Ginger Goes Glamping

Viva Mexico!

Posted on April 27, 2012 by Ginger

Wondering where I’ve been? Don’t worry, I didn’t get kidnapped in Mexico!

You haven’t heard from me because I’ve been having too much fun. Margaritas and fish tacos, mucho mas margaritas and tacos!

And don’t forgot the martinis at Nikki Beach in Cabo San Lucas. Yum!

But what kept me really busy was driving a 1000 miles down the Baja in a RV Caravan. It was perfect for the wary first timer though safety wise, it’s not necessary.

Not that I wouldn’t do it again, Becky and John Smith who own Baja Winters Travel Club were the bomb! They offer various tours, we did the “Hammer-Down and South-Bound” where they escort you down the Baja, then drop you off for 2 months, then get you back safely. It was perfect for us.

The road is definitely a challenge. It’s 10 foot width and lack of shoulders make it a white knuckle drive fosho. And then there were the 18 wheelers, the buses on a schedule, and the livestock wondering around. I had to pry my fingers off the steering wheel at the end of the day, but it was worth it.

There were a couple of breakdowns and some mirrors were lost. But our Wagon Masters were able to deal with any unexpected surprises with calm and expert knowledge.

The best part of going with a caravan was the great friends I met. I want to give a big shout out to my besties Hurley and Jemma (and their humans too!).

I met so many other great friends, too many to name; Sarah, Chet, Bella, Briana, Mindi… but they all know who they are!

Here we all are boondocking at Santispec Beach near Mulege.

But the very best thing about Mexico… I’m allowed to run free on the beach! What a civilized country!

The water activities were endless; surfing, kayaking, paddle boarding, snorkeling, and kite surfing. You never knew what you’d find in the water!

The other thing I loved about Mexico, the people! They’re so resourceful and hard working, with a real “can do” attitude. MexiCAN! The entire experience was a total pleasure.

And the whales! They were everywhere, jumping right out of the water wherever we went. In Guerrero Negro I got to see where the Mama whales birth their babies.

And boy were they yummy!

Now before you have a fit you know I can’t resist grubbing for seafood! Just kidding. A big shout out to Carlos at Bahia Magdalena for rolling out the red carpet for us.

In Cabo San Lucas we stayed for a month at Vagabundoes Del Mar Trailer Park. Muchas gracias to Doug and Kathy for their wonderful hospitality, and for helping us get in and out of our spot, twice. We loved being under a palapa with our own outdoor kitchen, covered parking and great neighbors. Another big thanks to Noel for the great golf at Costa Del Sol.

The restaurant at Vagabundos also had the best margaritas in town. And in case you had too many, here’s your ride home.

Cabo has lots to offer with it’s beautiful beaches, fun restaurants and great fishing. Sunset Da Mona Lisa Restaurant was one of our favorites.

And the El Farallon Restaurant at Capella Pedregal also. This is how you order your dinner!

And of course our all time favorite, the Esperanza resort.

And my favorite beach, Santa Maria Bay.

Once we left Cabo I had a couple of brushes with fame. First I agreed to be in a Sears Mexico commercial. Our incredibly resourceful production hombre, Aleph Alighieri, hinted the commercial was going to be all about me and my glamping. But somehow only the Airstream made it into the final cut. My nerves!

We loved Los Cerritos with it’s laid back surfing vibe.

A great place for sunset cocktails and whale watching was Hacienda Cerritos, a gorgeous boutique hotel on a cliff overlooking the Pacific.

I was so excited to see Hotel California, in the wonderful town of Todos Santos, and was determined to get to the bottom of the urban legend that the Eagles had stayed in the hotel while writing their famous song of the same name.

After one minute of googling while using the wifi in their bar, I was able to ascertain that this myth is false! But the drinks were great and it was… a lovely place.

But I saved the best for last. My favorite spot of the entire trip was Playa El Tecolote, near La Paz.

Here we spent 10 amazing days and felt like we were part of the community thanks to the wonderful Mexicans and Gringos that live and work nearby.

A big gracias to Manuel, Gary, Francoise, James and the whole gang at Palapa Azul!

I also met some new friends, Ruff (who has since sadly passed, RIP Ruff), and Inca from Santa Fe, NM and their wonderful humans who are fellow Airstreamers!

