When we were cleaning out the trailer last summer before handing it over to Philip, I pulled out a number of sheets from trailer parks that we have visited over the years. I thought I might share some of them here.

Up first is Salmon Arm, a wonderful spot on your way through the mountains if you were going along the Roger’s Pass. We only stayed there a couple of times but it was a nice spot – very much on the edge of town.

Also along that route is the KOA in Revelstoke. I really liked this as a spot to stop over on our way west. We always took a spot on the grass and it seemed we were often near the front of the park. This was always a quiet park and certainly wasn’t fancy, but the location was strategic in terms of travel westward. We could arrive here around supper time, unhook and set up and then head down the hill a bit further to one of our favourite restaurants. We did try staying here for longer durations but we found that if the weather changed and blew in it really could stay for some time. Revelstoke is in the Selkirk Mountains which were the highest passes that the railway was forced to contend with as they built there way through of the mountains, east to west.

Mount Baker is the first of non KOA parks that we used often. This park is very unique in that it is smack dab in the middle of the town. Cranbrook. We used this park as our first stop on our way south into Idaho. I liked this small park very much as it was really nicely cared for and was very level and grassy. We were however right in town and houses were nearby. We only ever stayed here for one night. From Calgary we could make it by supper easily have a nice meal and settle in for a good sleep. And the drive to Cranbrook is a really gorgeous drive.

Let’s move south of the border for a moment with Winthrop Washington and the KOA that is in this most unusual setting. This is a dry part of Washington and we came to this one after driving in from the coast. The highway in to the interior and this small town was again absolutely stunning. In fact I would say this was one of the most beautiful drives we have ever done. Winthrop is a fascinating town and has been set up and preserved as it was an old western town with wooden boardwalks. We stayed several days. We had a hot air balloon drop down into the park one day but the real memory of the week we were there was the presence of water bombers nearby as there was a large forest fire over the ridge which meant we could see the smoke and depending upon the direction of wind you could smell the smoke.

Here was one of our favourite destination park. You can’t tell by looking at the paper but this park is built into quite a steep hill and with a gravel road running up the hill it was always interesting when you heard tires spinning on the gravel when a larger trailer was being put on one of the spots towards the top of the hill. The sites were flat of course, and were tiered so that you would walk out from your trailer and find you were looking down on the roof of the trailer beside you. It did give to you a sense of having more privacy than normal and I suppose in a sense we did. The pool was at the bottom of the hill and the only downside to that was the sewer dump was nearby and occasionally when relaxed at the pool a less than pleasant smell would waft by. Apart from that we have very pleasant memories of this area and I often likened it, in terms of geography to being similar to the Muskokas in Ontario. Couer d’Alene is a lovely small city with good shopping, restaurants and a lovely new Kroc Centre operated by The Salvation Army.

We stumbled across this lovely park on our way south towards San Francisco. Mount Shasta is a volcanic mountain which rises to just over 14,000 feet from the floor of the plain which is just less than 3000 feet above sea level. You can see the mountain for a long way out. We camped in a very lovely spot in many ways this is a spot I would love to revisit one day. The town is small but we had a lovely dinner out in town to celebrate Wendy’s birthday.

Well we might as well head towards San Francisco.

Yes we have stayed at a number of KOAs. The days of our camping were pre-phone/internet (cheap) so driving down a highway unsure of where you could stay was at times taking a chance. The KOA website allowed us to make calls and book sites so we were assured a site for the night and therefore a good sleep. We didn’t stay here a long time but they offered a van/tour into the city and that was a highlight of our trip south. As our funds were getting low and the prices were getting higher we turned north towards Canada and home.

One of my favourite pictures of Wendy is one of her sitting on the pier calling her Mom from her cell phone. The tour of San Fran was great and we’ve often said we want to go back.

This park was very different. It was very close to the ocean but the beach is protected so that the water is quiet and we saw many people boating in small crafts. What I remember here was how close we were to the next trailer. Our awning actually met the side of the next trailer but the area that the park sits in was really lovely. Again another place we want to revisit.

We did a number of nights at Tunnel Mountain. This park is in the National Park and is very large. We spent some great times here but the nights are very cool as a whole. I remember one day in August when we were travelling back to our home in Calgary. We had been in very hot temperatures in the interior of BC and as we approached Alberta the temperatures began to decline. By the time we go to Tunnel Mountain the overnight temperate was 2C with rain. We went home the next day.

I hope enjoyed a look at some of these parks – maybe you’ve been to some of these places. Leave a comment if you have.