British Columbia

So into Osoyoos

July 12, 2016 By drpaddle 2 Comments

I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Osoyoos for a holiday visit. I’m not hesitating. Also: the NkMip resort is altogether pleasant. We went in springtime — it was Memorial Day weekend back in the U.S. — and the weather was temperate. They say it gets quite warm in July and August, and we probably wouldn’t choose to go then. But you might.

This could get me in trouble, but

Don’t get mad, but we moved to the Northwest from California. The Lake Osoyoos environs remind us very much of a number of lakes in central California. While we were there, the weather reminded us of Maui. Sun, rain, humidity, breeze, calm, all in the space of 15 minutes. Unlike most of Maui, however, Osoyoos has wineries. Many wineries. They are not out of focus, back there behind Sooz, because we had been visiting them; we didn’t get a chance to do that. They are out of focus because I am trying to learn about Depth of Focus (formerly known as Depth of Field), and the learning process is not yet complete.

When time allows, one packs up the tow and heads for the Osoyoos Home Hardware Store. On the way out of the campground…

Waterfront sites on the left. Wannabe-waterfront sites on the right. Most of the wannabe sites were far from level and not very roomy, but otherwise ideal.

And then, just a couple of miles away, you’ve arrived. Wait for it…

We were advised by a number of folk to visit the Home Hardware store in downtown Osoyoos. So we did. Says here it was established in 1942. Finally found something older than me.

In case you haven’t spent much time in Canada, Home Hardware is a chain of hardware stores similar to Ace or True Value in the U.S. I happen to have written about a couple of their stores in my lifetime, because they use retail business management software solutions offered by one of my clients. I know how successful and profitable the software is supposed to make them. Surely it must.

This one was established in 1942 as Osoyoos Hardware, probably before there was a Home Hardware brand to latch onto.

Why were we advised to visit this store? I dunno. It has a large inventory and wide variety of many things. Socks, for example. Also, canes. I think I see a dartboard here. Sooz bought some trinket to take to the house-sitter.

The store kind of starts out on the level and then begins a downward spiral — not unlike that cold I had. It goes on and on, and much of it is below the street level. I looked for a long time at some string lights we might have wanted to adorn Toto’s otherwise plain awning, but not one of the offerings was quite right. I will keep looking.

Oh, I thought of a good reason to go the Home Hardware store: the NkMip Resort’s Convenience store was… inconveniently closed.

We cannot attest to the accuracy of this establishment's name. Convenience store, hmmmm. It wasn't open. Didn't feel convenient...

We cannot attest to the accuracy of this establishment’s name. Convenience store, hmmmm. It wasn’t open. Is that a crime scene tape? Dunno. Probably not. Probably just too early in the season to make it profitable.

When you get back to your campsite, though, it might be one of these. You could fish, I suppose, or launch your favorite watercraft, right from your site! It would be a wonderful thing, I’ll bet. But I don’t know for certain.

Here are some waterfront sites, close-up. We requested one when we reserved, 7 months or so ahead of time. They said they would try. They didn’t try very hard, I guess. It’s okay, we’ll get one next time! Maybe.

About our route: we didn’t get pictures along the road, but we should have — it’s a pretty drive. We drove from Gig Harbor, over Snoqualmie Pass on I-90, then turned north on US route 97, which goes all the way up. Next time I’ll stop for pix. BUT next time we’ll take another route — through North Cascades National Park. It too promises top-drawer scenery.

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Oh, so yous went to Osoyoos? Us too.

July 9, 2016 By drpaddle 2 Comments

You will possibly recall that we have recently visited Wenatchee, Washington. One of the reasons we did this is that we were registered for a big Escape Trailer Customer Appreciation Rally weekend Osoyoos, British Columbia, a place in the Canada “wine country” just north of the middle of nowhere in north-central Washington. And Wenatchee is about halfway to Osoyoos from our house. See?

This Osoyoos place is more-or-less a resort community, clustered around a big lake called Lake Osoyoos. There’s a row of hotels, motels and condos, and a sprawling resort created by the Nk’Mip First Nations tribe. They built themselves a golf course, a luxe lodge, an inviting cultural center and a large, combination campground/RV park, and maybe a winery I think. For money they will let you experience some or all of these wonders.

