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Road trip to Vancouver
  • Danielle Crawford

Road trip to Vancouver

10 days of adventures, while we make our way out to Vancouver and back with Grandma Amy, Aunty Andra, Harper and Onyx. This is Ariella and Atlas's first major road trip and my first time going to Vancouver and our longest trip as a family unit so far Read more
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  • Trip start
    August 16, 2023
    Danielle CrawfordRoad trip to VancouverTraveler

    Royal Tyrell Museum

    August 16, 2023 in Canada ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    We left bright and early at 4:15am this morning. Although the kids barely slept on the drive, we did make good time and made it to Drumheller by noon.
    The kids ran off a lot of energy at the museum and loved looking at the "saurs" as Atlas would call them. Ariella was quite nervous beforehand about there being real dinosaurs there.Read more

  • Danielle CrawfordRoad trip to VancouverTraveler

    Hoodoos

    August 16, 2023 in Canada ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    After a quick car nap for the kids, we stopped at the Hoodoos for a hike. Myself and Atlas made it higher than I expected, but he needed a bit of a break, so we cut it off early. However, Chris and Ariella, made it to the top. The pictures looking down are ones that Chris took.
    And now we are off to Calgary for the next 2 nights.
    2 notes about the video. There's no volume because Atlas was having some big feelings. And Chris is in the red tank top at the top.    Read more

  • Danielle CrawfordRoad trip to VancouverTraveler

    Calaway Park

    August 17, 2023 in Canada ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    Today, we spent the whole day at Calaway Park. As far as I know, this is my first time at Calaway Park. Mom and Dad, you can correct me if I'm wrong. If it's not, then this is the first time I remember it anyway!
    Anyways, it was a day filled with a lot of rides. Atlas struggled with being too short to go on all the rides. But the ones that he could go on, he loved! Ariella went on a lot of rides as well. She even did Timber Falls with Harper, Grandma Amy, and myself. If you're not familiar, think a bigger version of the Niagra Falls ride that comes to the exhibition. If you're not familiar with that, it's a roller coaster that drives through the water and has some large downhill drops where you get splashed. Although her and Harper were quite scared after the first drop, by that point, there was no turning back. We are all so proud of the girls for sticking it out. Andra ended up purchasing the picture because it was just too good not to buy. I'll have to share that picture another time.
    I am also so proud of the kids as they did a number of rides all bu themselves. We managed to stay until the very end of the day.

    We had to run into Calgary for a few things, so now the kids are sleeping in the car since they are wiped out from a big day.    Read more

  • Danielle CrawfordRoad trip to VancouverTraveler

    Downhill Karting by Skyline

    August 18, 2023 in Canada ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C

    Update coming up a little late. We had a long day of activities, travelling and navigating as we entered the mountains.

    After a very windy night at our campground, we were surprised to see all of our tents standing in the morning. We ate breakfast and packed up our campsite. We then made our way into Calgary to do some downhill Karting before we hit the road to head towards Revelstoke. This was incredibly fun! They do this at the Canada Olympic Park. Fortunately, their minimum age requirement is 2 years old, which meant Atlas could ride. But they must be able to walk on their own, fit into a helmet, and follow directions. This made sense when I was riding up the chair lift with Atlas, and I experienced a new level of anxiety, having him up there so high with me. Again, to our fortune, he sat extremely well. Once we got to the top, we got a quick run down of how the karts worked, and they sent us on our way down the hill.
    Ride #1. We got a feel for the karts, and the track.
    Ride #2. We stuck together for a quick pic on the track and the races began. Chris and Ariella took an early lead, but myself at Atlas did some pretty slick maneuvering down the hill snd were only beaten by a hair.
    Ride #3. Grandma and Onyx took the lead, but again, we maneuvered our way to them and took the lead. We thought we lost Chris and Ariella after they crashed into a barricade, but somehow, they managed to catch us. But we still managed to win that race.
    I would definitely do this again. We then started our trek towards Revelstoke.    Read more

