It has been 12 days since I was last able to post. It’s been a mix of bad cell signal, poor wifi in camp signal or just being tired. Let me catch y’all up on our shenanigans. We had our Nexus interviews, stayed at some nice and meh campgrounds and we have seen some actual wild life (and I don’t mean my kids).
June 17 & 18 – For those of you who don’t know, Nexus is a trusted traveler program between the US and Canada. We filled out our applications online and had been waiting for our interview. We chose Pembina, ND border crossing to do our interview. This way we could get a third state off of our checklist (49th state for Nana) and get our interviews done at the same time. We stayed in beautiful Icelandic State Park in Cavalier, ND. The campground site was stunning. It had 3 campsite loops and we were the only ones in our loop while we were there. Both boys loved the playgrounds in each loop as well as visiting the lake. It was a bit cool for them to swim, but they enjoyed the swings and chasing each other around after a long day in the RV. The only negative was that they were having construction on their main entrance so we had to use the alternative, dusty and occasionally washboard, entrance. Apparently the locals (and many Canadians as we were only 60 minutes from the border) fill up the park on the weekends.
June 19 – Our next stop was at the Red Trail Campground in Medora, ND. We chose this route so we could go through the North Dakota badlands. I felt a bit bad as I had no idea there were badlands in ND. They aren’t the same magnitude as SD, but they were still beautiful. The campground is within easy walking distance of the small town of Medora. The staff were really nice and escorted us to our site and helped me back in. Now if only I could figure out how to back in so nicely on my own. The campground was a bit narrow between sites, but as we were only staying overnight we had no problems. The beauty of narrow sites is that we end of talking to our neighbors. I usually just say Hi and move on while my mom takes after my Grandfather and chats away. We met Al and Bobbie who are on their 14th trip to Alaska. They gave some excellent advice on where I can take Brian to fish.
June 20 – Next we stayed at Evergreen Campground in Havre, MT. This was our first time camping at someones home. They had a few acres and turned it into a campground. We loved staying under a large old tree. Provided lots of shade for us while we sat outside. We had full hook ups with 50 amp power. It was a bit confusing to come up the shared driveway on the way into the campground so if you decide to camp here you need to keep an eye out for their signs. Sadly, on the way to Havre we received a chip in the RV’s windshield. so we had to take a side trip to Great Falls to get it repaired. I think it’s good for an overnight spot for heading to or from Glacier Park.
KOA St Mary
June 21 – Next up is a KOA in St Mary, MT. We really enjoyed this campground. We were nestled within Glacier Park and had stunning views. This was another level gravel site and we had full hookups with 50 amp power. When we have 50 amps we get the chance to do laundry. Otherwise we have to take turns between the washer or dryer running at the same time as the a/c. We can’t do all three on 30 amps. This is an excellent destination campground to explore Glacier Park. We really wanted to at least see some of the park but I was so tired from going to Great Falls for the windshield repair that we stayed in instead. This KOA offers dinner & breakfast cooked down by their pool. You also could get some “handmade” pizza delivered to your campsite. The pizza was made to order but the dough was not homemade. Still I didn’t have to cook so I was happy. Sean can attest to how delicious their all you can eat pancakes are. I wish I had known how huge they were before Nana and I both ordered some. We easily could have shared a stack of three and been full.
June 22 & 23 – We find ourselves at Spring Creek RV Campground in Canmore, AB. This is one confusing place to find. I knew to keep a lookout for the sign and still missed it. GPS took us into downtown. Luckily we were able to get out of there fairly quickly but it was nerve wracking. This campground is surrounded by mountains and is a short walk to downtown. There is a train that goes by but if you have a/c on, you won’t notice it. The staff were friendly to me, but my mom found the person at the front more interested in watching their movie than helping her. I can tell you that if you eat at the Grizzly Paw in Canmore, that the bison burger is good as are the regular burgers. They have their own microbrewery there as well. We stayed two days at this campground. Our second day we drove into Banff National Forest.
Banff, AB
Banff contains Lake Louise and you can also drive through on the Icefields Parkway and take a walk on a glacier. Lake Louise was pretty but it was windy and sprinkling so we didn’t stay long. The drive down the Parkway was long but it was worth a chance to go on a Terrabus and check out a glacier. Brian and Sean really enjoyed both the ride and drinking glacier water. If you choose to do this, bring a water bottle and take some back with you. If you have young teens, I recommend taking a trip out on the glacier. We also did a skywalk which is a bit farther down from the glacier. I really don’t think it was worth the money for us, but I can see how many people enjoy it. One of the great things about Banff is the wildlife you might find. We saw an elk, a black bear, three big horn sheep and a chipmunk.
Can you believe I am still going on about this stuff?? Man, have we been out of communication with y’all.
iRVin’s
June 24 we pulled into iRVin’s RV Park. This was a great stop over campground. They have planted some trees which will provide shade in the future. You do have mountain views . We have been so lucky with our sites. This was another level gravel pull through that had full hook ups. It was a great stopping point as we traveled. I do wish they had better trashcans at the campground. I worried about animals getting into it. Most of the campgrounds in bear country have had better ones.
June 25 & 26 – Dave’s RV Park in Vanderhoof, BC is where we landed for today. We are going to be here for 2 days as we desperately need to clean the rv and to do some laundry. The showers are good but the design of the building was a bit odd but workable. They have laundry (which we didn’t need) it is on a honor system and you pay the owners for how many loads you have done. On the 26th we drove into Prince George which is an hour from Dave’s. We visited Red Robin for dinner and Walmart for some supplies. Sean has had a few surprises on this trip with several items tasting differently from home. We had hoped that items from Walmart would be the same for him. Some were and some weren’t. I have learned to pack more of his (and Brian’s) taste specific items.
ksan
June 27 – We arrived at ‘Ksan Villiage and Campground in Hazelton, BC. There is a wicked bridge on the way to the campground. Don’t forget to stop and take some pictures before you cross it. It is one lane and everyone was pretty nice about taking turns. They had pay showers which we didn’t use. Sites 1-5 can get wifi, but we were in site 5 and it never worked for us. I had to walk down to site 1 to send or receive emails. We did manage to see two more black bears on the way to Hazelton but we were unable to get pictures as we didn’t want to slam on the RV’s breaks and possibly cause an accident.
Bear River RV Park
June 28 – River Bear RV Park in Stewart, BC. Late July and early August you will find a lot of bears here due to salmon. We chose to come here early and miss the bears. We mainly came here to drive down 37 and reach Hyder, AK. The boys were excited to cross back into the USA even though it was for a brief visit. We did see a bear today when we were in Hyder near their wharf. We got all silly and started whispering “there’s a bear” as if it could hear us with the windows up.
We are all excited about finally arriving to the main part of Alaska in 6 days. We will see if we are able to do an update before then. I will try to get pictures attached to this post when our wifi connects permit.
Later Y’all