A Two-Parter: Mountains, Beavers and Raspberries

In this post, we bring you a special two-parter; covering two wonderful weeks where we desperately tried to escape, enjoy and entertain two toddlers in this crazy summer heat.

Part 1: Swimming, Beaver Hunts, and Mountain Views

As we continued our Canadian adventures we arrived at a beautiful RV park in Fernie. A European style ski town nestled in the Mountains of British Columbia. The Campsite was our very first resort-style experience, situated right on the river with incredible views of the mountains. The location was perfect for our morning and evening walks, and we loved biking into the local town, the truck taking a well deserved week off. The town itself was a delight, with charming parks, cozy coffee shops, and incredibly friendly people.

One of the highlights was discovering a local pub’s special of the week: the poutine burger! For those who don’t know what poutine is, its chips/fries with cheese and gravy. So you can imagine a poutine burger, if not let me try and describe it, imagine a burger bun jammed full of poutine, a burger, and melted cheese.

The hot days meant we were limited with time outside, but we spent many days at the local pool which was awesome for the girls as the toddler pool was warm, shallow and had plenty of toys and floats for the girls to play with, Alice and Will enjoying taking turns going down the big waterslides! We were there so often that the lifeguards even started to recognize us!

After a beaver sighting on a dog walk one evening, Alice and Tilly went on ‘beaver hunts’ on the electric bike, zipping up and down and around the rivers spotting trees gnawed by beavers and enjoying seeing a beaver couple enjoying their evening meal, with loud sounds of “nom nom nom nom nom”. As we mention the river we should not forget Gracie, still enjoying her daily swims, jumping in after Will as he swam in the cool water.

After a fun week in Fernie, we head back south to the border back into the US, hoping we can get Maggie across the border with her UK passport (we previously were not aware she needed a visa to get back into the US, so we had to turn around at the border to apply for one. And for those who may ask, yes, she does have a US passport but we don’t have it with us currently.)

After successfully making it back into the US we stayed overnight at a beautiful horse ranch. The ranch owner was developing an old dairy farm she had owned for 30+ years into a horse therapy center. Tilly was over the moon to ride her first horse, a painted horse named Rain.

Part 2: Billings and the Cozy Cabin

Next up was Billings, Montana. Where we were especially lucky and honored to stay and catch up with family friends, the Harringtons. It was wonderful getting to know them, hearing about their lives and watching the girls love being around them and reminding them of life with two young crazy toddlers! Their hospitality was heartwarming, and we were blessed to stay at their beautiful cabin in the Mountains for a week. Yes, RV free! In a real bed!

The Cabin, nestled in the mountains on the shores of East Rosebud lake was stunning. The views unbelievable. The community had endured fires and a recent flood but still stood strong. Morning walks were made even more fun with the wild raspberries that helped keep the girls moving and another moose sighting was thrilling.

We hoped to get out on the lake more, but hot weather, smoke from fires around the US made this tricky. However, we managed to get on the kayak as a family a couple of times, the first time being short and sweet and the second a poor tired and grumpy Maggie getting face-fulls of water as the more choppy water splashed in her face. Her tired cries stopping every few minutes as she fell asleep in her straight jacket of a life jacket.

Evenings were spent playing on the lake beaches before bedtime and making sand mounds and sticking sticks in the water. Will enjoyed fishing with Brian, and Tilly learned how to make delicious ice cream. The hot weather made us grateful for the nearby lake, and we relished playing board games and doing puzzles together for the first time in a while.

After a dreamy week we drove back to our faithful RV, and started again on our adventures, East. As we left the cabin we stocked up on food for a long few weeks of travel. Excited to be ticking off more States and entering areas with iconic US history.

Until next time, which might not be too long as I catch up on these posts.

Alice & Co xx