See? Across the way there lie lodgings. There’s a small town as well. This is what passes for “desert” in Canada, they tell us visitors.

I think the Escape Trailer Industries folk who planned this gathering got us a small discount, and that was fine. The quality of the sites varies widely, and ours was not their finest, but we saw worse. You can’t reserve a specific site at Nk’Mip. You can request one, but there are no promises. I cannot tell whether this is “in order to best serve you, the RVing public” or “because we just don’t feel like it.”

So our site had some good parts and some bad parts. You could see bits of lake between the rigs parked across the street from us. The parking pad was more a small patch of bumpy pasture, and hilly. The road was made of a very fine quality British Columbian dust that worked hard at getting into Toto, and TinMan, and our eyes and ears and noses, etc., every time the wind came up, which is to say almost all the time.

Why are we parked so close to the front of our site, with poor TinMan wedged in between Toto and a tree? Because any further back and you’re on a hill. An uneven, unpaved hill. We were glad we could reach the electrical bush. We had to detach a lawn sprinkler from our pedestal so we could get water. Yes, we are guilty of taking water from an innocent lawn. Note: the Escape campers to our left also drive a Nissan Frontier. A red one. Excellent taste!

But! We didn’t attend to experience scenery and tranquility. This was a rally! People we know (or would get to know)! Free dinner! Free pancake breakfast! Cool giveaways! Gifts from our hosts! All of this stuff was great fun. It would have been even more fun had we not both had colds, and also I had to work a couple of days while we were there. Also, I would offer up pictures of the large gatherings (around 300 people I think) and row upon row of Escape trailers. Not complaining here, just saying next time I’ll get rally pix, not just Nk’Mip campground pix.

There are quite a few campsites along the Lake Osoyoos shoreline. You can see maybe 20% of them here, and that’s the resort’s small marina and swimming area in the foreground. Quite pleasant.

Here is a thing. See that Escape trailer across the way there? They arrived after we did, and they were assigned a site next to a bathroom. They went back and spoke in some sort of highly effective way to the check-in people, and they got re-assigned to… uh… the site I had thought I reserved 7 months earlier. This led me to consider whether my approach to life is at all workable.

You know what they say. When things are sub-optimal… sneezing… slogging through work… intermittent dust storms… in fact no matter what curve balls you find coming at you, you can still go out to lunch.

Yes, the Nk’Mip resort has a Cantina, just down from our campsite. Can you have a good getaway without enjoying a waterfront hot dog? I think not.

One of our favorite activities at the rally: scheduled “open house” times when we could visit other Escape trailers and be amazed at some of the unique ways people enhance their tow-able eggs. We held Toto open too.

At the appointed hour we held an “open house” (like everyone else around us). The red balloon signified our welcome to any and all visitors, of which there were many. People are always so good about saying nice things regarding Toto. It’s really kind.

There is more to say about Osoyoos and the fabulous Nk’Mip RV Park and Campground. For example: getting here, and then getting home, is really gorgeous drive. I will say this and more in a little while.

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Okay, ‘bye for now, Canada. Back soon.

July 17, 2015 By drpaddle 6 Comments

It was not supposed to be the last day of our trip, but it turned out to be.

We were up early to meet our 9:00 AM check-in deadline for the ferry ride to Port Angeles, Washington. Sooz passed our few remaining fruits and veggies on to the folks at the next site over (most aren’t allowed into the US). We left the RV park and drove easily to–and around–Victoria’s inner harbour to the ferry terminal.

Going this direction, one must arrive 90 minutes before scheduled departure, because US Immigration stuff happens in Victoria, and it takes a good while. We encountered some highly entertaining agents who guided us through the process, and by 10:00 we were trundling onto the ferry. Then, up to the sun deck with supplies and equipment required for the 90-minute Strait of Juan de Fuca crossing.

Cairn terriers, human legs, outdoor ferry seating, doggie bed.

No creature comfort spared for our intrepid terriers. On the sundeck of the Coho, trying to stay out of the sun, the tykes grudgingly share Tyler’s Big Boy Bed.

Our ferry, the Coho, named after some kind of fish, departed on time, with us on it. We had seen it the previous evening, passing the cruise ship terminal on its way out of the harbor.

MV Coho passing in front of docked cruise ship the size of Cleveland.

