Another "new" vehicle

98 Toyota Sienna, V6 3.0 L Automatic (aren't they all?)  206,000km for $3,000.  New timing belt, tires, brakes and the rest is all good except it needs a windshield.  Might be the first vehicle I've had with no rust!

Cruise control and AC.....items the Eurovan and Tercel don't have.

Lots of room....enuf for Carla to change after playing at the splash park.  All 4 back seats come out easily.

The Eurovan with its diesel is; hard to start in the winter; doesn't give any heat until I get to work; only has summer tires.  So it will get parked in the back come mid October.....and then I'll drive this....when I can't ride my bike.  And the best part?  Remote starter!

Grizzly Peak

Grizzly Peak in the Opal range.  3 hours up and 3 hours down.  Lots of loose material on the trail, made coming back down a bit tricky.

The sheep allowed us to get quite close.  That's the Wedge in the background

Ramon loving the scree!

The bigger peaks of the Opal range.  Grizzly peak is a small bump with 900m elevation gain.

Carla was the star today, as this is the first mountain that she climbed back down on her own!

The crux :)

Gringe!

Even the kids call him Tabernac!

Summer....July 2014

Great to see the temperature shift 180 degrees from what it was 6 months ago!

In Kamloops.....



Even hot enough to grow papaya in Calgary.....well indoors that is.



And bananas......

So here we go.....camping in the Eurovan/Westfalia.  Did a loop up to Edmonton, Grande Prairie, Chetwynd and area, down to Quesnel, Kamloops, Salmon Arm and back to Cowtown.  Here we are camped at Moberly lake provincial park....right on the lake.  Easy camping at $16 per night.

Free camping below the Revelstoke damn.  4 km north of Revelstoke.  Rode up the meadows in the sky road.  1500 vertical meters in 26km.  Got up to the top before any of the cars at 8am.

Free camping at Fort Edmonton

Carla hanging out.  Space for 4 bikes sure is handy!

.....on the road....with a clean table, ready to colour or play a game

The kids up in the pop-up tent on top.

Carla looking down from the pop-up

.....also used as a swing

Looking back up with the pop-up open....big bug screen

Chilling after lunch

West Edmonton Mall.  Still current and busy after nearly 35 years.  Hockey in the summer.

West Ed mall

Camping with Uncle Clifford and Aunty Annette

Ramon's latest interest.  Hasn't caught anything yet.

.....so if you can't catch any fish.....jump in and swim in the cold water

Ready for a cruise in the 68 Corvette

What else do you do in a car like that?

Can't remember if this is a Jackfish

A visit with Ian and Jean Campbell who are now 77 and 80.  Hadn't see Ian since I graduated from high school in 1980.

Moberly lake wasn't so bone chilling after all!  Carla catching minnows.  She was more successful with a net than Ramon was with a rod.

Ramon at Canoe beach in the Shusuap

Carla with Grandma Lori

Hemlock grove, Glacier National Park

Little Miss Carla

Baby Teagan in Grande Prairie. 

Uncle Don drives a 1,000km to camp with us in Tumbler Ridge.

Gwillam Lake

lil sis showing big bro how it's done



Dinosaur foot prints on flatbed creek in Tumbler Ridge.  Amazing that they aren't roped off or protected in any way.  Next to the original Bigfoot!

Trail workers leave a message

WAC Bennett damn tour.....way underground here.  Didn't know that BC's electricity is 95% Hydro. 

Moberly

Lot's of mills with LOTS of logs.  Huge stockpiles b/c of the pine beetle infestation?

Stampeders kicked Montreal's butt.

Edmonton

Edmonton-legislature buildings in the background

Splash parks everywhere!

The latest in high tech swingery

Las divas

Yippeee!

Tourists in Dawson Creek at Mile 0 of the Alaska hi-way.

A visit to Chetwynd is not complete with out a hike up Old Baldy and a handful of wild strawberries.

The chainsaw carvings are all over Chetwynd and have really transformed the place.  You're always twisting your head to see another one as you drive/walk/bike thru town.

Clifford's $5,000 massage chair.  What full body workout!

Uncle Clifford teaching Ramon how to fish, where there are no fish.

Can't have a campfire without marshmellows.  Vegan or not.

The little man in action.  He throws a mean cast.

Maria in a moment of peace sans kids.

Sacrificing the kids?

Clifford the master fisherman in action.  Brought home an Artic Grayling to feeding the hungry mouths.

Carla catches everything with her little net!

Cameron Lake

Add caption

Carla modelling the latest in camp fashion; a bucket on the head.

Ramon blasted up Mt. Murray in the Pine Pass in 3.5 hours.  Summit to the top left.

On the summit

Not sure what these unusually shaped edifices are.....

Powder King ski area on the right.  Lake Azueta below

Killer Ptarmigan.  On the attack.  Must have stumbled into her nesting area.

Bear prints on the edge of the creek.....10 feet from where we parked the van.

Visited an old high school buddy, Chris Eldon....with his daughter Claire and Carla. Enjoying a campfire in the back yard, complete with honey bees buzzing around.

We haven't changed much at all.  Science fair in Dawson Creek in 1977?

And a fine meal on the back porch.  Thanks for the great hospitality Chris.  Great to catch up with you!

Barkerville

Near Cache Creek

Lake Kamploops

Ro

River Park in Kamloops

Resident Marmot eating our grapes



Carla picking cherries in Kamploops

narry a drop of rain in 2.5 weeks!

Ramon Soccer Team

He loves playing soccer, hopefully not as much as cycling and climbing mtns :)