told they didnt serve alcohol. I then started doubting the quality of the ribs as I wondered how a place that didnt serve beer could have good ribs. The ribs werent bad but I had to ask about the beer, I was told the owners were Mormon, as were many in West Yellowstone, and as I had just finished this book a week before I had many questions to ask my Mormon server but I refrained myself. The next day after I took the kids swimming I came back to the trailer and my darling wife had bought me a plate of ribs from the KOA cook; if the ribs at the restaurant were a 7 the ones from the KOA were a solid 9 and I was stoked, highly recommend them!

Day 6 : The Bear and Wolf Discovery Centre, Grand Prismatic Springs and Fishing the Firehole

As we were striking out on seeing bears and wolves inside the park we had to go see them in captivity. The Bear and Wolf Discovery Centre is a non-profit educational facility in West Yellowstone. It contains a great amount of information on both animals, there way of life, the history of the interactions with humans within the park, the way human perception has changed and much more. While you may think it is cruel for these animals to be in captivity the reality is, for various reasons, these animals would not have survived in the wild. Many of the bears lost their mums when they were still cubs and lacked the skill and strength to survive on their own which is how they ended up here. There is a lot you can learn by visiting the centre and reading the exhibits and various newspaper articles. We went in the morning, went into the park after lunch and before we headed back to the campsite went back into the centre.

After our morning visit at the Bear and Wolf Discovery Centre we went into the park to see the Grand Prismatic Springs. This link shows the color of the springs in many pictures taken by others; we were unfortunate when we visited as the temperature and wind were in such a way that the steam off the springs prevented us from any real good looks. We saw many glimpses through the fog and the tease showed us how awesome this area is.

After our visit at the springs we found a nice bank along the firehole river to stretch out and give me a chance to try my fly fishing skills. A year ago I read an article in a magazine about fishing the firehole river in Yellowstone and it was something I really wanted to do, even though the dude in the tackle shop said there were other places to go I just really wanted to fish in this river, I took a fly fishing course this past winter to try and learn to do it better. I can honestly say that I hooked a fish on the fly in the Firehole and I am stoked about that. But, and this is one of my regrets, when we were on the way home we stopped in some very small one street town in Montana as we saw a store called Montana Valley Bookstore advertised on the side of the road; we have developed a habit of visiting used book stores so we couldn't pass this one up. Anyways, as I was looking around I found a book written by Bud Lilly and if you recall I bought my license etc. from Bud Lilly's Trout Shop (he hasnt owned the store for years). I picked up the book and had it read before we got back to BC and in it I learned that Bud Lilly was and is a leader in the conservation of wild fish and streams in Montana, pushed for the catch and release system that many are familiar with today and I also read a lot about how awesome the Madison River is. My regret is that I didnt read this book before we went as I probably would have asked more questions in the fishing shop and I think I would have spent more time fishing in the area and on the Madison River for sure. While I am horrible at fishing, and even worse at fly fishing, I thoroughly enjoy being out there and even more so in "special" places...based on reading A Trouts Best Friend by Bud Lilly I think I missed an opportunity to fish one of the greatest rivers in the west.

And back to the Discovery Centre...

The Rest of the Trip: Butte, Farragut State Park, Silverwood the Drive Home!

For whatever reason we didnt really take a lot of pictures after we left Yellowstone, this is one of my regrets as we still had another 4 nights camping ahead of us...

When we left Yellowstone we ventured home the same way we came. Our first stop on the way back was Ennis, Montana. This was a cool little town and a great place to stretch the legs. Lots of "home" stores and very much a "montanta woodsman" feel to the place. This town, if I am not mistaken, is in the heart of the Madison River Valley so fishing was a prominent theme in many stores. Once we left Ennis we made our way to Butte for the night.

Butte was a cool town as it has an open pit copper mine right next to the historic district, it is something else to see a mine this close to a city but I guess that is how the city was built. You cant really tell the scope of the mine from these pictures but the mine is still operational and is quite large. The "tower" things you see in the pictures are actually decorations now, the mine used to be an underground mine and they used these to lower tool, people, etc. into the mine - now that its an open pit mine these arent needed but very much a part of the cities heritage.

We stayed at the KOA in Butte and it was the worst of the 3 KOA's we stayed at. The grounds were not very well kept (the Missoula one had green grass everywhere) and it is probably a result of the lack of staff, both the Yellowstone and Missoula KOA's had staff everywhere. The pool is Butte was also pretty bad, tonnes of sand at the bottom and leaves all over the place, it looked like it hadnt been cleaned in a week but this didnt stop the kids from taking a dip...Chelsey and I passed.

