Road trip thread...

[STeeLy]

Originally Posted by Wormius

Driving down to Yellowstone on a few weeks for a week of camping and then driving to Tofino for another week of camping. Have no real idea how to occupy a week in each place. Tofino is known for kayaking, but don't know if that jives well with young kids.

I don't even think a week is enough in Yellowstone. So many trails to hike, so many things to see. I had a day in Yellowstone during the May long weekend. Trust me, you will not get bored in Yellowstone.

There are 2 routes you could take there, both are pretty spectacular. You can go into Great Falls then swing off to US 89 all the way down. Good drive with nice scenery, 2 lanes. Or I-15 to the I-90 then down US 89. 4 lanes until you hit 89, but on the I-15 you get to go through the mountains, very very fun drive but does take longer.

[Yasa]

Originally Posted by Jayems

My buddy and I did this roadie when we were 20. Was a great time. Had tix to Price is Right during LA stop, but stupid bob barker got sick and went to the hospital... had to settle for Craig Killborne Show. Took us 20 days. We had multiple-day stops at most places. Took the ocean highway (pacific coast highway?) between LA and San Fran. Took forever, but was a nice route.

That looks incredibly fun. I wish I had friends that could take a good 20 days off work. Solo road trip for me!

[Wood]

Okay off topic question: I'm going to Vancouver for a week and could have 2 brand new pet gerbils. Would low end motels allow me to keep them there? Is it an awful idea to bring them?

[Ruttiger]

Originally Posted by Save Us Sutter

The Dempster is a hell of a drive but well worth it. I'm sure I've said it on here before, but Dawson City is the best town in Canada to party in!

Also, Teslin is in The Yukon... noticed in your pics you have it labelled as BC. Not that it's a big deal.

I swam out to Bove Island last summer with a few of the natives there. Not recommended for white people! Holy crap that water was cold. Thanks for posting the pics, brought back some great memories for me.

Yeah - the highways hops the BC/Yukon border so many times along that stretch I lost track.....

[Derek Sutton]

Originally Posted by Wormius

Driving down to Yellowstone on a few weeks for a week of camping and then driving to Tofino for another week of camping. Have no real idea how to occupy a week in each place. Tofino is known for kayaking, but don't know if that jives well with young kids.

Check out the Lewis and Clark Caverns on the way, we turned off the
I-15 at Boulder, south of Helena and took the 287 down to the Caverns, very cool and the kids should enjoy themselves there. It's a 1-2 hr tour through the Caverns, a nice pit stop on the way. There's also Virginia City, which is a ghost town but I haven't been there in 25 yr's. We were in Yellowstone for three days,one day on each loop and another day checking everything else out, and then in Grand Teton for 2 days, seemed to me like the right amount of time in each. You could easily also go to Grand Teton, there's not a lot there but then also go to Jackson Hole Wy, which very touristy and red neck, like if Banff was moved to Taber. We went whitewater rafting out of Jackson Hole and they have the best Mexican Restraunt there, The Three Pigs.

[604flames]

Ten years ago did Cranbrook to Salt Lake through Idaho and Montana, then back up through Yellowstone.

Even better trip in my opinion was a Vancouver to northern Minnesota trip from two summers ago.

Raced like heck to get there (for a wedding) but camped the whole way back in ND, MT before watching a ball game in Spokane on July 4th (epic night).

Doing central BC in about 3 weeks.

[Jayems]

Originally Posted by Yasa

That looks incredibly fun. I wish I had friends that could take a good 20 days off work. Solo road trip for me!

It was a blast. But that was back in the film days for cameras, well, it was like 2002 and digital cameras were $23,500... but the dumb bitch at Superstore ruined an entire trip's worth of photos. I didn't even get compensation. A coupon or something... was so angry. Had wicked pictures of Alcatraz, Vegas, Tijuana... bah!

[Derek Sutton]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

I did this road trip just before and during the May long weekend:



In July I have to make the trip down to Whitefish for a wedding. I have never been before, any recommendations on which way to go with the drive from Calgary?

Head for Cardston, cross the border at Caraway, take the going to the sun road/ Logan Pass. You need $20 (7 day pass is the only option)to pay the (Glacier)park entry buts its worth it. Road comes out at West Glacier, head towards Columbia Falls, stop at the Blue Moon for some beer, continue to Whitefish. This is the nicest most scenic route and great if you are not in a hurry.
The road from St. Mary to East Glacier as an alternate route to the Pass will most likely make any/ all passengers sick. You can also by pass the park by going through Bronwing but I try to avoid Browning like the plague.

[Yasa]

Bump!

So I'm heading to Kelowna tomorrow and then Vancouver on Sunday. I've only driven to Vancouver once and it was at night, so do any of you have any suggestions for interesting places to stop, or good food between Kelowna and Van?

[Sainters7]

Nice thread idea, must've missed this the first time around.

When I first turned 21 me & 2 buddies did a month long road trip in August where we went from Calgary east all the way to Montreal, then down the eastern seaboard to NYC & all the way to DC, cut through Tennessee & down to N'awlins, then west through Texas up through Arizona to Vegas, then west to LA and up the coast all the way to Vancouver, & finally back home. 34 days, 15,000km's. And the best time of my whole dang life to this point.

[Mazrim]

Originally Posted by Yasa

Bump!

So I'm heading to Kelowna tomorrow and then Vancouver on Sunday. I've only driven to Vancouver once and it was at night, so do any of you have any suggestions for interesting places to stop, or good food between Kelowna and Van?

Takakkaw Falls near Field is pretty nice.

If you like big bridges like I do, stop at the Kicking Horse Canyon Rest Area to take a good look at the new Park Bridge. There's a path to walk closer.