I followed my bliss at Tecolote Beach.

At Playa Tecolote we booked a boat tour from my main hombre Manual at Marlin Adventures to the beautiful Isla Espiritu Santo, where we saw some incredible sights.

Including the famous Blue Footed Booby!

Nearby Balandra Bay is beautiful but please remember to shuffle your feet because of stingrays. Manuel has his hands full taking care of tourists who don’t shuffle!

The famous mushroom rock at Balandra Bay.

This was my favorite bar and hangout, Palapa Azul. To all our buddies we met there, we miss you so much!

Their margaritas were killer. The secret ingredients; fresh lime juice, tequila, and Damiana.

Damiana is a herbal based liqueur grown in Baja. It has an ancient reputation that goes back to the Mayans. And I know why, it makes you crazy! In a good way.

As you can see I wasn’t happy that we had to leave my favorite place or all of Baja for that matter!

I vow to return, by hook or by crook!

Coming up next: Florida, Here We Come!

Posted in Airstream, Camping, Dogs, Travel, Travel photography | Tagged airstream, Bahia Concepcion, Bahia Magdalena, Baja, Baja California Sur, Baja Winters Travel Club, Balandra Bay, Cabo San Jose, Cabo San Lucas, camping, Capella Pedregal, dogs, El Farallon restaurant, El Pescadero, Esperanza, glamping baja, Guerrero Negro, La Paz, Loreto, Los Barriles, Los Cerritos, Magdalena Bay, Mona Lisa Sunset Restaurant, Mulege, Playa Tecolote, RV's, Santispec, surfing, Tecolote, Todos Santos, Vagabundos Del Mar Trailer Park, whale watching, whales | 12 Comments

California Dreaming!

Posted on December 12, 2011 by Ginger

Homesick, me? No way… not with all of my wonderful adventures. Yet crossing the border into California felt like coming home.

Having dealt with our share of fog in WA and OR we blew right through the pea soup in Eureka and headed straight for Avenue of the Giants. This world-famous scenic drive runs through Humboldt Redwood State Park.

After staying the night at the worst RV park of the entire trip (it shall remain nameless) we were anxious to get back to the coast so we left the 101 and jumped onto Highway 1 in Mendocino County. The white knuckle drive on the winding narrow road was so worth it for when we hit the ocean… NIRVANA!

Our first stop was Westport State Beach- Union Landing. It was perfection.

We camped right on the bluff overlooking the Pacific for $11 a night (no hookups). With sailor showers we can last 3 days without having to refill the fresh water tank.

@ 2011 Richard Broadwell - Westport State Beach

We turned on the iPod and dined every night at sunset with a roaring fire. I’m talking prime real estate here with million dollar views! Check it out.

Talk about a perfect sunset!

Even though we were nearly out of water we didn’t want to leave, ever!

One last picture of me in my favorite spot!

The northern part of Highway 1 follows the pristine Mendocino coastline with it’s rugged canyons, fog-shrouded cliffs, and windswept cypress trees. It rivals, if not exceeds the Big Sur portion of the same highway. This coast was so stunning, so isolated, and so beautiful I wanted to cry at the thought of leaving. But then we got to the Sonoma coast. More bliss and crab chips to come!

We stayed just north of Fort Ross at the Ocean Cove Campground. It was a private RV park with no hookups on 20 oceanfront acres that borders Stillwater Cove State Park.

We would walk the bluffs everyday where one of my humans would negotiate the headlands, with waves crashing on either side, just so she could point her phone south towards civilization and try to get a cell signal. And it worked! We still needed to know the world was turning without us.

Our night sky!

After we negotiated many miles of hairpin curves on the cliffs heading south we stopped in Bodega Bay where they filmed Hitchcock’s THE BIRDS. Sheez, did they really have to watch it again? I was careful not to excite any birds after that.

We hit San Francisco during an unusually early winter storm so no good photos to post but we loved walking the city and had a fun dinner with San Fran city girl, Amber!

On to Half Moon Bay where I was reunited with Bella, my BFF from the very first post – Girls Gone Wild in Lake Havasu.