Once we parked the truck and trailer in Butte we grabbed the bikes and headed up the hill to see the town. While Missoula had quite a few bike lanes Butte had nothing. It was still a nice ride up the hill into the historic district and we were happy to kill an hour in another used book store.

After the night in Butte we were back on the road to Farragut State Park in Idaho. On the way there we took the stop into the used book store that I mentioned above and if you like to read and like used book store I recommend the Montana Valley Bookstore. Back on the road we made it to Farragut State Park and when we arrived we were in awe of the place; this state park made our provincial parks look like dumps. The sites were huge and well spaced out, it came with water and power hookups which is unheard of in BC and the bathrooms and showers were meticulous - the place was awesome.

Once we got everything set up we jumped on the bikes and went to explore the lake (no pictures!!). The trail system around this park were awesome and perfect for the kids to mountain bike on. We cruised our way down to the lake and the kids had a little dip before we scooted back up to the campsite to make dinner.

The following day when we woke up we drove into Coeur d' Alene to see what the town had to offer. We made it to the "downtown" and once again it was an awesome place. There is a massive lake here and the prior week they had an Ironman competition roll through so it seemed to be a good vibe around the place. Lots of cool coffee shops and restaurants and craft beer seems to be popular here which is obviously a good thing. We found a cool place that served both cold brew coffee and craft beer; I could have stayed there all day but we just took the coffee. Walking around we found a little toy store that had a tiny carousel in the back that Chelsey made sure the kids rode.

Once we got back to the campsite Chelsey and Cohen had a nap as Cohen was puking the night before. Kyah and I took this opportunity to go for a mountain bike ride along the trails, as I mentioned before its a great place for cruising trails with kids, they even had one trail that went up to some lookout and was recommended for more experienced riders; I didnt do it and that is another regret. After half the family napped they were all ready for Silverwood which is a "mini" theme park. It has a bunch of roller coasters, two which are wood, a waterslide park and a bunch of other rides. The line ups were a tad long but we all had fun and as you can see from the picture below the rides are not scary at all. We spent about 5 hours at the park and while the place is lots of fun I think that is about as long as we could handle this late into our trip.

Since we got home so late we were finally able to see good stars. One night in Yellowstone Cohen and I had driven in to the park to look at the stars but the smoke covered a lot of them and Cohen was a little scared being in the park when it was so dark and not many people around; while we saw a few it was nothing like what we saw at Farragut. As soon as we looked up we saw a shooting star and it was probably one of the best "star nights" I have even seen; I was super stoked that Cohen got to see them...Kyah fell asleep in the car and wanted nothing to do with it. And thats it!

Random Thoughts From a Canadian Perspective

I guess the law states you do not need to wear a helmet while riding a motor cycle in Montana and we saw a tonne of people not wearing a helmet. Science proves the safety of a helmet, just because the law states you do not have to wear one why would you not wear one for your own safety?
There were forest fires burning all through the park yet they still permitted smoking inside the park and camp fires were still allowed; why increase the risk, would it not be smarter to ban both? The amount of burn marks, some sizeable, we saw when we were travelling along the I90 from people starting fires by throwing their cigarrettes out the window proved the common sense of many, I would hate to think some body would be that stupid inside the park but I half expect it.
I read in the local paper that somebody accidently shot off their gun in the washroom at Old Faithful, why you need to walk around and go to the washroom with a fucking gun in an area full of familes and kids baffles me, but what do I know? I am just a dumb canadian living in a country with stricter gun laws that also happens to have a fraction of the gun deaths per capita that the U.S. has!

Regrets

I dont know how it happened but we forgot to go inside the Old Faithful Inn! This is an American landmark that was almost burnt by a forest fire a few years back, I am a little disappointed we didnt go inside.
See paragraph above the fishing photos
We kind of stopped taking pictures after Yellowstone. We still had 4 days on our trip and saw some great spots but the picture taking kind of petered off; I wish that didnt happen!
When we camp I always struggle with wanting to ride my bike and spending time with the family; I rode my bike a lot in the summer when we were away and I felt I shouldnt as much this trip. But, at Farragut they had that one trail I really wanted to ride, I could have ridden it in the morning and my sleeping family would not have known either way - I didnt and I regret that.

What I think We Did Right

Most days were less than 500km driving which limited car time to around 4.5 hours. When the kids have iPads and DVD players this amount of time in the car goes fast. This also allowed us to stop at a few random spots (Montana Valley Book Store & Ennis) and view points without having to rush too much. It also ensured, if we left the previous campsite at a reasonable time, that we arrived at our destination with lots of time left in the day. This gave us the opportunity to ride our bikes around Missoula and Butte, spend more time in Yellowstone and many other things.
Had a plan but didnt really stick to it; we were pretty flexible with how things rolled. Other than getting annoyed when everyone was sleeping in too long for my liking I think the flexibility worked. Based on the plan I didnt think we would make it to the Lamar Valley but we did.