The Coho seems big enough, as ferries go, but I think the Jewel of the Seas (Caribbean Cruise Lines) could eat it for lunch. Or snack.

But now it was our turn. We got to wave goodbye, at least.

Float plane taking off, RV park, western part of Victoria Harbour, Esquimalt high-rises on a hill in the background.

We watched from the Coho as a float plane, possibly piloted by Clutch Cargo or maybe Sky King along with his niece, Penny, ascended in front of the RV park we had just vacated. ‘Bye for now Victoria!

It was a smooth crossing — Tyler experienced none of the Queasy Puppy Syndrome he suffered on a similar passage eight years prior — and we glided through customs like a Red-headed Woodpecker cruises through the trees at Taidnapam. (Go ahead, smirk. I’m trying, here).

Then onto our planned, two-night stay at campsite #51, Dungeness Recreation Area, near Sequim. This is a really nice, wooded campground inside a Clallam County park, and a few of the sites have views of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, according to our meticulous research.

However.

Contrary to the park website’s promise, site 51 just had views of 10-foot-high hedges and shrubs and whatnot. Unless we were willing to do some serious gardening, it would have just another two days of hiking off somewhere else to not feel like we were sitting in a small green room. And I’m thinking the park rangers probably didn’t want us to do any gardening for them, anyway. And we had forgotten to pack our hedge trimmer.

The boys were too tired, by now, to do much walking around. And we thought… Big, Hot Showers. King-size Bed. 64-inch TV. Air Conditioning. Hmmm.

It was an easy two-hour drive home. I needed caffeine, though — I think I was starting to relax too early. Sooz kept handing me the bottle of Coke Zero and saying “talk to me.”

I wonder what I said.

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Back to Nanaimo

July 14, 2015 By drpaddle 6 Comments

After five glorious nights in Tofino, we made our way back across the island to Nanaimo and the Living Forest campground. On our way out of Tofino, as we drove through parts of Pacific Rim National Park Reserve, we saw one of these for the 90th time.

Multillingual 'Dogs on leash at all times' sign

In any language, at least in the Tofino area, this sign means “Leash your dog so it can be the only one here on a leash.”

Tyler and Wally were nearly the only dogs within a hundred miles of here that were on leash. We were sorely tempted to set them free on the beaches where many others scampered about at will. But we didn’t. Rule followers, we are. At least most of the time. It’s a limitation we live with.

Our last two days in Tofino, the sunsets were fabulous — mostly due to heavy smoke from various BC fires. We were lucky to be where the ocean breezes kept the air relatively clean. As we drove back across the island, the smoke got thicker and thicker — at one point, near Sproat Lake, I’d say visibility was down to 1/4 mile.

But that was the worst of it (for us), and soon we were relaxing at site #113 at the Living Forest place.

Toto at water-view site in Living Forest campground

Site 113 wasn’t as private as some, but pleasant it was. Nice views of Georgia Strait, a nearby path for poking around, friendly neighbors and reliable Wi-Fi. I don’t remember what I was scorching on the baby grill.

Nanaimo is not the wilderness, but this campground is far enough away to be peaceful. Unlike #141 where we stayed a week earlier, this site was far from any beach or play areas, and was much quieter. Less convenient, though, if you have kiddies who require beach time, I suppose.

Tidelands and logs as seen from our campsite.

Lots to see from our campsite, including huge log rafts. Logs grow on trees around here. The near part of the bay was mostly tidelands, underwater at high tide but exposed — and providing yummy treats for shorebirds — at low tide.

One other thing about this campground — not unique, but more noticeable here — wasps. They really wanted pretty much everything we wanted.

There was some debate about whether this sauvignon blanc would be sufficiently nutricious once the extra protein was removed. We decided to save it in case we ran out later. I can’t remember what eventually happened to it.

After two nights in Nanaimo, we dashed off to Victoria for a one-night stay in a well-located, glorified parking lot just 15 minutes from our ferry back to Washington. Stay tuned for our adventures at the West Bay Marine Village and a fun-filled ferry ride home.