I usually stop in random places in Rogers Pass since the whole damn area is nice. A good starting point is the summit.

At the base of the Coquihalla (at the bottom of the long hill after the snowshed) is the Coquihalla Tunnels park. Very cool if you have the time to wander there.

I have absolutely no idea about good food because I usually pack a lunch or stop at a fast food place on my to BC.

[bomber317]

Did this trip with my sister last year. Helped her move from Montreal back to Calgary.

Surprises of the trip included Chicago and Minny. Never knew how much of an architectural city Chicago is.

[macker]

Originally Posted by STeeLy

I don't even think a week is enough in Yellowstone. So many trails to hike, so many things to see. I had a day in Yellowstone during the May long weekend. Trust me, you will not get bored in Yellowstone.

There are 2 routes you could take there, both are pretty spectacular. You can go into Great Falls then swing off to US 89 all the way down. Good drive with nice scenery, 2 lanes. Or I-15 to the I-90 then down US 89. 4 lanes until you hit 89, but on the I-15 you get to go through the mountains, very very fun drive but does take longer.

Took a little different way back up from Yellowstone on a recent trip and took Highway 287. Some of the nicest scenery out of the 7-8 States that we travelled through. You go past Hebgen Lake and Quake Lake and remote but cool little towns along the Madison River such as Ennis that make you want to stop, drop and fish. Almost as nice as driving along the coast. Definitely more relaxing and an area that I would like to tour on a road bike. Not that far from home either as we easily drove from West Yellowstone home by taking the 287 to Helena and then I-15 up, in one day. I wouldn't have thought of this route but the GPS did

[SebC]

Hidden gem in California: China Cove at Point Lobos.

[Wormius]

I thought I would update everybody on the Yellowstone trip. It was simply amazing, and unfortunately. We camped for 5 days, and at a pretty frenetic pace we were able to get to pretty much all of the main thermal features. The weather was uncomfortably cold at night and in the mornings for mid June, especially for tent camping - and the park received a higher than average amount of snow, meaning that when we arrived at our camp sites (first day the camps were opened) we were greeted with about 2 feet of snow all over the place. The campground manager was nice enough to hand out shovels though.

More wild animals than I have seen in a long time too - Bison and elk everywhere, a few grizzly bear sightings. All in all pretty fantastic. And the people there were very friendly.

I tried to take lots of pictures of mineral springs and geysers, thermal vents, etc. but they really don't do it justice. That was one of the disappointing aspects I realized later after cataloging the photos we took. HD video would have been a better way to go.

Stayed at a hotel in Bozeman overnight on the way there - not much to say about it. Ate at Famous Dave's BBQ, which is like Montana's, and maybe it is, but they can't call it that because its in Montana. Same thing back, but came through Great Falls which has some more shopping opportunities to take advantage of the time we were in the states, but actually the prices were not really that great on anything. Picked up a few blocks of cheese ($3.99 / each for a 2 lb blocks of cheddar and monterey jack), and stocked up on Easy Cheese and Vanilla/Cherry Coke products.

Anyway, I am not sure if I would do the trip another time. I think we saw almost everything that was unique to Yellowstone when we went, and I am not sure if we delved any further it would be different from Alberta or BC parks.

[Wormius]

Now an update for Tofino camping trip.

Stopped in Kelowna for a day to visit family and friends, and then made the way to Vancouver and took the Horseshoe Bay over to Nanaimo and then drove directly to Tofino. We booked a campsite at Bella Pacifica which is right on Mackenzie Beach - very excellent campground location. If we spent a few extra dollars we could have had a beach front campsite, but all the sites are within a 2 minute walk. Also commendable that the campground had hot running water in the restrooms and the dishwashing stations.

I have to admit, we did very little except play on the beach and look at tidal pools, etc. We did the trip over to Meare's Island where there is a boardwalk that you can walk along to see the some very large and old cedars. The other boat trip was to Hot Springs Cove which is a longer boardwalk to a little natural hot springs where you can sit in between the rocks. Forgot to bring sandals or aqua socks for this, rocks were very jagged.

Had hoped to do some kayaking, but the whole family came down with a cold or something and we lost a day trying to recover.

The town of Tofino is very nice. I did not see any kind of franchises, which was very refreshing. Everybody was friendly here too. I ate a lot of fish and chips (almost exclusively) at various restaurants around town, I didn't have any bad experiences with this and everything was really tasty.

Not much wildlife, but we did see some sea lions, a grey whale, and various birds during our boat trips. Bald eagles were everywhere too.

After this, we seriously began thinking of a retirement or vacation home on the Island, but then after we went through Kelowna again we reaffirmed that we would probably end up there when its time to retire.

[Mass_nerder]

Originally Posted by bomber317

Did this trip with my sister last year. Helped her move from Montreal back to Calgary.

Surprises of the trip included Chicago and Minny. Never knew how much of an architectural city Chicago is.

It's THE architectural city in the states. Chicago has so many amazing buildings.

[Mass_nerder]

Leaving on Wednesday! Going to be a different experience.
I've never driven more than 5-6 hours away.

[GreatWhiteEbola]

Originally Posted by Mass_nerder

Leaving on Wednesday! Going to be a different experience.
I've never driven more than 5-6 hours away.

Please write about your experience, I want to do this trip. How long are you going to take?

[bomber317]

Originally Posted by Mass_nerder

It's THE architectural city in the states. Chicago has so many amazing buildings.

Yeah, the best part of the trip was when we took an Architectural boat tour. Had no idea the number of bridges they had and all the awesome buildings. Nevermind the history of those buildings.