Random Pictures From Summer 2016...So Far

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These are some of the pictures we have taken so far this summer. Most of them are from Oliver and Sheridan Lake with the odd one from May long weekend in La Conner. Enjoy the pictures. Peace Out!

Spring Break 2016

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Just a few pictures from spring break. The falls are the lower and middle falls of Wallace Falls which is within Wallace Falls State Park in Washington. It was a pretty easy hike and we would have liked to have carried on to the upper falls but a certain 9 year old girl was not having any of that. The other photos are of the park at Seattle Centre as we went to the Pacific Science Centre in Seattle for a day also.

New Years 2015 - or is it 2016?

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This past New Years we were lucky enough to be invited to a friends cabin. There cabin was at Sheridan Lake which is in the southern Caribou district of B.C. For my Australian family that is about 4.5 hours north east of Chilliwack. Having on been as far North as Cache Creek I assumed the area would look like that, kind of sparse for trees and a little desert like. Also, since Kim used to live in Quesnel I pictured a stinky area as she said it always smells of the saw mills; boy was I wrong. The area was full of trees at at just under 1200 meters above sea level it was also super cold. The whole area was picture perfect and just so much fun to sit and look at the scenery. I cannot describe how awesome the area was. As someone who has spent the majority of their life on the coast and only spent "holiday time" in the interior during the summer I had no idea how awesome winter can be in B.C. when a chair lift is not present. Our gracious hosts had built an ice rink on the lake by plowing away the snow and it was something else to see the kids ice skating outside on a lake - the whole thing was very Canadian and that was perfect by us. I got to go ice fishing for the first time and I suck at that as much as I do at normal fishing - i.e. I didn't catch anything - but sitting on a lake surrounded by the scenery is what it was all about.

Yesterday we went for a drive to the local store and it was -24 when I started the truck; diesel trucks don't like to sit in -20 degrees for 2 days and my truck sounded like shit when I started it. We got to see a bit more of the area and it was all super nice. The whole experience was like camping in our trailer during the summer but it was winter and in a log cabin; we played lots of board games with the kids, drank hot chocolate and just had tonnes of fun. Lots of pictures below...

Oregon Coast Trip September 2015 - Random Photos from my Phone

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Follow the link for more

Oregon Post Trip Part 2 - September 2015

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As the title says this is part two of our Oregon Coast trip posts. This will be more pictures as I already forget what happened in the second part. We went to Newport to visit the Oregon Coast Aquarium which was pretty cool and very informative. We got to learn about garbage in the ocean, ship wrecks and obviously the living things in the ocean!

The next day we drove down to Florence which is where the sand dunes start. The drive from where we were staying to Florence was about an hour and a drive that is "pure" Oregon Coast. It was full of beach view, rocky bluffs, a couple light houses and trees; it was awesome. On the way down to Florence we stopped at the Sea Lion Caves which was pretty cool; there were not any sea lions in the caves but was still a good educational trip.

In Florence we took a tour of the sand dunes on the "slow" dune buggy. It was an hour long tour and told us about the evasive grass growing on the dunes, who planted it and why they cant kill it. The tour went through various lookouts and then along the coast for awhile which was quite nice. As we were driving through one of the open areas some 40 year old skid with a grey mohawk was doing wheelies and stuff trying to show off and then he hit a bump and got bucked right off the quad and his awesome sun glasses and crap went flying as he went cruising over the handle bars. He staggered back up and collected his stuff, other than his helmet because he wasn't wearing one, and then jumped back on
again and proceeded to once again show us how cool he was; it was so funny seeing the guy go flying, even Cohen had a good laugh!

When on the slow tour we saw the "fast" dune buggy tour go by and Chelsey said "we are coming back tomorrow and doing that," so we did. We came back the next day and boy was it fun. I was personally scared shitless as we ripped around the dunes in this thing - flying up and down the dunes, whipping around at some pretty steep angles. I have a habit of thinking about "worst case scenarios" and trying to avoid them but by the looks on Chelsey and the kids face they were not thinking about that. All in all it was lots of fun and I do recommend it

Oregon Coast Trip Part 1 - September 2015

2015-09-21T19:23:00.001-07:00

We should probably call this the Cohen post as most of the pictures seem to be of Cohen; that is partly Kyahs fault as she did not want to come to the beach on Monday when we got here. Anyways, we left town on Saturday when Chelsey was done work and spent the night in a Wal-Mart parking lot just south of Olympia…Boo Ya! On Sunday we got up and drove the remaining four hours to our campsite which is just south of Newport on the Oregon Coast.

