Summer Vacation (part 1)

I know it’s been a while. What can I say, we’ve been busy. Very busy. For starters our house FINALLY sold on July 1st! I can’t tell you the relief this brings me. The house was on the market for the better part of a year so this was a long time coming. The only down side was that the buyers wanted a 30 day possession date. YIKES! So we got home from a week long camping trip on July 7th and started packing and looking for a rental house. In a flurry of boxes and moving men we successfully moved and a week later we were off on a 3 week RV trip.

Stop #1
Coeur d’Alene Idaho. It is a beautiful state. It’s green and lush and has a lot of water unlike Alberta, where I live. We stayed at the Wolf Lodge Campground. It was a home base type campground at best. This is the type of campground that you park and sleep but spend your days out and about. And that’s exactly what we did. We spent 2 days at SilverWood Theme Park and oh boy that was fun! Tip: buy your day passes at Costco to save you some money. The Boulder Beach water park side of the park was by far the highlight for me. Slides, spray park, 2 wave pools and a lazy river, it was so hot out (32 degrees) that the water was a fun relief. Tip: although they will check your bag on the way into the park, we brought our own water bottles and snacks. The lines for food are long and the options aren’t what I’d call healthy or allergen friendly.
The theme park itself was ok. If you like roller coasters this is a definite must. Silverwood has 2 old school wooden coasters and a green monster coaster that has a vertical climb that will knock your socks off. The kids rides are good and kept mine entertained until dark.
Shopping? Well of course there was shopping. Target and Nordstrom Rack where on the list. We drove the short distance to Spokane Washington to do our shopping because the friendly folks in Washington will exempt the 8.7% sales tax if you show them your Canada drivers licence. Tip: remember to show your drivers licence BEFORE you pay at the checkout to avoid a second transaction at customer service (I learned my lesson…twice)

Stop #2
Osoyoos, British Columbia. WOW, this is what heaven is like. After a 4 night stay in Idaho we drove the short (almost) 4 hour drive up to Osoyoos. This small lake community on the southern tip of the Okanogan is only about 15 minutes from the US/Canada boarder. We are staying at the Nk’Mip RV Park , which in my opinion is the only place to camp in Osoyoos. This place has it all. Big trees, big RV spots, full hook-ups, beach front sites, horseback riding, indoor pool, laundry and the best vanilla ice-cream my husband has ever tasted. If you don’t have an RV, no problem, they have yurts (yes, I said YURTS people!), a cabin that sleeps 10 and rental RV’s on site and did I mention the ice-cream? Osoyoos lake is the warmest lake in Canada and I can tell you that description is accurate. The shallow edge of the lake is no more than 4 feet deep for easily 80 meters out. It’s great for small kids. Our 9 & 7 year olds can go without lifejackets but our 4 year olds wear them. The sandy beach is all the entertainment they need. Tip: buy a pop up sun shade to bring to the beach. Everyone needs a place to hide from the sun.
We are staying at Nk’Mip for 5 nights and this is night 3. We are already in love with this place. We will definitely book a return trip back here next summer…2 weeks I think. Anyone want to join us?

To be continued…..