We tried to make this last of the summer vacation a memorable one. I was getting tired of the same summer vacation every year. It reminded me of the vacations we had growing up. This year I wanted to do something different. This was most likely the last summer holiday I would have with Mike (Sorry Kels - you didn't get to come). We had a great holiday earlier in the year by going to Disneyland, but there is something to be said about enjoying your own Province. So with that in mind, we decided we would travel through to the Kootenays. I kinda wanted to celebrate my Grandpa's 100th B-day (he passed away 3 years ago) by visiting some of the places I went with him when I was a kid. I also wanted to go to The Hot Springs that we went to to celebrate Grandpa's 90th Birthday. All though I didn't get to go to as many places as I wanted to, it was a great trip. Our first stop was in Salmon Arm.
We camped at Sandy Point Campground. We had camped there with grandpa before and the beach was really nice. I remembered that the beach was lit up so that you could go night swimming. The next day we went to The Enchanted Forest.
It was really cool. I was thinking the kids would feel too old to be there, but it was a great walk. Mike and Crystal were good sports about getting pictures taken. So that was really nice. It has changed a bit over the years, but it was like stepping back in time while we were there. It was one of my favorite places we visited on our holidays. Our next stop was Fort Steele. Dad said I was there when I was really young, but I don't remember that.
We enjoyed Fort Steele Heritage Site. Again the kids were really good sports about getting their pictures taken. We were very lucky to stay 1 night with our friend Stacey in Cranbrook. We had a fabulous time enjoying the pool at his house as well as the wonderful food and fellowship! On Stacey's suggestion we decided to go to Idaho- why not we have passports to get into USA and Couer D'Alene is just over 2 hrs drive from Cranbrook. We ended up going to Silverwood Theme Park and Boulder Beach Water Park. It was a super hot the day we were there. I enjoyed the water park, but didn't like the long line ups. We went a some pretty awesome tube rides there, then headed over to the theme park.
We enjoyed the River Raft Ride- we were all soaked afterwards, so we went on the log flume ride. It was great too. The log ride was faster than the one at Disneyland, but not as steep. I really enjoyed it. Mike and Sean did a bunch of roller coasters. I'm not into roller coasters so I just watched. They went on Tremors! It was really neat to watch because the roller coaster came right through the gift shop. I had to buy them a souvenir shirt from that ride! Crystal and I enjoyed the Mexican Hat Ride. It was similar to The Ferris Wheel, only it went a lot faster. I counted going around 16 times. We had an amazing dinner at The High Moon Saloon (yes they allowed kids in there). We also went on a train ride and there was a train robbery show.
We had the best seat on the train for the show, however when the water well was blown up with dynamite, we got soaked. Another fantastic memory for us all. They took an offering for Save the Children Fund instead of actually robbing us. Our last ride of the night at 9pm and it was starting to get dark was the bumper boats. Sean didn't want to get wet so he stayed on the dock to take pictures. I didn't know that the public on the streets has access to unending water squirters. So I got drenched because I ended up getting stuck in that area. But I'm not going to lie- it was sooooooo much fun! Crystal and Mike were squirting me too. We all had a blast. When I got back to our campsite, my money inside my money belt was drenched. I had to hang it out to dry. Which was funny when I went to Walmart and bought a few items with wet money that I thought was dry. After leaving Silverwood, we made our way back to Canada through Washington State. It was a long drive with lots of farmland. We drove through a small town and saw The Koolie Dam.
It was pretty amazing. We gassed up at a Chevron Station, where gas seemed so cheap. We filled up, just over 10 1/4 gallons for $40.50 = about 41L for $45 after the exchange rate. We came back into Canada at Osoyoos, then traveled to Kelowna to spend time with Sean's Aunt & Uncle. The following day we met up with Heather in Kelowna after we were done our shopping and had lunch and a quick visit before we headed to Vernon. We had a nice visit with my Uncle Dick and cousin David in Vernon and then went to the cemetery to visit my grandparents grave.
I found Butcher Boys store (Grandpa took us there a lot when we were young) so I was able to direct Sean on how to get out to the Hwy in Vernon.
Then back in the car on our way home to stopped in Westworld at Route 97 Dinner and had another fantastic meal.
We arrived home late Friday night, just in time to do a bit of laundry and then headed to Maple Ridge to visit my sister and her family then next day. Mike had the weekend off and really wanted to visit with his cousin Brian and Kelsey was making her way back to Nanaimo for school.
We went on a hike at Cliff Park. By this time the sun had gone and it was rainy, but we made the best of it. Came back on Labour Day so we could go to work on Tues. But Crystal does not have school yet because of the Teacher's Strike. It was a great way to end our summer!