When we got here on Sunday we unloaded and then went for a quick look at the beach across the street from the campsite; there are a few photos below of that. Monday was a stay at the campsite day as Kyah was still fighting a cold but we still went for a swim in the pool and Cohen and I spent some time at the beach being chased by waves and dodging jellyfish…That’s why most of the pictures are of Cohen. I got to go for a quick bike ride which was also nice as it is always fun to ride new roads.

Yesterday we went on our first adventure into the town of Newport to check out the Yaquina Head Lighthouse which is the tallest lighthouse on the Oregon Coast and

was first lit on August 20^th, 1873. It is just on the other side of town from the Yaquina Bay Lighthouse that was built three years prior but it wasn’t big enough so they built the Yaquina Head lighthouse which could be seen from 20 miles away. It is still in operation today but was automated in the 1966. We spent a couple hours here walking around and checking out the interpretive centre which was very informative.

Below you will also see some picture of black rocks along the shore line. These are actually lava rocks that flowed from a volcano 300km away millions of years ago; I don’t know what volcano it was…Mt Hood or Crater Lake maybe…Anyways, the lava cooled when it hit the ocean and then over the millions of years as the waves have rolled up and down it has turned the lava into these awesome rounded, like river, rocks. But, the cool part is that as that waves crash up and then suck back down it makes an awesome sound as they pull back all these rounded lava rocks. The green plant I took a picture of is wild Kale; it grows right down by the ocean, pretty cool eh.

After sometime as the lighthouse we then grabbed a quick bite to eat at Rogue Brewing which is an awesome brewery. From what I gathered they grow a lot of their own hops and other ingredients in Oregon and much of it is done organically. They had over 25 beers on tap and while we didn’t get the fish and chips it looked really good! They even make their own ketchup! I got their Brutal IPA which was a nice hoppy beer and Chelsey got the Mums Hefeweizen which was infused with different flowers I think; it seemed like a pretty beer just perfect for Chelsey J. The food was also good so I do recommend the place if you are ever in town. As always lots of pictures below and stay tuned for more!

Birch Bay Trip 2015...And the Lynden Fair!

2015-08-24T19:23:00.001-07:00

So this past weekend we took a 4 day weekend and scooted down to Birch Bay for some camping; I had not been to Birch Bay in over 20 years so it was kind of cool to see it has not changed one single bit. We stayed at the Thousand Trails RV Park which was a hop and skip from the beach. The RV park was pretty solid but had screwed up positioning of their sewer "holes" and a really small pool. The lady in the office said the screwed up sewer holes was because the first part of the RV park was built in the 60's and trailers were smaller, I am assuming the pool was smaller because the average american wasn't 300 pounds back then. The "newer" part of the RV park had normal sewer holes if anyone cares.

We went to the Lynden Fair on Friday and it was our first time there and it was awesome. We saw this dude that had all these crazy animals and reptiles from a wildlife refuge. When I first saw it I thought it was crazy he had a wolf and cougar in a little cage and then the guy went on about how they usually stay at the refuge where they have a crap load of land and the rest of the pack is; he told the story and I left feeling "all good" about it. It was informative too as he spoke about back in the day when they tried killing off all the wolves in Yosemite and surrounding areas and the impact it had further up and down the food chain; the moral of the story was don't screw with nature as other bad things happen. It was the first time I saw a "cat barn" as one of the 4H clubs had a cat display; it was pretty funny seeing all these cats chilling in these cages that were all decked up. The kids got to go cruising on a camel (camel jockeys) and we saw little kids riding sheep! That was super funny, one kid was three and bailed pretty quick but this other kid made it all the way to the other end of the field and then bailed into a steel post; the announcer said she will be fine. Put a hockey helmet on a kid and they can do anything! We also saw a hypnotist do some stuff people and other things. It was a great day at the Fair and we hope to attend again next year!

We also spent lots of time at the beach where Cohen got to spend some quality time with his metal detector. We found lots of rusty nails and even a couple rocks that were setting off the metal detector; Uncle Nick if you are reading this please send us a text with what kind of rocks they are. My theory was they were radioactive rocks from Japan but I don't think that is the case. As always we also spent lots of time in the pool and riding bikes and then Monday I got to spend the day answering e-mail because the stock market took a shit so I don't count Monday as a vacation day. Deal! Many pictures below.

Stave Falls Dam

2015-07-27T20:28:00.001-07:00

Weather sucked yesterday and we were looking for something to do so we took the kids, and cousin Madison, to the Stave Falls dam. This dam was built in the early 1900's until it was replaced in the 1990's (if my memory is correct) so they made the old one into an education centre where you can go see the old power generating facility and learn about creating electricity and other cool stuff. For you Chilliwack locals its only $15 for a family and a short drive away, good place for a rainy day. Some pictures below; I hit something on my phone that changed the pictures to black and white and I dont know how to change it back - kind of worked for these photos anyway.