I was disappointed my fiance Charlie was unable to make it, but I was so glad to see my other homies, Eileen, Jason, Susan and Bob! Unfortunately, I had come to think of the trailer as MY big dog house, so I was a little territorial when Bella first arrived, but I finally chilled enough to have a sleep over.

We continued south to Santa Cruz and stayed right on the beach where it was hot, hot, hot! Love those Indian summers on the coast.

Feeling guilty about lounging on the beach everyday we headed inland towards the Sierra Nevadas. It felt good to be back in the mountains. I will let the pictures speak for themselves.

This picture was taken on my last day in the wilderness. Over the last 5 months we had visited 20 National Parks, 6 Canadian National Parks and countless State Parks covering over 15,000 miles. I didn’t want it to end!

But instead of freaking out – I got my party on as we arrived in Los Angeles just in time to see my boy and brotha from anotha motha DJ S.co at The Roosevelt Hotel’s huge Halloween bash! I was rubbing elbows with the glitterati all night. Luckily I got the memo about this years costume and wore my tutu.

When we hit the CA desert near Palm Springs it was full circle back. Tired but happy, our 5 months on the road have been the best times of our lives. So good in fact we’ve decided to keep going for another year, at least. Who knows, we may never stop…

Coming up next: Baja, Here We Come!

Posted in Airstream, Camping, Dogs, Travel, Travel photography | Tagged Avenue of the Giants, Bodega Bay, California, California coast, Convict Lake, Fort Ross, Half Moon Bay, Highway 1, Humboldt Redwood State Park, June Lake, Mendocino, Santa Cruz, Sonoma, Westport CA, Yosemite | 7 Comments

Back in the US of A!

Posted on December 6, 2011 by Ginger

We left Victoria, British Columbia on a ferry only to land smack in the middle of vampire country. Welcome to Olympic National Park! I did not like dem woods.

It was only when I crossed the vampire treaty line and arrived on the coast at La Push, WA that I let my guard down a little.

That is, until a “test” tsunami warning blared over the loudspeakers. From then on I kept one eye on the ocean and one eye on the woods at all times.

And then, in the middle of nowhere with who knows what lurking about, my humans locked us out of the trailer. The moon was full and there wasn’t a locksmith for miles. It took me about 20 jittery minutes to jimmy a window and crawl inside. My nerves with my humans! But hey, they do all the driving, shopping, cooking, cleaning and setting up so I can’t complain too much. They also know how to build a great fire to keep the critters away!

We continued south to Copalis Beach, WA where you can drive for miles on a very wide flat beach. We took the truck onto the sand for a test drive and since it was so easy we decided to try this further south on the 26 mile Long Beach Peninsula with the trailer hitched up. Camping right on the beach… sounds great, right? People have been driving on this beach since the automobile arrived in the west. So we followed all the other cars to the beach access, but when we arrived at the shore it was high tide and there was nothing but soft sand. Everybody else just turned around, but we couldn’t with our 45 feet of rig. So we backed up for a 1/2 mile! Let me just say this was not the highlight of the trip and all pictures have been destroyed.

We were so happy to arrive in Oregon. I have longed to see this stretch of coast, and we did, all 363 miles of it. People actually bike the twisty 101, lugging all their camping gear and stopping overnight in the 48 or so beautiful State Parks along the way. Watching them struggle their way up the many Capes with vertical climbs of 500 to a 1000 feet made me so glad to be zipping along in the silver bubble.

We first stopped in Cannon Beach where we learned to appreciate that beast called “the fog”. So in that spirit I am dedicating this post to fuzzy landscapes.

Ecola Beach State Park

Luckily we still had lots of beautiful sunsets! It was here that I discovered the joys of grubbing for sea food. Much better pickings than the left over bits of marshmallows I was finding in the woods. I’m not sure why my humans put a stop to this, I thought dead crabs are good for you?

Next we took a little detour inland to a very warm and sunny Portland to visit some dear friends. What a great city! A big shout out to Ruth and Debbie who lovingly showed us their wonderful town.

This is me in a little Zip car Debbie rented. We had a blast!

Back to the coast, and the fog! We hunkered down at the Sea and Sand RV park in Depoe Bay for 3 days until it broke. But when it did…WOW!