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Three things to know about Tofino, British Columbia

July 13, 2015 By drpaddle Leave a Comment

What happens in Tofino… stays in Tofino… unless it happens to Team Toto. So:

Crystal Cove Beach Resort and RV Park provides, with all accommodations, Wi-Fi. This is particularly helpful when you’re visiting from the USA (or other foreign country) and your mobile phone provider features a $1500-per-megabyte mobile data when roaming. (I may be exaggerating). So: FREE Wi-Fi, as long as you don’t mind logging in every 30 minutes. I didn’t mind. It seemed to work quite well.

White, brick-shaped Wi-Fi repeater mounted to tree trunk in Tofino

This Wi-Fi repeater, or access point, or whatever it is, just across Dust Lane from our campsite, worked well. Sometimes.

But on waking after our first night at the resort, I couldn’t log in at our campsite. Further investigation as the day progressed revealed that I COULD log in in other areas of the resort — just not near our campsite. Another inconvenience of wilderness camping, but we muddled through just fine.

I could have gone to the office and alerted them to this devastating problem, but I didn’t. It would seem, however, that someone else did. Because, late in the day, I returned from a beach walk to see what appeared to be electronics equipment sitting on the edge of Dust Lane, with no one around. Maybe someone had left it there by mistake?

No. It belonged to a technician who had been dispatched to remedy the log-in problem, which apparently was associated with the aforementioned repeater across from our site. I moved on. And, later, I found that I could now log in to the Wi-Fi from our site. It was thoroughly satisfying. These folks at Crystal Cove Beach Resort have their act together; they run a tight ship; they’re a well-oiled machine. And, I expect, when the weather is normal (slightly damp), they don’t have all those dust clouds. That is a thing to know; or maybe it is a heap of things, but I’m calling it a single thing, for literary purposes.

Before the Wi-Fi problem was overcome, I had to find an alternative blogging station. I suffered through.

Beach chairs, laptop, Sooz, Wally wheels on the lawn overlooking Crystal Cove.

This was my blogging station during the time I couldn’t reliably use the Wi-Fi at our site. Hey, the view was better anyway, and the doggies liked hanging out on the lawn.

Here is another thing about the greater Tofino metropolitan area: it is scenic beyond all reason. You get got your long, wide, sandy ocean beaches, with pounding surf that attracts surfers from all over the planet. You get all those rocks and trees and mountains for which British Columbia is known. And then you get Clayoquot Sound, an extensive inlet covering many thousands of acres, or hectares as we say up in Canada, and which encloses its very own islands which themselves possess hundreds of their own hectares. It’s all very hilly, and green, and largely undeveloped, and is so much more pleasing to look at than, say, a strip mall.

Cairn terriers, rocky beach, incredible views.

Tyler and Wally survey Clayoquot Sound from the Grice Bay launch ramp.

We went for our mandatory stroll on Long Beach — a Pacific Rim National Park mainstay and important component of repeating Tyler’s initial visit eight years earlier — and then we went to Grice Bay, before finally retiring to Toto’s creature comforts and lovely Crystal Cove.

Sooz, Tyler and Wally at the launch ramp.

The easier-on-the-eyes portion of Team Toto inspects the launch ramp at Grice Bay. This is part of Pacific Rim National Park Reserve, which has other, more famous parts. But this part seems nice enough.

So, Tofino 2015. Check. Done. Nice. Now, back to Nanaimo.

Wait, oh wait. The third thing to know. For casual dining or take-out in greater Tofino: Wildside Grill. Matchless fish & chips and other delights. We celebrated Sooz’s birthday on July 4, treating ourselves to a wonderful take-out meal and some California bubbly from Tofino’s BC Liquor Store.

There.

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It’s the beach, and it looks like sand. But it’s dirt.

July 8, 2015 By drpaddle 2 Comments

On July 2 we drove from Nanaimo, on Vancouver Island’s east coast, to Tofino, on its west coast. We had done this drive once before, eight years prior, and the people who maintain roads in British Columbia had clearly been hard at work in the interim. But this time we had Toto in tow, so we were more aware of every twist and turn. A lot of the road had become smoother, and maybe a little wider.

But not all of it. The last 30 miles or so before you get to the coast are winding and a little narrow in places — not to be helped without carving away mountainsides, and probably not worth the hassle. But that part of the road is also quite bumpy now. Plentiful patched potholes, some quite large, made for slow going. It was also hot — about 95 degrees F when we stopped for lunch in Port Alberni, mid-island — and that kept the boys’ tongues hanging out for much of the drive. That and the curves, we think. Wally has come a long way, as a traveler. We kept telling the boys what troopers they are. But he’s never been fond of curves.