5th Annual Oliver Trip

2015-07-21T20:12:00.002-07:00

Its crazy to think that this was our fifth year to Lakeside Resort on Tuc-El-Nuit lake; probably Chelsey's 15th time or more when you consider she went as a kid too. This continues to be our favorite vacation every year because the kids have tonnes of fun, the parents relax, Chelsey gets her wine tours and I get a few bike rides...Lets not forget Tickleberries too!

Not as many pictures this go around as you have all seen them before but a few highlights from this year...

Our crew of families doubled from 2 to 4
It was our first Oliver trip in the trailer; as much as we loved the cabanas its nice having the trailer and its a/c!
On one of our bike rides Loren and I encountered some wild horses. As we are "city" boys we had no idea whether they were dangerous or not and spent a good 10 minutes in a stare down with what we believed was the "boss" horse. That same trip we also encountered some cows on the road (one of them had scary horns) and I saw a bear.
We got to eat our first bear in the form of pepperoni thanks to the Jones'; it was not the same bear we saw while riding.
Dave and I took the biggest crew ever Geocaching - 10 kids all on bikes! The Woods crew found our 200th Geocache that day.
It poured rain on the drive out and it was our first time there without 100% perfect weather. We had a few windy days, but no real rain. It was still good weather just not what we are used to.
For the sand castle competition this year we built a...wait for it...Sand Castle! We still didn't win. I probably spent a good 4 or 5 hours on the bugger giving it some detail and we still failed. Oh well!

Enjoy the pictures! Some were taken with my phone so the quality may be off.

Camping at Blue Lake - May 2015

2015-07-03T20:34:00.001-07:00

Back in may we went up to Blue Lake Resort for a quick weekend camping trip; it is located about 15 minutes from Boston Bar so not too far away. After booking we read the Google Reviews for the place and they were not all pleasant so some nerves were present; the reviews were wrong as the place was awesome. We were looking for a place a little more "rustic" than a KOA and this place was perfect.

The road up was a little dodgier than expected but after talking to some regulars and employees I learned everything always works out fine. There were even some big ass bus size RV's up there

which is an indication that if you take it slow everything will be fine. The lake was already getting pretty warm as it is not too big so didn't take long for it to thaw; not to mention we had a warm winter anyways.

We spent some time fishing only to watch fish bite our bait and me prove how hopeless I am at hooking anything. We also got a really cool Geocache...In order to retrieve this treasure we had to rent a paddle boat and paddle to the other side of the lake. Once there we had to navigate around some fallen trees and hanging from the limb of one of them was the geocache. We were the first to find it and it was our first geocache that was only accessible by water - pretty cool for geeks like me!

Enjoy the pictures...

The picture does not do the road justice; especially pulling a 30 foot trailer!

Leavenworth Trip - July 2015

2015-07-03T20:09:00.000-07:00

Another inconsistent blog post to keep our far flung family updated; I always promise to do this more but it never happens so I will stop promising! Anyways, this year Canada Day fell on a Wednesday so we decided to take the Monday and Tuesday off as well so we can go on a mini five day trip; for this adventure we chose Leavenworth, Washington. Leavenworth is a cute little "German" town (for you in South Australia it is kind of like Handorf) which is just over Stevens Pass from Everett; it is a 4-5 hour drive from Chilliwack.

We left the Friday night after work and I was able to fulfill one of my camping dreams...Sleeping in a Wal-Mart parking lot. After spending the night at Wal-Mart we headed off and made our first stop at the Monroe Reptile Zoo; as a hater of spiders and snakes I did not find this place much fun - the kids sure loved it though. Our next stop was Stevens Pass where we stopped for a beer and to watch the mountain bikers heading down the hill. It looks to be a pretty decent ski hill with prices much better than Whistler-Blackcomb!

Our campsite was about 25 minutes north of Leavenworth but it was well situated between Lake Wenatchee and the town so it was perfect. It was super hot the whole time we were down there so we spent most evenings in the pool to cool off before bed. We spent one day at Lake Wenatchee where the kids ripped around in their kayak and Chelsey and I tried the paddle board; I suck but its because I am fat and have no core muscles (I ride bikes so I can eat crap and drink beer!)

We also spent a day wandering around the stores in Leavenworth. There were some cool shops and

some good looking restaurants but also lots of those stupid stores that sell the same old crap - kind of like stores in Vancouver's Gastown selling "Vancouver" t-shits and bear stuffies. The "Australian" store did not sell much Australian stuff which was kind of weird. Don't get me wrong, its an awesome place to wander around but I just wish there were less "junk" stores.