The further south you go the less developed it becomes. It’s a wild coast, full of rocky sea stacks and crashing surf. Below is lovely Gold Beach.

And we loved this long stretch of Samuel H Boardman State Park.

But as much as we liked the Oregon Coast, the best was yet to come.

Coming up next: California Dreaming!

Posted in Airstream, Camping, Dogs, Travel, Travel photography | Tagged airstream, camping, Cannon Beach, Copalis Beach, Depoe Bay, dogs, Ecola State Park, glamorous camping, glamping, Gold Beach, La Push, Long Beach, Oregon, Portland, RV, RV's, Samuel H. Boardman State Park, vampires, WA | 12 Comments

British Columbia (BC) = Bring Cash!

Posted on September 27, 2011 by Ginger

Just kidding!! It’s just that the two things we consume the most of… wine and gas, were more expensive fosho!

BC is the land of lakes and you know how much I like lakes! But seriously, I’ve never seen so many BIG lakes and I wanted to swim in every single one.

Our very first, Kootenay Lake, is 90 miles long and glacier carved with snow capped mountains hovering above. The roads were squiggly and ran along the entire length on both sides. There is the charming town of Nelson which transformed itself from a struggling lumber town into a thriving arts and mountain sports mecca. Not too far away they hold the annual Shambhala Music festival at the Salmo River Ranch. We cut across the mountain at Kaslow to Slokan Lake which connects to the Upper Arrow Lake which connects to the… well you get the idea. There’s so many lakes and they’re so big that twice we got to take a ferry across for FREE! The best deal of the trip.

Because the rivers were still blown out from the late snow melt and the fishing stunk we ended up in yet another lake mecca, the Okanagan Lake area. We stopped off in Vernon at the very north end so my human could play golf. And then we headed south to Oliver, the wine capital of Canada!

Oliver is in the desert but with vineyards. It was like home, so warm! We visited wineries and did tastings, discovering some great Canadian Pinot Gris.

From Oliver we headed to Vancouver, where the weather was perfect. I could see the total livability of this city but don’t know if I could take the rain, 47 inches a year. We took the Skytrain downtown then took a tiny taxi ferry to the Granville Island Market. The food! My mouth was watering but all I got was some kibble. Have to keep my girlish figure!

We couldn’t wait to get to Vancouver Island, until they measured us at the ferry terminal. Ay yi yi! We’re 45 feet long and they charge by the foot. But we thought it was worth every penny. On the ferry ride the rig was parked on the outer lane underneath but with open portholes and when we flung the windows open the trailer transformed into a houseboat. Ah, the ocean air! I really want to look into buying a barge.

But Tofino was my favorite – I went crazy when I finally got to the beach!

Free at last!

And though we had some fog it was still beautiful with great sunsets. We had lots of campfires and tons of halibut fish and chips. Tofino is the gateway to the Clayoquot Sound region, a world UNESCO biosphere reserve. It is a pristine wilderness with surfing, whale watching, kayaking and more.

Tofino is the northern most accessible spot in the Pacific Rim National Park Reserve, a combination of rain forests and rugged coastline. The drive there is quite tricky, especially with the rig and lots of people take a float plane or a ferry. Now here it really rains, 118 inches a year. I would love to be there during a big winter storm, it must be wild. We had a lovely early dinner at Wickaninnish Restaurant on Long Beach after a drive to Ucluelet, just south of Tofino.

There are a couple of great campgrounds in Tofino; Bella Pacifica right above the sand and Crystal Cove with campsites off the beach. Both are on beautiful Mackenzie Beach. We didn’t have to worry about bears at our campground, just cougars! There was an attack nearby while we were there. I love kitty cats but come on.

When we first started this adventure I thought I would have lots of horrible but funny stories about living the RV life, it wasn’t my idea to go on this trip you know? But instead it’s been the most uplifting experience. I’ve met the most incredible people along the way, eh? In Vernon it was the Scott family, who were missing their Miller and gave me tons of love. And the humans all had a pretty good time too. And in Oliver we met Annie and Frida. I tried to teach them how to swim but I’m not sure it comes naturally to pugs and fugs (french bulldog and pug). Their humans, Pat and Dallas, invited us to their home on Vancouver Island and fed us a yummy steak dinner with all the fixings while we finished the last of the Oliver wine stash together. Like I said, it turns out the nicest people go glamping.