One gratuitous note about the driving experience: TinMan and Toto really, really handle well on this kind of road. We’re so pleased that the rig feels safe, easy to drive, etc.

Anyway. We got to Crystal Cove Beach Resort mid-afternoon, checked in, and got settled.

Toto, awning extended, and picnic table at campsite.

Campsite 8 at Crystal Cove Beach Resort and RV Park. Others have suggested this is the best site in the park. We didn’t find another we liked better.

The resort is a collection of upscale cabins at the south end of McKenzie Beach, a stretch of sand you’d literally murder your grandmother and sell your puppies to the Klingons just to be able to walk. What a gorgeous place. The beach, I mean. And the resort — all log cabins and lawns and gorgeous landscaping and meticulously maintained flora and a fake creek for cryin’ out loud — it’s super.

Yes. In front of the beachfront cabins there’s a wonderful lawn and a hedge and then a little cove. It’s just a horrific place. Who would want to spend time here?

At some point, I don’t know when, the resort said WAIT A MINUTE WHAT ELSE CAN WE DO WITH THIS LAND? So they carved out a hundred-or-so not-so-spacious campsites, not beachfront, but not far.

A very few are reasonably spacious. I had read on the Escape Forum about campsite 8, and so reserved it, and it lived up to its reputation for decent size and privacy. And it was a short walk to the resort office/lobby/cafe where one can get free coffee or purchased espresso drinks, and a few pastries. And one can check out a disc from the extensive DVD & Blu-Ray library. It’s all included, and it’s lovely.

But.

Well, we are just learning what we like and don’t like about camping in this place or that. So we are going to have a few left turns against traffic not and then and only realize later that we could have simply gone round the block to the right.

Campsite 8 is on a small side ‘street’ in the the resort, which is a good thing for privacy. The main streets double as soccer pitches and skate parks and motocross lanes and promenades for $600 baby strollers. All of which is very sweet but not our thing, at least not on every trip.

So that is the good thing about the side street. The bad thing is that it’s not paved. It’s gravel. And that’s okay — who doesn’t like a gravel campground road? It’s not supposed to be suburbia after all.

But in this case the side street was a little light on the gravel and a little heavy on the sand. Wait, sand? You would have thought, being right next to a sandy beach. But, no — it’s dirt.

So what’s wrong with a little dirt? Nothing. Camping is all about dirt! Just ask Wally. But there was one more element: drought conditions. Dry, powdery dirt. Yes… it was dust.

Well, okay, what’s wrong with dust? Nothing, because it’s a lightly traveled side street, right? Well here is where it all broke down. It IS lightly traveled by campers and their vehicles. But it is apparently the main travel artery for the resort’s roughly 725 Club Car brand golf carts, which are used by the staff to do maintenance things, and possibly to zip down to a private grove and smoke a doob. I have no knowledge of this, and I’m not accusing anyone on the resort’s staff of being anything less than wonderful. They truly are. But man there sure was a lot of Club Car traffic on our little lane.

Each Dust Cart (did I say Dust Cart? I mean Club Car) transit — they seemed to come every 2.7 minutes — left a little cloud of dust that settled upon TinMan, and on Toto, and on everything and everyone in the campsite.

You’ve seen terriers, and I suspect other animal breeds, shake vigorously to rid themselves of excess water after a dip or a walk in the rain. Now imagine Tyler and Wally shaking the DUST off their fabulous double coats.

In the trailer.

Well, hey, it’s camping, what the heck, we’re at the beach, we’re all going to get dirty, right? Absolutely.

Wally digging joyfully on McKenzie Beach.

We’re here to get dirty, right Dad?

Sooz, Tyler and Wally frolicking on the beach.

When the world presents you with sand, and dirt, embrace it.

So, that first afternoon, we escaped the dust and walked the cove and the beach. We met many interesting characters, including….

Perhaps you’ve read about the disease affecting sea stars all along the Pacific coast. Lots have perished. Others are a paler version of their former, brightly-colored selves. But this one is hanging in there, by gum, at Crystal Cove.

Much more to savor and share about Tofino. But not now. Now is leftover pizza time.

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