We also spent some time at the Wenatchee River which runs a few blocks down from the "main strip." It was an awesome spot as the river formed a very calm pool with a sandy beach where families can hang out and kids can safely swim. Lots of people tubing and paddle boarding down the river and just having a good time. The drive into and around Leavenworth is awesome. Lots of big mountains, vast forests with little sign of logging and rivers and creeks everywhere - super nice drive.

As always the pictures are below and I hope to one day post some pictures of Leavenworth in the winter as I would love to take a winter trip to the area - apparently it is one of the "Best Christmas Towns in North America!"

Wal - Mart Yo!

Yes that is a two headed turtle

Geocaching!

Scored another geocache

Seattle Trip Easter 2015 - Part One

2015-03-29T20:56:00.002-07:00

For the second week of Spring break we decided to take the kids camping just outside Seattle. Now that we have the trailer we hope to be able to take lots more trips. For our first day we went and checked out the Pike Place Market. Chelsey and I had lots of fun and I would say the kids had 75% fun. The walking around was a little too much for their little legs and there was not enough fun stuff for them but we have other things planned for them later in the week!
We did see lots of fun stuff though such as an alley full of chewed gum, a man with a trick parrot, some magic card tricks and lunch and beer and Pike Place Brewery! Also, I got a special edition, specially brewed Pike Place Roast at Starbucks that is only available at this one Starbucks, it was way better and smoother than the standard Pike Place drip coffee (yum yum).Some random pics with captions where needed below...

Start of "Gum Alley"

Cohen and Kyah dont touch the walls!

Yes, that is all gum!

Check out the restroom sign, do you think the Dad could hold his kid any further away :)

Some old random posters; yes, "syphilis is the enemy."

Not sure I would line up that long for a coffee; this wasn't where I got my special roast.

This dude was ripping it up on a "bass guitar" made from a metal bucket and a mop handle; plus they had a 12 year kid in their "band"

Watching the parrot do tricks!

The statue was after Kyah

Found a geocache!

Maiden Voyage

2015-02-22T21:17:00.001-08:00

This past weekend we took our maiden voyage in our trailer. Little background on why we got the trailer...I have wanted one for the past couple of years as I figured it was a good way to get the kids outside more and was good for family bonding. We rented one last September for our Oregon trip to see how much we liked it (we liked it) and I was able to bug Chelsey enough that she caved in December when I found a 2014 for super cheap when the dealership was blowing them out to make room for the 2015's; not so oddly enough the 2015 looks exactly the same as the 2014, same paint and everything...scammers!

Since this was our first trip in the Minecraft Killer we chose somewhere easy to camp and just cruised down to the KOA in Lynden. Since Chelsey had to work Saturday afternoon this also allowed me to take the kids down on Friday and Chelsey came down Saturday after work. When we arrived Cohen met a little boy to play with within minutes and I didn't see him for the rest of the night - the Minecraft Killer was working already! The kids played in the park and played basketball and I set up the trailer; it was even quicker than I thought. We spent the rest of the day playing and after dinner and more play time we watched a movie before bed. Saturday was a pretty busy day as we fished in a fishless pond, went geocaching and play lots. Seemed the kids worked me tired as we went into the trailer for a little quiet time at 3:00, I laid down on the bed briefly and woke up sometime later to a pillow full of drool and the kids were already outside playing. Anyways, the rest of the trip was more of the same, lots of fun and very little screen time, so I will bore you no more and post the pictures...

Cohen doing his best impression of Papa Woods circa 1960

Kyah doing her best impression of Grandpa Steve circa 2014

Madison brought a toy archery set and Cohen thoroughly enjoyed it

The outdoor man kitchen

On the way geocaching

Found a geocache, just a little one

Great Wolfe Lodge Trip - February 2015

2015-02-04T17:47:00.001-08:00

For the kids birthday this year we decided to take them to Great Wolf Lodge; this is part of our plan to give the kids experiences as opposed to stuff - last year we went to Manning Park for the day. So while you all probably just want to see some pictures of the kids having fun I will first share a couple of my observations from the trip:

Gas is the States is bloody cheap. I filled up in Everett, drove all the way to Great Wolf Lodge which was about 20 minutes south of Olympia, WA, then drove all the way back to Bellingham where I filled up again before heading back to Canada and it only cost me $64 CDN to fill up in Bellingham. Relatively speaking my truck is a gas guzzler so I was stoked to only pay $64.
Groceries in the States are no cheaper than Canada. We got some groceries at Safeway for breakfast and lunch in the hotel and ignoring the exchange rate most of the prices were no better than Canada. Produce cost just as much, if not more, and all the "processed" stuff was no better. This led me to think, how do they afford to live here? Minimum wage was $9.32/hour, or so I was told; cheap gas can only go so far...
Signs You Dont See in Canada - when we walked into Great Wolf Lodge there was a sign on the door saying "Concealed Firearms Not Allowed." Knowing the great U.S. of A they would probably allow you to walk in with a non-concealed weapon...Just kidding.

