Summer 2009 Family Vacation Report

TheOtherSide · 08-28-2009, 09:35 PM

Sorry for being so late posting up our trip report... it's been a busy summer for sure!!

Our Summer 2009 vacation was a blast!! We left in early August and planned to be gone for 10 days (ended up being gone 9 days). Our destinations were:
1: Kelowna, BC to drop off the trailer (to avoid lugging it around)
2: Invermere, BC for the family reunion
3: Kelowna, BC to pick up the trailer
4: Osoyoos, BC for the remainder of the time
5: HOME!

Well, it seemed to take forever to finish packing up the trailer... keeping in mind that we were dropping it at my sister's place in Kelowna (FYI, the trailer is a 21' that belongs to my other sister) and not taking everything to Invermere with us. So here it is finally all packed up and ready to go!

And to the open road we go!! No way I could have done the Coquihalla toll booth bypass with this unit... glad the toll booth is gone!!

It must be hard to travel with such a good looking guy as I am... poor family...

We dropped the trailer off at my sisters place to avoid spending millions on gas going to and from Invermere. We were lucky enough to be able to plug it in and keep the fridge cold and left the Osoyoos stuff in the trailer. Slept the night and forged on in the morning.

On the way, the youngest of our 3 boys (5 weeks old at the time) needed a lunch break.... so I took the time to teach the older boys how to get the big rigs to honk their loud horns... they had a blast... and then also enjoyed throwing rocks in to the lake

We carried on and pushed through what would be a pretty long drive. There was some pretty nice scenery between Revelstoke and Golden in around Glacier National Park.

Around the Glacier National Park area... we see this sign that says "Turn your clocks ahead 1 hour".... WHAT???? Not paying much attn during trip planning, we thought the time zone didn't change within BC.... WRONG. So this now placed us 1 hour behind schedule as we were all supposed to meet in Sobeys in Invermere before heading off to Panorama (which is a mini Whistler type village just outside of Invermere). So the good old Burb performed well from Golden to Invermere... hitting some serious speeds for a 3/4 ton beast. Ended up 45min late... everyone headed up to Panorama and we met up with them.... just so see this along side the road at the village:
Moose? I dunno...

This guy is just relaxing in the shade of someones cabin:

Don't miss the 2 young deer in the shadow of the sign:

This guy had no fear... he even posed for the photo:

Here is a photo of the "Cabin" just behind the townhouses we rented for the family reunion. One of the signs says "Foreclosure"... nice place, too bad someone lost it!!

From the lower lot at Panorama, you cross this suspension bridge and get to the free gondola that takes you to the village. Nice scenery!

Back in the lower lot at the end of the day I spotted this bus. I like the sign on the side: "Rapid Transit"... there are some river rapid tours nearby.

Mmmm... one of the breakfasts we had:

Here is a link to Panorama Village... check it out: http://www.panoramaresort.com/index.htm

After the reunion we started our trek back to Kelowna to pick up the trailer. On the way we stopped in Revelstoke and spotted this monster... WOW... it's HUGE!! Never seen one like this before:

After a long drive, we hooked up the trailer and kept on to Osoyoos... and boy that was a long drive in one day with a 5.5 year old, a 3 year old and a 5 week old.... eesh, we did survive though!!

We arrived at Cabana Beach Campground! http://www.cabanabeach.com/ Our family has a little bit of history at this campground... and I just so happened to have my stag there too!!

We set up and relaxed from our long drive. The weather wasn't the best for the rest of the week, but we still had a blast!

Of course, we had to make a trip to Rattlesnake Canyon for some go-karting and mini-golf. I had a great time in the go-karts... took both of the older boys once each... and often in the double karts you get smashed by everyone else. Well, my kart seemed to be pumped up on nitrous, I kicked every single kart's butt out there... nobody passed us. The kids got a real charge out of it. http://www.rattlesnakecanyon.ca/

Then we had a rain & wind storm come up... here's a pic of a guy checking on his boat before the wind came. One guy was riding his bike on the road when he heard a boat anchor rope snap and the boat started blowing into shore. He and another guy hopped into the water and I joined them as the owner was found and trailer was dropped into the water to pull it out. Fun holding a boat in a wind storm!!