  • Danielle CrawfordRoad trip to VancouverTraveler

    Johnston Canyon and on to Revelstoke

    August 18, 2023 in Canada ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    En route to Revelstoke, we stopped at Johnston Canyon in Banff National Park.
    We packed the kids up into the stroller, told Chris we didn't need rain gear, and off we went. It was absolutely beautiful. The path was narrow and busy with people, but it was so worth the stop.
    The lower falls were just over 1km away and the upper falls were just under 2.5km away. So we started our trek.
    The rain started on our walk to the lower falls. But it was a very refreshing and much needed rain. It did not let up.
    Pictures don't do justice for how amazing the view of the lower falls was. We spotted the stairs going to the upper falls and decided that that route wasn't going to be for us since we had the stroller and we were already soaked in rain. We made our 1K hike back to the parking lot.
    Unfortunately for us, we froze our butts off on the next trek to Lake Louise. Don't worry, the kids didn't get wet on the walk, so they weren't quite as cold as us.
    We stopped for a delicious korean/japanese dinner in Golden. The only downside to that outting was that our crew had a major case of the spillies. 2 full glasses of water and a bowl of soup fell victim to us.
    We had a long winding, dark drive to Revelstoke. And for the night, we stayed at the Frontier Motel.    Read more

  • Danielle CrawfordRoad trip to VancouverTraveler

    What to do next?

    August 19, 2023 in Canada ⋅ ☀️ 11 °C

    This was a very hard day. We woke up and quickly learned about the state of the fires in the Okanagan, especially around Kelowna. The fires in the area grew one hundred fold in just 24 hours. Thousands more were evacuated from their homes in Kelowna. We spent the day at The Enchanted Forest (I will update a footprint on that later), and while we were there, BC issued travel restrictions to the central interior portion of the province. We expected to have to change our plans, and Chris and I really wavered back and forth about turning back. Highway 1 was closed for a portion of the drive due to the Lower East Adams Lake Wildfire. After a lot of planning and an immense amount of emotions, we decided to go on with a detour to bypass the fires in the area and avoid stops in the central interior of the province. We have planned for alternate routes out of the area and are going to keep our ears to the ground about the changing conditions.
    We were fortunate enough to get into our campground 1 day early. So we pulled into Capilano River RV Park around 1:30am. Set up one of three tents and crashed for the night.    Read more

  • Danielle CrawfordRoad trip to VancouverTraveler

    Enchanted Forest

    August 19, 2023 in Canada ⋅ ☀️ 14 °C

    Coming at you with a very delayed entry. We have been in Vancouver for a couple days ans been keeping ourselves very busy. I would normally be updating these in the car, but I am usually trying to follow the GPS along with Chris to get us through the city. Hence, there hasn't been much time to update.

    Anyways, here is Enchanted Forest. I know we visited the Enchanted Forest as kids, and truly, nothing felt very familiar to me while we were there. However, seeing some of the sights did remind me of pictures that I have seen of us as kids. It took both Ari and Atlas a bit of time to warm up, but after a while, they were getting excited to see all the houses they could explore in and out of and the characters.
    We went on the hike attached to the Enchanted Forest, and the kids loved finding walking sticks to help them along.
    After we got back from the hike and we finished the rest of the Enchanted Forest. We went to the parking lot and set up to have a picnic lunch. We needed the fuel for the next adventure. Atlas napped on Chris while we ate. When we finished lunch, we made our way up to Skytrek Adventure Park, which was just above the Enchanted Forest. Our kids were able to do 2 of the activities, the Kids Sky Gym and the Fun Slide.
    Sky Gym was very cool. It was a lot of different suspension bridges, with nets underneath, for the kids to climb across. After the first few bridges, Ariella and Atlas got a lot more confident and began doing them on their own. Harper helped us along while Onyx lapped us a few times to get as many rides on the zipline at the end as he could.
    We reached the end of the course, and unfortunately, parents were not allowed to ride the zipline. I made my way to the end and got to watch Atlas zip down the line to me. Ariella felt that she wanted to me more cautious and opted to take the stairs down instead.
    We played at the Fun Slide next. This was a long slide with humps on it that you ride down in a potato sack. Normally, our kids like slides, but I think the potato sack made it a little bit too intense. One slide down was enough for both Ariella and Atlas.
    We watched Harper and Onyx do one more round at the Sky Gym course. Then we made our way back down to hit the road since we had a long drive ahead of us.    Read more