Observations aside we had a great time. Its not a place you can go to for anymore than 2 or 3 days as you can only "slide and swim" so much but the kids had just as much fun doing the "MagiQuest" challenges as they did in the pools and on the slides. Pictures below:

Kyah's Photobomb

Sitting down for dinner

Playing MagiQuest; needed to get some directions in Pixies Perch

They had a Starbucks in the hotel which was much better than the crappy room coffee

Waiting for the VERY BIG BUCKET to empty

Setting a trap with Cohen

That bucket drops a crap load of water

They have story time and a show before bed, pretty cool.

That wand in Kyah's hand is used for the MagiQuest game.

My First Distressed Furniture Project

2015-01-18T18:17:00.001-08:00

So Chelsey has wanted the distressed furniture look for our dining room set for awhile. When I saw the cost to purchase one I almost crapped myself and said I can do it myself; well the project has started. Below are a few pictures of my progress to date. I still have another 6 chairs to finish, re-stain the top of the table a darker shade and put a stress look on the bottom of the table...

Found Some Gold

2015-01-01T17:35:00.002-08:00

With "the Wife" in Vancouver for the day and night the kids and I, and cousin Madison, took Cohen's metal detector out again for some bush whacking fun. We headed up the Chilliwack River valley to Slesse Creek and to our disappointment there were some dingos shooting guns where we wanted to go so we hit up a different location. For this trip we also took the gold pan as I remembered reading something about how Slesse Creek branches off of some creeks/rivers that flow down Mount Baker so with my limited knowledge of how gold is formed and knowing that Mount Baker is a dormant volcano I figured there should be some flecks of gold in there. So we spent some time bush whacking, gold panning and playing with the metal detector. Pictures below...

What Kyah cant play with today as she was super bad this morning!

Cohen trekking down to the river with the girls in the bush behind him

Our speck of gold in the middle of the pan worth nothing but the kids still like to find it

Part 3 of Our Oregon Trip - 2 months late!

2014-12-27T18:22:00.000-08:00

How can you tell I have two weeks off work? Because I have time to do random blog posts. The pictures below are from our final few days of our camping trip to Oregon in September - never posted them then so I figured I would post them now. These pictures include our visit to the house where The Goonies was filmed, a visit to the Astoria tower and more beach visits. If you ever have any questions about the founding of Astoria I can help you out as I read the book regarding the founders; it was more like a adventure book then a history book and it was damn good - you can find it here.

Campbell River Thanksgiving 2014

2014-12-27T17:11:00.000-08:00

Better late than never pictures. Here are some random shots from our Campbell River trip during Thanksgiving 2014. This trip included a tour of Uncle Nick's coal mine so Cohen can play real life Minecraft as well as some cruising along the beach so Kyah can relive some Oregon memories by getting wet in a freezing cold ocean!

Random Christmas 2014 Pictures

2014-12-27T16:53:00.002-08:00

Just some random shots of Christmas 2014 and testing out Cohen's new metal detector at Cultus Lake:

2014 North Oregon Coast Trip - Part 2

2014-09-18T19:18:00.001-07:00

Over the past couple of days we have continued to explore the area and for the most part have a good time. On Tuesday we went back to Seaside and strolled along the main drag and checked out the stores. The kids were pretty stoked to get some massive jaw breakers, go on a carousel ride and spend some time in the arcade called Funland. Oddly enough everyones favorite game was Deal or No Deal and I think the kids liked it so much as it provided the most amount of tickets which led to the candy prizes! Yesterday we strolled through downtown Astoria and went to the Maritime Museum which is awesome. Did you know that the mouth of Columbia is so dangerous that they send all the Coast Guard guys here for the extreme training, pretty cool eh. After hearing about how rough it is there my goal was so try and see what it was like and we were able to find a trail at Fort Stevens State Park that took us to the mouth, even on a calm day the waves were going everywhere - I would love to see this place in the winter! Anyways, pictures below...

This was a little inside carousel inside a tourist trap mall thingy magigy in Seaside

This kids love playing in the sand. This is the beach at Seaside again...

The next run of pictures is from the Maritime Museum in Astoria, super cool place and highly recommended. They showed a 3D movie and had some good interactive stuff for the kids and we got to go on a lightboat.