Some more pics of the weather patterns that night:

And a view from our campsite (we were right beside the road... super nice spot).

If you're ever driving past Cabana Beach... this is what you'll see as a marker. You can pass by it pretty easily.

We woke up on the 2nd to last day to find it pouring rain... weather forecast called for rain all day. We found no point hanging out with 3 kids inside the trailer for the full day just to leave in the morning... so we headed home. A pic of the rig at the Hope Slide lookout:

And the last pic is the good old OLC advertising photo...

Anyhow... trip was great. The Suburban performed pretty well. maybe time to replace the gears from 3.73's to 4.10's or something just to get a little more yank on the hills.

Comments & Questions are welcome!

stickerboy111 · 08-28-2009, 11:25 PM

Great Pics!
Looks like you had a blast. What is it with kids and trowing rocks in the lake. My kids could do this for hours and never grow tired of doing it. That big blue rig I saw go through Quesnel just before we went down for the Whipsaw. Pretty cool looking thing. Anyway. I bet you can't wait till next year now to go camping again. Nice setup! Someday I might have one but i wont be towing it with the Jeep. Motorhome towing the Jeep maybe

Squiggy · 08-30-2009, 08:55 PM

Excellent pics man. Looks like it was a great trip.
Cool big blue truck, I want it!

I love that Invemere area, my parents were in Cranbrook for a while and I spent a bit of time in the area. Beautiful!

Too bad it's only once a year man!

TheOtherSide · 08-30-2009, 09:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Squiggy

Excellent pics man. Looks like it was a great trip.
Cool big blue truck, I want it!

I love that Invemere area, my parents were in Cranbrook for a while and I spent a bit of time in the area. Beautiful!

Too bad it's only once a year man!

Yeah, we pulled into Invermere and I said to my wife "Why are we heading up a mountain to Panorama when we have a lake full of boats to play with".... Ivermere seems to be a pretty cool little town.

