Monday, April 4, 2016

From BC to Long Beach

Well, here we are... life on the road has begun. We ran into some minor car trouble on Friday, but lucked out when we found a friendly mechanic to take a listen and diagnose it as soon as Brett thought something was up. The downside is that we had to wait until today to have it repaired in a town about an hour from where our reservations for Friday and Saturday night were. I'll dive into that more in my next post, but for now I want to share how our first few days on the road have treated us.

Last Tuesday was our final day at the house and it was madness. We lucked out and had a few friends lend a hand on Monday night and Tuesday morning with some of our last minute stuff, but even with everyone's help it was just after 5pm before we drove away from our house.

We had a few stops to make before we crossed the border, but we crossed easily. After the day we had, we figured that we all deserved a little treat so we stopped at one of our favourite places for ice cream - Edaileen Diary in Sumas, Washington. Brett jokingly told the lady that he wanted the "super extra-large" cone, and she did not disappoint.


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Brett's giant ice cream at Edaileen Diary

That first night we had made reservations pretty close to the border, in La Conner so it made our first drive pretty quick. The sunset that night was gorgeous - the sky turned the most beautiful shades of pink, orange, blue and purple. It was the most beautiful sunset I had seen in a long time and a perfect start to this adventure. 

By the time we arrived at our first resort it was just after 9pm and the campsite was dark. Since it wasn't busy, we were able to pick any site that we wanted, so we found once that backed onto the water. In the morning we were pleasantly surprised to find that we were not only close to the beach, but also the playground which Halle loved.


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Nolan started pulling himself to standing on everything the day that we moved out. So he now loves looking out the trailer window by the dinette with his big sister

It was so wonderful to wake up that first morning with nothing pressing on our agenda and nowhere to be. We had reservations that night in Elma, Washington - only because it was a good stopping point between La Conner and Long Beach. When we checked in the previous night we had been told that we could stay as long as we wanted the next day, so we lounged around together and enjoyed a stroll along the beach and some play time at the park before lunch.


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Our view from the trailer door on our first morning in La Conner

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Even the pups are enjoying this adventure so far

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Our biggest mistake was leaving after 3 which left us in awful traffic in Seattle. What should have been about 2 hours, turned into a 5 hour drive and we arrived in Elma after dark. When we first exited the highway, we drove about 10 minutes past the RV Park before we stopped to ask for directions, at what turned out to be a dispensary. When we finally arrived at Elma RV, the host Dennis was nice enough to come out and meet us to provide us with the late night check in info and to guide us into a pull-thru spot (which makes life a lot easier with a big pick up and a 30' trailer). Our late arrival meant that Elma was strictly a sleeping spot. When we woke up in the morning Brett made breakfast, did our "check-in/check-out" with Dennis (who loaded us up with delicious chocolate chip cookies), and then we left around 11 for our drive to Long Beach.


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Pretty standard - Nolan standing and Halle, his constant protector

The drive was lovely and we were at Long Beach by around 1pm. We checked in, dropped off the trailer on our site and headed into town for some lunch. We had a quick bite at Hungry Harbour and then went for a walk so Halle could pick out some postcards to mail to her friends. Next came the most important part of the trip - time to play on the beach.


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It was a muddy, mucky walk on the first half of the trail from the RV park to the beach, but once we arrived it was well worth it. The beach was all ours, with the exception of a few trucks that passed by us a couple of times. Nolan fell asleep in the carrier on Brett, so after snapping a few pictures, Halle and I got her kite out too fly it for a bit.


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When she got tired of that, all she wanted to do was run in and out of the waves with me... so we did. We ran, we laughed, we yelled, we played in the sand and we got totally soaked and sandy. The whole time I just kept thinking "This is the best Thursday ever"! I felt so alive and lucky that afternoon that I got to spend my day playing on the beach with my favourite people. I know it meant a lot to Halle as well, she kept telling me how much she loved me, and then had me draw a picture in the sand of us playing in the waves, and a big heart over our heads. She reproduced the picture on paper when we got back to the trailer and hung it over her bed. 


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I love that she dressed in sequins to play on the beach

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Life has moved at a different pace these past few days. We haven't relied on the clock, or really worried about the time unless we are packing up. Even then, we rarely know what time it is until we pile into the car to move on. 
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This new adventure of ours started less than a week ago, but already we've had our ups and downs. From a whiney 4 year old, who at times misses friends and "home" (which we very much expected), to our recent car troubles - the downs have been minimal. The ups however are so great. The family time, playing, watching the kids laugh and explore together, the incredible sites we have seen. I can only imagine what other wonderful things we'll see and do over these next few months on the road. In the moments when I find myself missing home and wondering if we've done the right thing, I look around remember I am living a dream. Not many people will get to do this in a lifetime. Not many people will visit all of these places that will we see and I am so thankful and so excited for the opportunity to do this with my little family.

We've seen so much already and I can't wait to share more photos of our time in Oregon later this week. For now, back to the family...

1 comment:

  1. We have thoroughly enjoyed the "Walkins Wanders" entries you have treated us to. The scenery is spectacular and it is so heartwarming to see Halle gliding down one beach after another. Nolan is looking more and more like his sister and he is so lucky to have such a thoughtful and considerate guardian angel. Even Harley and Parker look like they have died and gone to heaven! We were so envious after seeing Brett's XXXXL ice cream cone we just had to go to Dairy Queen (I know, poor substitute). Just had to let you know that we look forward to the next chapter in your "wanders" blog. Love to you all, G.G.

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