Chelsey learning to tie knots...

This is the light boat Columbia. Back in the day they would use this as a lighthouse 7 miles out from the mouth of the Columbia because they couldnt put a lighthouse there (now they use Buoys). Anyways, 17 people would stay on this boat for 6 week shifts...unless the weather prohibited people from coming out for shift change.

I love Craft Beer and this whole are is littered with microbrews. We had lunch at Fort George Brewery and the beer was awesome and the food was damn good too!

Downtown Astoria is a pretty neat place, lots of old buildings, neat stores and lots of the garbage cans look light old cans of salmon.

At the end of the day we ventured to the mouth of the Columbia. It was pretty cool seeing the waves going in a million different directions (cant wait to storm watch here!) As we were driving along we came across a bunch of elk grabbing some dinner.

These pictures are from the lookout at the South Jetty...

And a campfire to end the night. Most nights we have been swimming and playing Beat the Parents which seems to be Cohen and Kyahs new favorite board game.

2014 North Oregon Coast Trip - Part 1

2014-09-16T18:43:00.001-07:00

I will try and keep the "words" to a minimum with descriptions at the photos where needed and let the pictures do the talking; any artsy pictures were taken by Chelsey! For those who don't know we took a week off and booked the time at a KOA in Warrenton Oregon; this is just outside Astoria, Oregon at the mouth of the Columbia River.

This was my first time pulling a trailer of any size so I had to learn pretty quick what to do as we rented a 32 foot travel trailer for this trip (based on the fun level we will be buying one next spring!). As much as I tried to convince Chelsey that I needed a diesel for these hauls ( a Dodge Ram 3500 with the Cummins Turbo Diesel to be exact) I will be the first to admit my truck did fine.

We got here Saturday night and have taken a couple excursions. To sum everything up this trip is awesome, trailers are awesome, and this KOA rocks!

We stopped in some random town to get gas and eat some snacks and Cohen took the opportunity to look at stuff! This was also my first experience realizing that you should not pull up to the gas pump next to the store when pulling a big trailer.

The bridge from Washington state to Astoria, Oregon is 4.1 miles long and is the longest trestle supported bridge in the world.

The KOA we are staying at is right across the street from Fort Stevens State Park so we have spent some time in this park. On Sunday before we went to visit Chelsey's Auntie Jan and Uncle Lou we cruised through the park to see if we can find the beach. Little did we know we can actually drive right on to the beach. This photo set also include a sequence shot of Kyah doing a cart wheel on the beach.

On the way back from visiting in Woodburn we swung by Seaside, which is an awesome little town, and we caught the sunset. It was pretty damn cool! Seaside reminded us a lot of Mission Beach in San Diego, now if only we can find a place that will let the kids in for happy hour it will be perfect.

We took a guided tour of Fort Stevens in a 1951 6x6 army truck, also known as a deuce and a half as it is a two and a half tonne. Did you know that the mouth of the Colombia River was 8.1 miles wide and during the civil war time they made two sand jettys to narrow it so they can guard it better. Also, during world war 2 a Japanese submarine fired 17 rockets/torpedos onto Fort Stevens but for still unknown reasons the commander in charge of Fort Stevens at the time wouldn't fire back.

This is actually a gun from a Navy ship.

All the guns at Fort Stevens were below ground level to keep them hidden and most of the goods were held in these buildings called Batteries, not sure why they called them a Battery.

This is a model of what Fort Stevens looked like when it was actually in use

On Monday night we went back down to the beach and grilled some hot dogs for dinner and checked out the wreck of the Peter Iredale. The Peter Iredale ran aground in 1906 and the Astoria Steel Co. was able to salvage much of the wreck for scrap but they left the front of the boat on the beach which is still there today. They call this area "The Grave Yard of the Pacific" as more than 2000 boats have run ashore here over the past 200 or so years.

Oddly enough when you can rip Cohen away from the iPad or Xbox he really likes to be outside and explore stuff, so far this trip has been pretty successful in that respect!

Random Pictures

2014-08-17T21:03:00.000-07:00

Today we ventured back from Victoria, BC after visiting Mum and Dad and picking up Mum to bring her back to Chilliwack for a week. In case you guys care here are a couple of photos from our non-eventful ride back on the ferry.

Whales on The Ferry

2014-08-16T12:02:00.001-07:00

Yesterday while the kids and I were coming over to Victoria to see Mum and Dad we were lucky enough to see some whales!

Tale of two Winds

2014-08-11T22:00:00.001-07:00

One day the wind is blowing so the air is clear two days later not so much. Check out the difference in the color of the sky thanks to the air pollution...