08-28-2009, 09:35 PM	#1
TheOtherSide Administrator Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Surrey, BC Posts: 1,935	Summer 2009 Family Vacation Report Sorry for being so late posting up our trip report... it's been a busy summer for sure!! Our Summer 2009 vacation was a blast!! We left in early August and planned to be gone for 10 days (ended up being gone 9 days). Our destinations were: 1: Kelowna, BC to drop off the trailer (to avoid lugging it around) 2: Invermere, BC for the family reunion 3: Kelowna, BC to pick up the trailer 4: Osoyoos, BC for the remainder of the time 5: HOME! Well, it seemed to take forever to finish packing up the trailer... keeping in mind that we were dropping it at my sister's place in Kelowna (FYI, the trailer is a 21' that belongs to my other sister) and not taking everything to Invermere with us. So here it is finally all packed up and ready to go! And to the open road we go!! No way I could have done the Coquihalla toll booth bypass with this unit... glad the toll booth is gone!! It must be hard to travel with such a good looking guy as I am... poor family... We dropped the trailer off at my sisters place to avoid spending millions on gas going to and from Invermere. We were lucky enough to be able to plug it in and keep the fridge cold and left the Osoyoos stuff in the trailer. Slept the night and forged on in the morning. On the way, the youngest of our 3 boys (5 weeks old at the time) needed a lunch break.... so I took the time to teach the older boys how to get the big rigs to honk their loud horns... they had a blast... and then also enjoyed throwing rocks in to the lake We carried on and pushed through what would be a pretty long drive. There was some pretty nice scenery between Revelstoke and Golden in around Glacier National Park. Around the Glacier National Park area... we see this sign that says "Turn your clocks ahead 1 hour".... WHAT???? Not paying much attn during trip planning, we thought the time zone didn't change within BC.... WRONG. So this now placed us 1 hour behind schedule as we were all supposed to meet in Sobeys in Invermere before heading off to Panorama (which is a mini Whistler type village just outside of Invermere). So the good old Burb performed well from Golden to Invermere... hitting some serious speeds for a 3/4 ton beast. Ended up 45min late... everyone headed up to Panorama and we met up with them.... just so see this along side the road at the village: Moose? I dunno... This guy is just relaxing in the shade of someones cabin: Don't miss the 2 young deer in the shadow of the sign: This guy had no fear... he even posed for the photo: Here is a photo of the "Cabin" just behind the townhouses we rented for the family reunion. One of the signs says "Foreclosure"... nice place, too bad someone lost it!! From the lower lot at Panorama, you cross this suspension bridge and get to the free gondola that takes you to the village. Nice scenery! Back in the lower lot at the end of the day I spotted this bus. I like the sign on the side: "Rapid Transit"... there are some river rapid tours nearby. Mmmm... one of the breakfasts we had: Here is a link to Panorama Village... check it out: http://www.panoramaresort.com/index.htm After the reunion we started our trek back to Kelowna to pick up the trailer. On the way we stopped in Revelstoke and spotted this monster... WOW... it's HUGE!! Never seen one like this before: After a long drive, we hooked up the trailer and kept on to Osoyoos... and boy that was a long drive in one day with a 5.5 year old, a 3 year old and a 5 week old.... eesh, we did survive though!! We arrived at Cabana Beach Campground! http://www.cabanabeach.com/ Our family has a little bit of history at this campground... and I just so happened to have my stag there too!! We set up and relaxed from our long drive. The weather wasn't the best for the rest of the week, but we still had a blast! Of course, we had to make a trip to Rattlesnake Canyon for some go-karting and mini-golf. I had a great time in the go-karts... took both of the older boys once each... and often in the double karts you get smashed by everyone else. Well, my kart seemed to be pumped up on nitrous, I kicked every single kart's butt out there... nobody passed us. The kids got a real charge out of it. http://www.rattlesnakecanyon.ca/ Then we had a rain & wind storm come up... here's a pic of a guy checking on his boat before the wind came. One guy was riding his bike on the road when he heard a boat anchor rope snap and the boat started blowing into shore. He and another guy hopped into the water and I joined them as the owner was found and trailer was dropped into the water to pull it out. Fun holding a boat in a wind storm!! Some more pics of the weather patterns that night: And a view from our campsite (we were right beside the road... super nice spot). If you're ever driving past Cabana Beach... this is what you'll see as a marker. You can pass by it pretty easily. We woke up on the 2nd to last day to find it pouring rain... weather forecast called for rain all day. We found no point hanging out with 3 kids inside the trailer for the full day just to leave in the morning... so we headed home. A pic of the rig at the Hope Slide lookout: And the last pic is the good old OLC advertising photo... Anyhow... trip was great. The Suburban performed pretty well. maybe time to replace the gears from 3.73's to 4.10's or something just to get a little more yank on the hills. Comments & Questions are welcome! __________________ '93 Suburban K1500, 6" RCX Lift, 4.88's, 14B SF ARB'd, 35" BFG KM's

08-28-2009, 11:25 PM	#2
stickerboy111 Moderator Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Quesnel BC Posts: 768	Great Pics! Looks like you had a blast. What is it with kids and trowing rocks in the lake. My kids could do this for hours and never grow tired of doing it. That big blue rig I saw go through Quesnel just before we went down for the Whipsaw. Pretty cool looking thing. Anyway. I bet you can't wait till next year now to go camping again. Nice setup! Someday I might have one but i wont be towing it with the Jeep. Motorhome towing the Jeep maybe __________________ 2008 Unlimited Rubicon JK Detonator Yellow 2" Zone Offroad Spacer lift SuperWinch LP8500 Cobra 40ch CB Custom Axe&Shovel holder Custom Milatary Gas can holder Congo Cage Roof Rack 48" Highlift Air Compressor Rampage Grab Handles "Good roads bring Bad People, Bad roads bring Good People"

08-30-2009, 08:55 PM	#3
Squiggy OLC Member Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Farmington, BC Posts: 122	Excellent pics man. Looks like it was a great trip. Cool big blue truck, I want it! I love that Invemere area, my parents were in Cranbrook for a while and I spent a bit of time in the area. Beautiful! Too bad it's only once a year man! __________________ "Not all who wander are lost" Wheelin rig "Rusty" 89 Toy xcab SAS 35 claws Camping Rig 07 Dodge 2500 Hemi Work rig 06 Ford F350 6.0 with 035 picker

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