The last night before our return to the States was quintessential BC. We spent the night smack on the waterfront in Victoria at the ferry dock for FREE, that is if you don’t count how much 45 feet of rig costs.

The classic wooden boat show was in full swing and an outdoor concert on the waterfront was our playlist. The joint was jumping on a warm Sunday night. Everybody had the next day off as it was Monday, Labor Day, which made for quite the festive evening.

It was the perfect ending to our BC experience.

Coming up next: Back in the USsA!

Posted in Airstream, Camping, Dogs, Travel, Travel photography | Tagged airstream, British Columbia, camping, Canada, dogs, glamorous camping, glamping, Granville Island, Kootenay Lake, Long Beach BC, Mackenzie Beach BC, Nelson BC, Okanagan Lake, Oliver BC, Pacific Rim National Park Reserve, RV, RV's, Tofino, Vancouver, Vancouver Island, Victoria BC, Victoria Clasic Boat Festival, wine country BC | 5 Comments

OH! Canada!

Posted on August 28, 2011 by Ginger

On my very first day in Alberta, Canada I saw 8 bears at Waterton National Park. But I wasn’t afraid, as a matter of fact, I just ignored them like they aren’t even there. We had a resident black bear at the fabulous Crandell Mountain campground turning over rotten logs looking for grubs. I love to grub around the fire pits myself, we’re dining buddies!

My humans got all nervous and whipped out their bear mace when they saw 2 black bears on a hike to a nearby lake, but not me. I’m just like la di da… no big deal. You just have to be careful if they have cubs, like this big mama bear pictured below. Luckily we saw her from a boat, not on a hike.

After Waterton we headed north to Lake Louise. Talk about great swimming, I LOVED the glacial lakes. The colder the better became my motto!

I even went on a long uphill hike to the Lake Agnes Teahouse just so I could swim in the coldest water possible. Even though my humans think I’m cray cray to swim in ice water don’t knock it till you try it. Totally invigorating!

I thought Moraine Lake was as beautiful if not more so than Lake Louise. Here I am just hanging out, getting some sun!

Just in case you want to see what it looks like without my mug in the way.

We were off to Banff next and were lucky enough to snag a campsite at the Two Jack Lake Campground at the bottom of Lake Minnewanka. There are only 74 campsites with no hookups, and 23 are for walk-in tenting so it’s not easy to get a spot but worth waiting in line for any of the all first-come first-served sites. It’s the best place to camp in Banff National Park.

While there I met the nicest couple from the Netherlands, Katrien and Tim. We all had a great time hanging out and they gave me all the loving I wanted (and deserved) and I vowed to somehow visit them in Amsterdam. I’ve heard it’s a really happening place.

After Banff we hit the Icefields Parkway heading towards the Great White North and just when I thought the landscape couldn’t get more beautiful, BOOM! I was skeptical when I heard it was one of the most scenic roads in the world but now I’m a believer!

Here we are, just hanging out at the Wabasso Campground outside of Jasper. It was the only campground we could get into on a Saturday. All the other 1000 plus campsites nearby were full! The Canadians really take advantage of their summers and who can blame them? Luckily we got some good pictures on the way up because the weather turned and we even had some snow… in August!

Brrrr! Cold cold cold!

While waiting out the storm in Jasper we met some wonderful Canadians! A big shout out to Tezz (and his Dad) for helping me with ideas to get more viewers for the blog. I don’t know if I mentioned it before (ahem) but I’m hoping to go viral, eh!

Well that’s enough about me for today, it’s really all about the pictures anyway (wink wink).

Next up: British Columbia (BC) = Bring Cash

Posted in Airstream, Camping, Dogs, Travel, Travel photography | Tagged airstream, Alberta Canada, Banff, Banff National Park, bears, bears in Canada, Bow Lake Banff National Park, Canada, glamorous camping, glamping, Icefields Parkway Jasper National Park, Jasper National Park, Lake Agnes Teahouse, Lake Louise, Lake Louise Banff National Park, Lake Minnewanka Banff National Park, Maligne Lake Jasper National Park, Moraine Lake, Moraine Lake Banff National Park, Prince of Wales Hotel Waterton, RV's, Two Jack Lake Campground, Waterton - Glacier National Peace Park, Waterton Lakes National Park | 7 Comments

My Own Private Idaho / Montana

Posted on August 6, 2011 by Ginger

In case you’re wondering about the headline, I’m tired of always being two states behind in my posts hence the combo.