  • Danielle CrawfordRoad trip to VancouverTraveler

    Capilano River RV Park

    August 20, 2023 in Canada ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

    A little about our campsite. We are camping in North Vancouver beside the Capilano River and to the west of the Lions Gate Bridge. The campsite is neat, as it is right in the city, but feels very private since it's treed in. We can hear the sounds of the traffic, especially on the bridge through the night, but we are used to listening to white noise, so I think it's actually helping the kids sleep.
    The campsite closes down at 11pm and is surrounded by an 8ft fence, so it feels very secure. There is a park, a pool, a jacuzzi, laundry services, and a lounge (not a drinking lounge, just a hangout spot).
    There are some neat campsites here, clearly from people who have very long stays.
    I think one of the most interesting things we have seen here is 2 massive motorhome rigs. They almost look like garbage trucks. But when I looked it up on Google to research what it was, I learned you could buy one for yourself for a cool $1.85 million. Actually, I only found one for sale online. It is used, located in Europe, and would cost 1.94 million CAD. These seem like a luxury to travel in, especially if you are planning on taking them through some tough terrain.
    The kids have enjoyed the pool and the park a lot. Atlas especially loves hearing the airplanes and the helicopters flying through the air.    Read more

  • Danielle CrawfordRoad trip to VancouverTraveler

    Harbour Centre Lookout Tower

    August 20, 2023 in Canada ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C

    Okay, once again, I am a few days behind, as we have kept our days in Vancouver packed full. So here we go with our updates from our Vancouver adventures.

    The first full day that we spent in Vancouver was a great day to reset ourselves from the stress of the previous day. We cleaned ourselves up, played at the park, swam at the pool, did laundry, and planned one outting to the Vancouver Harbor Lookout. They closed early on this day, and the last glass elevator went up at 5:30. We left our campsite around 4:30 to start our 30-minute drive over there. Enter Vancouver traffic. We moved about 1 block in 15 minutes, so we knew this route wasn't going to work.
    We rerouted ourselves to come at the lookout tower from the other direction. This moved a little quicker, but we were still in traffic. We miss a turn. We miss another turn. Now we are on East Hastings driving towards the lookout. If you haven't heard about East Hastings, there is a span of about 5 blocks between Hastings and Princess to Hastings and Carrall where a lot of the homeless in the city live and hang out I'm not sure if there are any laws enforced there or if it is all fair game. Either way, it was something like we've never seen before. The sidewalks were filled with people, and many of them passed out. Some selling things like shirts or knick knacks. Although it was heartbreaking to see, I think it was a real eye opener for us.

    Anyways, back to the Vancouver Lookout. We find parking downtown around 5:25 and run. We make it into the building where things look pretty closed up. However, someone was there, and since we prebought our tickets, we were allowed up.
    It was so cool to see the city from this view. The kids loved watching the planes flying onto the water and seeing all the boats in the Harbour.
    We got to watch a massive barge being towed by, what looked like in comparison, a tiny tug boat. A lot of rooftops looked very luxurious, with plants, seating, and trees. We also got to see some pretty cool architecture in downtown Vancouver.
    We were ready to head back down, and we decided to go for a quick walk downtown. There were lots of people dressed up in anime cosplay, so we assumed there was an expo of some sorts around. We got a little taste of some of the street culture as we listened to entertainers singing as well.
    When our meter ran out on our parking, we headed back to our campsite for supper and bed.    Read more

  • Danielle CrawfordRoad trip to VancouverTraveler

    Aquarium

    August 21, 2023 in Canada ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    We planned a little better for the traffic and left early for Stanley Park. This gave us a lot of time to park, use bathrooms, get a coffee, and chase some birds. Plus, we got a bit of a walk in, before the Aquarium.
    The aquarium was absolutely massive, and very dim, so I sure am glad Grandma Amy planned ahead with outfits for our kids that were easy to spot.
    There were about 4 main exhibits, and I won't go onto full detail on them as I could write for hours about it. So here are the highlights. We got to watch (and luckily got a video of) a sea otter taking a 💩 and playing with it. Take this as your trigger warning for this footprints video. There was an extremely dramatic sea lion we could hear the minute we stepped outside. An axolotl, sloths, monkeys, turtles, frogs, and about 1 million fish. I'm definitely missing a lot since it was massive. But it was a really fun way to spend the majority of our day.    Read more

