Chapter 3

Julie Ball
7 hours ago
3 min read

May 30th to June 6th

Our stay at Leavenworth Thousand Trails was very nice. We got spots that were diagonal from each other, each on different sides of the loop but we were right near each other. The dogs each had their fences up and we sent our them back and forth to hang out with their cousins.

Ron, Jon and I went into Leavenworth one of the days without Phillip as he had to work. It is a German town with the food and the architecture everywhere you looked. We walked around going to a bunch of the shops, had lunch at Rhein Haus, a German restaurant with a nice variety of vegetarian and pescatarian options. Their food was delicious and the patio overlooked the lower part of town where a bunch more shops were. After eating we went down and hopped from shop to shop. One thing that was a repeat at every shop we went to, the people were so nice! I don’t know if that is a prerequisite of being hired to work there or if they are just nice! But it was delightful to be around such happy energy.

Back at camp we went for daily walks with the dogs all around the campground. It was quite a big place, nestled in the trees. There was also a field that we brought the dogs to let them run off leash to get out their energy! The only downside was the dead bird that Penny and Poppy decided to roll in! Ew! Needless to say they got baths that night!

Later in the week we went back to Leavenworth with Phillip. First we went to the towns Adventure Park, where we rode the Alpine Coaster. We bought the two rides tickets as we knew we’d want to ride it at least twice. The views were stunning and the ride speedy! We ate at the same restaurant, this time getting the very large pretzel on their menu that was Somewhere around a foot in diameter. The beer cheese was so good I now wished I’d asked for some to take home! After our lunch we then took the dogs for a walk down by the river nearby.

Our trip up to Canmore, Alberta, Canada took three days as we wanted to have easy drive days. Our first stop was Bonner County Fairgrounds in Sandpoint, ID. The property had buildings for all sorts of activities and clubs. They also had a small stadium area which they were preparing for what we think was a dirt bike competition. There was a bobcat in the center pushing dirt around making jumps and curves.

Next day we drove over the border into Canada! We entered though Bonners Ferry, ID and into Kingsgate, British Columbia. It was a much smaller border crossing than when we crossed in Sault Ste. Marie a few years ago. We then drove to Wasa Lake Provincial Park campground for the night. This campground was well maintained, not as thick of trees as Leavenworth but still beautiful. Although there wasn’t water or electric at the sites it was still perfect for a quiet overnight stay.

The drive to Bow Valley Provincial Park was absolutely beautiful. The trees were many and the mountains high! The drive brought us through the Canadian Rockies. Canada saw our Colorado Rockies and were like, 'Hold My Beer!” Everywhere you looked there was one stunning view after the other, the aqua colored raging rivers, the tall evergreens sweeping up the rocky faces of the mountains. There was just undisturbed nature punching you in the face and floating above you! There were several earth bridges along the route for animals to safely cross the road, love that! We did drive though a couple of towns, one in particular that I would love to stop in on our way back down was called Radium. Looked like a fun place to have lunch and walk around to shop. Later that day, we arrived at Bow Valley!

Stay tuned for chapter 4 were I'll fill you in on the gloriousness of Banff National Park!

P.S. Those of you who see the yarn being constructed, I taught myself to knit the cable stitch on this trip! I have always preferred crochet because I find it easier, but I've always loved what the cable stitch looked like so I gave it another go. Turns out I CAN do it! So I knitted the fingerless arm warmers you'll see completed in the photos below!

Links To Photo Galleries!

Julie's

Phillip's

Ron and Jon's

Julie's Gallery