Trip to Canada

Hello-

I've been off on a big adventure with Kurt and Coop, so creations were put on the back burner {But don't worry it inspired even more}!

Friday morning the boys and I loaded up--Canada bound!

Our plan-Spend as little as possible and have a great time...

Details on how we would accomplish this- I've always wanted to camp in my Subaru since the sun roof is so huge, so air mattress in the back, gear in the front seats. I precooked fajitas and made pasta salad, cans of soup, veggies, tea and oatmeal. Then snackie stuff. Perfect no money will need to be spent on lodging or food----right?! In theory.


Did it work?! YES!

We headed north, picked up Cooper's coat {Temps were predicted in the teens for night time} from Auntie Laura in Mount Vernon and made our way to the border crossing. The crossing lady was not impressed with us. "Why do you have so much stuff for 2 days?" "We're camping." "Up here?!" Yes mam we like adventures. On we went. We planned to miss Portland, Seattle and border traffic which landed us in Vancouver traffic. Oops missed that part.

Took a detour into Stanley park-somewhat accidentally, but none the less we had heard it was pretty. First shot of Canadian wildlife, a skunk. We then had a nice chit chat with Coop about staying away from the animals-they aren't his friend, even though he wants them to be. Could you imagine being trapped in the car for 20 hours with a skunk covered dog!? Would not have been good! We ventured the wrong way on a one way road--oops. That could have been avoided had navigator spoke up-my bad. Since traffic was horrendous down below we stopped at Stanley park Teahouse for a glass of wine. Turns out they had a lounge with a fire place and a very friendly staff that filled us in on where we should head in search of some camping. They prolly thought we were crazy! Coop and Kurt played frisbee for a bit and we were back in the car.
 
We drove and drove and drove toward Whistler--I forgot to mention that Coop gets car sick so he now has to sit in my lap while we drive so he doesn't get sick--he did one fake out while going 70mph before Seattle, but made it the whole trip with no pukin! yeah! We pulled off the road several times in hunt of the perfect spot but were denied but gates or camping/dogs prohibited. Dang it Canada! We thought this would be easy! We finally went several miles up a dirt/gravel road just to find the area closed due to bears. "Hmm I wonder when that sign was put up?" Let's do it. If we go high enough it'll be too cold for bears. {Fingers crossed} My dream spot was one that was in an opening looking at the mountains---Let me tell you Kurt delivered! Not only did we wake up to a balmy 17 degrees and 6 inches of new snow on the car but a view to die for>>>the Whistler mountain range! Gorgeous!

We realized that we brought the 2 burner stove, but forgot the gas. Good thing we had Kurt's single burner. We cooked all meals on it--worked like a charm! Also cooked with the wine opener because we forgot utensils haha. It worked! On our way down, straight down, Kurt was saying "Umm Mr. Mangin, your daughter is fine just a few broken bones, but the car uh...." Lol he did great, but I will be adding chains to our adventure stock! We were stopped by a little car on the way out-turns out the guy had lived in Oregon--Lake Oswego, Or RANDOM! Such a small world.

We spent the day wandering around Olympic park and Whistler. Enjoyed a warm drink in Whistler village. Coop played with some other pups at the dog area. I didn't make him wear his boots and coats-he didn't seem to mind, but my lap did when he got back in the car covered in snow clumps {Next Coat- Puffier so he doesn't look so skinny, while wearing it! Also the pleather doesn't cut it in the snow be cause it cracks so the theory for the booties worked fantastic we just need a new fabric!} At the grocery store we picked up some utensils and asked for some ideas of where to camp. Great! They were excited to help us out and we were excited we would be all set up before dark and maybe get a hike in.

Wrong a closed gate yet again. Closed gate after closed gate, made it well after dark by the time we got settled. We were also starving. We enjoyed sausages, broccoli and green beans for dinner with a glass of wine sipped from our nalgene bottle. Coop stayed close by but loved the snow once again. We decided to not blow up the mattress for awhile so we could play cards. I got my butt kicked at Rummy and we rocked out to some great tunes-thanks DJ Kurt. Also played a little ishoot on the ipod. We looked at the clock at 8, laughed and warned Coop that he better sleep for 12 hours! He did, on top of me which meant I slept terrible! plus it felt WAY colder than the night before-hmm.

After breakfast and packing up we made our way to downtown Vancouver to wander around. We walked to the waterfront and saw the Olympic torch. The walk was beautiful, lots of very nice people happy to answer the tons of questions we had come up with about the Vancouver area. The lights blink green because its a pedestrian light-huh cool! And the entire water front and the road to Whistler were redone for the Olympics. Cooper was exhausted by the time we got in the car.

All in all we had a fantastic adventure! Added several would have could have should haves to our list, but really had we crossed our t's and dotted our i's the adventure wouldn't have been quite as adventurous!

--We successfully never ate out and slept in the car! All in all we only spent money on gas, coffee, and wine!--

--ZZB