  • Danielle CrawfordRoad trip to VancouverTraveler

    Third Beach in Stanley Park

    August 21, 2023 in Canada ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    After a full day at the aquarium, we capped the day off at Third Beach.
    Here we got to go searching for shells. We found lots of clam shells, a few mussels, and about quite a few oysters. This is where we got to put our feet in the ocean. Finished off with some ice cream and made our way back to the campsite for the night.Read more

  • Danielle CrawfordRoad trip to VancouverTraveler

    Granville Island and Seafood Supper

    August 22, 2023 in Canada ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    On our last full day in Vancouver, we were itching to do some shopping. A quick Google search and at the recommendation of mom, we decided to go to Granville Island. We definitely scratched the shopping itch here. We visited the public market, which was packed with people. I had a clam chowder pot pie, which was amazing . We had a couple fruit tarts through the day and a box of local fruit.
    We took the kids to the Kids Market where they played arcade games. Ari Harper and Onyx played on the bumper cars. Also, Harper and Onyx played on the massive indoor play structure. It was a good place for the kids to get rid of some energy since shopping in stores wasn't exactly thrilling for them.
    We finished our Granville Island experience picking up seafood for supper that night. We walked down Fisherman's Wharf hoping to find some seafood caught that day. Unfortunately, everything we saw was frozen. There was a woman who informed us if we needed seafood for supper this evening, we should head back onto Granville Island to rhe public market to get food from Seafood City. With the help of the employees there, we got 2 big dungeness crabs, fresh scallops, argentine prawns. I also crabbed some smoked candied salmon which was amazing.
    Headed back to the campsite and put our supper on ice so we could make our booking for the Capilano Suspension Bridge. This will be a separate entry. But I'll skip ahead to just mention our supper. I've never had fresh shellfish, and this was probably the best shellfish I've ever had. The crabs were so meaty and melted in your mouth. I also loved the scallops. I'm glad we got to experience fresh seafood on this day.
    I just have one video to upload since my phone was on lower power most of the day. Whoops!    Read more

  • Danielle CrawfordRoad trip to VancouverTraveler

    Capilano Suspension Bridge

    August 22, 2023 in Canada ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    This was our last big activity for our Vancouver stay. Capilano Suspension Bridge is a 450 ft long swinging suspension bridge. There is a whole park built around it with three bigger attractions/trails. First, we did a trail called Cliffwalk, which is a path on the edge of a cliff. There were some breathtaking views, and the information along the trail taught all about the effects of water on the rocks and trees. Then we did the suspension bridge. Ari was fine to walk along the suspension bridge, but as we got to the end, she informed me that that was the scary part as we were getting to the top. On the other side, there was one more trail called Treetops Adventure.
    This one was very neat as it was a series of suspension bridges from tree to tree in the forest.
    While we were on the Treetop Adventure trail. Ariella pretended the rubber mats at the beginning and end of the bridges were slides and "slid" up and down them on her butt. Chris took Atlas around to all the characters to give high 5s.
    We had to walk the bridge back to the other side, and Atlas was not happy that I made him hold my hand, as he insisted that he do it. In his most shrilling "I do it" voice. Despite that slight hiccup , this was a fun way to end off our Vancouver visit.    Read more

  • Danielle CrawfordRoad trip to VancouverTraveler

    Crowsnest Pass and Grand Forks

    August 23, 2023 in Canada ⋅ 🌙 15 °C

    This was a long drive from Vancouver towards our original destination of Fort Steele. I think Google Maps doesn't account for the fact that you can't drive the speed limit of 100 around the sharp curves of the mountains. So what was supposed to be a 10 hour drive was going to take us well over 13 hours to get there. So we changed plans and got a site in Grand Forks instead. We pulled in around 8 pm, got ourselves set up for the night, and got to shower and sleep.
    Highlights from the drive. We stopped for lunch in Hope and let the kids play at a park. We stopped at a fruit market in Keremeos to get some fresh fruit and veggies. I was happy to get to buy some peaches since I missed the Peach Sale in Lumsden this year.
    I loved the rockiness of the mountains around Keremeos. When I think of mountains, this is the terrain I imagine. The town of Osoyoos is absolutely breathtaking, and I would definitely like to come back to spend some time there, visiting orchards and wineries.
    The kids are becoming pro car riders, and Atlas slept for long portions of the drive.
    Today, we will pack up and move on towards Lundbreck Falls.    Read more