We arrived in Idaho hoping to start the serious fishing portion of the trip but alas the rivers were still too high so we headed to Ketchum for some fun. I’d heard a lot of great things about the Sun Valley area over the years and I was not disappointed. Due to a huge bike race in town there was no availability at the only RV park so we stayed in Hailey, a delightful town just a few miles south. We had a stupendous dinner at Three Ten Main Restaurant and then explored the stunning Sawtooth Mountain Range the next day.

Not wanting to give up on staying in Ketchum we decided to scout boondocking possibilities. We had dry camped (no hookups) in various campgrounds but we had never just driven down a dirt forest service road and found a spot to pull over. We scouted the area first and found the perfect place. It was only 5 miles north of Sun Valley off Trail Creek road, had a view to die for and it cost zilch! But would it still be there in the morning with all these people streaming into town for the weekend? Taking the chance we hooked up the airstream and set off from Hailey as early as possible and sure enough nobody else had discovered it. We set up our camp with not a soul in sight… no other tents, trailers, RV’s or people. It was heaven on earth and a river ran through it!

See that tiny silver spec in the middle of the picture? That’s us!

We met our nearest neighbors from a mile or so away, Bodie and Alli, two gorgeous Chesapeake Bay Retrievers and fellow airstreamers who are living off the grid full time. I invited them over for cocktails and hor d’oeuvres along with their delightful humans. We traded tips about our rigs and told tales of our travels as the sun set over the valley.

Finally after a few days and the first trout catch of the trip we reluctantly left this heavenly spot and headed north to Stanley in the Sawtooths. This is a must see area with tons of camping, fishing and whitewater rafting right along the Salmon River.

We had a fun dinner on the roof deck at The Bridge Street Grill and then headed north along the Salmon River to Montana.

It was time to get serious about fishing. We went straight to The Big Hole River near Wisdom, MT but alas the water was still too high.

Getting a tip from a local we moved up to the famous Rock Creek near Missoula . To my loyal readers… I apologize for what’s to come. It’s going to be a real fishing report, sorry!

Now they say not to bring a trailer or an RV down Rock Creek Road, there are signs everywhere warning you. But do you think that stopped me? We came in from the north off the I 90. The road is paved for a short while but very narrow. IF you met another vehicle somebody might have to back up if there wasn’t a turn out nearby. Our destination was Norton campground, at the end of the paved section. It was reviewed on parkcamper.com as the only spot for RV’S. WRONG! When we got there it was tent camping only. Now what? We were 9 miles in and I wasn’t about to give up. As we headed further south the road turned to gravel and then to dirt and became a little rough and rutted. But I knew the silver bubble could handle it. We came to the turnoff for the next campground, Grizzly, but it was a mile down yet another dirt road and we didn’t dare go in unscouted. Could we turn around if needed? Beauty and the Beast (trailer and truck) combined are about 45 feet long. I sent one of my humans to check it out on foot, he came back to report that a fellow fisherman was kind enough to tell us about a place 4 miles down that would work, Dalles Campground. But would the road get worse? I said let’s go for it and so we did.

At the 14-mile marker we came to a suspension bridge across the river, a sign told us we had only a ½ mile to go. We continued on, the ruts grew a little larger but were still manageable. Finally we pulled into Dalles Campground and it was perfect, right along the river’s edge. We found a large enough spot that took some maneuvering to get into and proceeded to set up camp. It was glorious and I met another buddy, Marley and his very interesting humans from Syracuse, NY as well as some other wonderful folks from Helena and Missoula. One of them made me his special rock creek fly which worked perfectly! I would post a picture but I traded it for some Canadian flies (it’s little, black with some elk hair and a hint of red). I caught cutthroat, Brook and Rainbows. The dry spell was over… the real fly fishing had finally begun!