  • Danielle CrawfordRoad trip to VancouverTraveler

    Skimmerhorn

    August 24, 2023 in Canada ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    Since we had changed our plans to stay in Grand Forks last night, we ended up driving through Creston just after noon. This made it a good place to stop for lunch.
    On our honeymoon 5 years ago, Chris and I had an amazing meal at a Skimmerhorn Vineyard and Winery I'm Creston. We thought since our 5th anniversary is tomorrow, that we would visit the same Vineyard again for charcuterie for lunch. We loved the opportunity to experience this special place 5 years later.
    Before we left, we made sure to buy a port wine from 2018.    Read more

  • Danielle CrawfordRoad trip to VancouverTraveler

    Lussier Hot Springs

    August 24, 2023 in Canada ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    Before we left, Dad had mentioned there were natural hot springs around Fort Steele (originally where we were supposed to stay on the night we stopped in Grand Forks). We decided this was worth the trip an hour off route. And it sure was.
    Getting to the hot springs requires an 18km drive on an active logging road. The last 3-4km, we drove alongside the edge of a mountain, with no barricade, and a frightfully steep drop off the side. I sure was glad to get to our destination because that was enough time on a road built like that.
    The actual hotsprings were amazing. These are 100% natural and 100% free. A lot of people were there, and you could smell the sulfur as you walked down to the hot springs, but it was amazing to experience. We soaked for an hour or 2, jumping between the different pools and the different temperatures. Unfortunately, we did have to leave since we had 3 more hours of driving and still hadn't eaten supper. The drive down was beautiful. The sun was setting, and the golden glow on the mountains was an amazing view.
    We stopped at a rest stop to cook some burgers, the sun set quickly and we went on our way to Lundbreck Falls for the night.    Read more

  • Danielle CrawfordRoad trip to VancouverTraveler

    Lundbreck Falls

    August 25, 2023 in Canada ⋅ ☁️ 13 °C

    After we left Lussier Hotsprings, we made our way towards Lundbreck Falls. We stopped to cook up some burgers at a rest stop on the way. It was extremely beautiful, as it right in front of a crystal clear, glass-like river with mountains in the back drop. The sun set quickly, and as it set, Chris started hearing some preculiar sounds in the forest around us. It took the rest of us a little longer to hear them, but as the sounds got louder, we started to get spooked. We packed up as quickly as we could, threw the kids in the car, and got the heck out of dodge. We are still stumped as to what it was. It almost sounded like a laugh of a hyena, but not as high-pitched as I would imagine a hyena sounds.

    Our last 2 nights were spent at Lundbreck Falls Provincial Recreation Area. This campsite was a little different than what we have been used to in the past. It was a walk-in site, so we parked in the parking lot and walked out gear into our site. We got in late that night, and I dont quite remember when we finally got to sleep, but Aunty Andra and Grandma Amy said they could still hear Atlas up at 3am.
    We camped 5 minutes away from the falls, so it was an easy walk over there. the next day. While we were there, the guy camping next to us found us to give the kids some chalk, so they could make their mark on the bridge amd the rocks aroubs the falls.

    Since we didn't have anything planned for the remainder of the day, Chris, Atlas and I caught up on some sleep during the day while Ariella watched some shows.
    After our nap, we walked along the river to a more calm nook to spend a little more time. The kids played with beach toys, hunted for rocks, and splashed around in the crystal clear water. Chris got to play a bit as well, crossing the river, walking through the rapids, and scaling a cliff with a rope. He took Onyx with him to the other side. There, they found a perfect place to roll rocks down hills. He also acted as a taxi and brought the kids across with him one at a time so they could "go to the deep" as Ari would say.

    We had supper back at the campsite and made our way back to the falls for sun down. We originally planned to enjoy our port that we bought at Skimmerhorn the day before to toast our 5th anniversary, but Atlas had other plans and filled his diaper instead.
    We got to have our anniversary toast at the campsite instead.
    This day was a really great way to wind down after our busy days before, and I think we were all happy with a bit of downtime to relax.    Read more

    Trip end
    August 26, 2023
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