The last day we drove south in the truck to check it out. Just south of our Dalles Campground the road turns into a super highway. Though still dirt it was graded with no ruts and pretty wide. I think those 4 miles of bumps were dug on purpose to keep the non-locals out. We investigated Harry’s Flat Campground at the 17-mile marker. Some of the sites were right along the river and we could have easily fit in many. We continued on to mile marker 23 to see the Bitterroot Flat campground, also very accessible. We were told that eventually there are switchbacks that prohibit RV’s from going any further even though the road continues on to Philipsburg, but I’m here to report that with just a little determination you can at least make it south to Bitterroot Flat.

From here we went to the Yaak River Campground outside of Troy MT and met Kie from Canada (a huge handsome yellow lab) along with his very nice humans who gave us lots of fishing tips and flies for when we get to Canada (that’s where the Rock Creek special fly went).

As a matter of fact we are currently staying in their hometown of Fernie, British Columbia. From Troy it was on to Glacier National Park, which is absolutely stunning.

We went hiking and loved the scenery along the famous Going to the Sun Road. We stayed at the wooded Glacier Campground in West Glacier where they had a wonderful outdoor Grill with great food and atmosphere, I highly recommend it. There we met some more fantastic Canadians who were missing their kitty cats so they they gave me LOTS of love.

The Many Glacier Hotel was spectacular and I got to swim in all the lakes I could find. You know me, the colder the better!

From there we decided to come out of the woods and find some civilization so we went to Flathead Lake. It was full-out summer mode there; boats, bikinis, and booze.

That’s me loving the lakes!

We had a fabulous time at Margarita Monday at the Raven Restaurant in Woods Bay. So much fun in fact the next day we made a run for the border.

Next up: OH! Canada!

Posted in Travel | Tagged airstream, Big Hole River, camping, dogs, flyfishing, Glacier National Park, glamping, Hailey, Idaho, Ketchum, Montana, Rock Creek, RV's, Sawtooths, Stanley, Sun Valley | 7 Comments

Running with the Buffaloes!

Posted on July 30, 2011 by Ginger

We arrived in Yellowstone National Park and got our first “bear aware” orientation of the trip. I was like, “hey, no bear will mess with the mighty me!” But that very same day a California couple was attacked by a grizzly protecting her cubs on a very popular trail just a mile and a half from the parking lot. The husband was killed and the wife just barely escaped with her life. I shut my pie hole about the bear danger after that and followed all the rules very closely, making sure nothing was left outside that might attract any critters.

And we saw lots of critters; this baby elk, deer, antelope, and a black bear with two cubs. And of course tons of buffaloes.

Where do the buffaloes roam? Anywhere they damn please. Check this guy out in the middle of the road. He gave me the evil eye and then finally agreed to let us pass.

You would have thought I’d learned my lesson about leaving these beasts alone but it just whetted my appetite. I would go crazy every time we saw one. After the mozzies chased us out of Yellowstone we went south to Grand Teton National Park there was a whole herd of them stampeding across the road right in front of us and one of my humans (who shall remain nameless) forgot to shut her door when she jumped out to take pictures and I saw my chance. I leapt out of that truck and went charging after them. I wanted to run with the buffaloes too! Unfortunately she caught up with me and after 3 loud shouts of my name I stopped. I let her think I did it for her but in reality once I got up close and saw their gnarly faces I had second thoughts.

We loved Grand Teton, one of the most breathtaking landscapes of the trip!

After my near death experience we decided we needed some civilization for a few days and Jackson, Wyoming was exactly what the doctor ordered. We stayed at the Jackson Hole Campground outside of town near Jackson Hole. It was within walking distance to two wonderful restaurants. Calico (Italian) and Q Roadhouse (BBQ). We had wonderful meals at both, sitting outside and enjoying the crisp mountain air.

But the best part of Jackson was when met the most wonderful family! There were at least of dozen of them celebrating a graduation and guess what? We were in the mood to celebrate too! As a matter of fact it was me who met them first and then I introduced them to my humans. We had so much fun it was hard to leave. A big shout out to the Blashak/Strahan family! Hopefully we will see them again when we go through Texas next fall.

Posted in Travel | Tagged airstream, camping, dogs, glamping, Grand Tetons, Jackson WY, RV, Wyoming, Yellowstone | 9 Comments