.action video

Sorry for the delay on this action video. Turns out video editing is pretty time consuming! Enjoy this video of the trip M and I took this summer!

Click here to read about the day's featured in this very long action video!

.martha trip part 4 .08.20.16.

.martha trip part 5 .08.21.16.

.martha trip part 6 .08.22.16.

.beatrice goes to Montana .09.22.16.

The next morning we went to Flathead lake, where we were originally were supposed to be camping the night before. The sun was shinning, but unfortunately the wind was blowing!  We cooked some delicious breakfast, and then strolled around Wayfarers State Park. We took loads of pictures and enjoyed the sunshine, oh and the wind.

When we finally got bored of walking around, we decided to go back up to whitefish mountain resort to go on the adventure park. I turned out of Wayfarers State Park and we drove along Flathead lake enjoying the beautiful views. About 15 minutes later I realized we were driving in the wrong direction!! We turned around and got to see the beautiful views all over again! My bad... 

The adventure park was loads of fun! I did every single course, including the kids ones. You gotta start somewhere right? 

K did the first few with me and then got distracted by another handsome mountain man. To be fair the man had on a bright orange toque, so he was pretty hard to miss. I went on a few more of the courses while K gabbed with her new man.

Finally I got her to come on the intermediate course when suddenly she became scared of heights. I'm gonna chalk that one up to a coincidence, considering the mountain man was watching from below.(just kidding, she was originally scared of heights)

After the horror of the intermediate course K and I did an easy one to increase her confidence in heights once more. Mission failed, we stood on the platform for the final zipline for about 15 minutes waiting for her fears to tame themselves. To be fair the cute mountain men below heckling her wasn't helping. 

 

There was only one course left, the black diamond. K was out, she didn't want to do the black diamond. I don't blame her really, it was extremely tough and painful to complete. K videoed me and laughed at my expense as I slowly made my way through the obstacles, each one harder then the last! 

One particular obstacle was especially difficult. It was a ladder, made out of logs with tiny spaces between them. Sort of like those chains of hotdogs you get at the local sobey's. About the only way I could figure out how to get down was to straddle the log and slowly slide down to the next opening between logs. It was EXTREMELY PAINFUL and I was probably doing it completely wrong, but I made it down and that's what matters!

The second last obstacle was by far the worst. You had to hold on to the rope for dear life and jump your feet over to the platform circle at the bottom of each rope. I was exhausted. I clung to the rope and jumped my feet over the best I could. What seemed like an hour later I finally made it to the end!

 The last obstacle was a "trust fall" similar to the one I went on in chase BC. With the two adventure park guides and K heckling me I opted to go for the actual trust fall instead of just stepping off the platform and gracefully drifting down to the ground. Instead I fell backwards and flopped around like a rag doll. Peer pressure, it's a real thing; don't give in!! 

We were off, on route to find the perfect mountain setting campground. We drove through Glacier National park until the sun set, we picked the first campground we saw and pulled in. 

It turned out to be a little diamond in the rough! Nice clean bathrooms, spaced out campsites and a fire pit. Finally I'd be able to make my campfire meals I'd planned!! 

K made some Mac and Cheese in the van while I messed around trying to get the fire started. I got slightly sidetracked by another campfire activity I had planned, glow stick bubbles. 

Once I realized the bubbles weren't going to work, I moved along to trying to get the campfire food ready!I wrapped the tinfoil around my creation and tossed them in the fire! Once again I was distracted by glowsticks. I cut them open and flung them around,this created a nice "starlight" glow around the campfire. By time K had finished cooking the Mac and Cheese I had used up most of the glowsticks and broke out the sparklers---or sprinklers as I kept calling them. (They sprinkle you with fire, DUH)

After I got our "Campfire Feast" loaded in the fire, we sat and enjoyed the roaring fire; eating our delicious M&C and admiring the stars in the sky (and the fake  glowstick stars on the ground, and all over me). I even started to serenade K with one of our old girls-camp songs "Like the stars" by Jenny Phillips. 

Once the campfire food had finally cooled off we were ready to feast on my "pinsperation dinner/dessert" I slowly unwrapped the pigs in a blanket and this is what I got.....

Thank goodness we had decided to have back-up food!!!

Turns out I suck at almost everything there is to do with campfires. I can barely get a good campfire started without going through mass amounts of matches and fire-starter. I suck at cooking campfire food, and my campfire activity of "glow in the dark bubbles" was also a huge disappointment! Better luck next time I suppose! 

.beatrice goes to Montana .09.21.16.

While researching things to do in Montana, I came across the Whitefish Mountain Resort

website. They had tons of off season activities going on, including zip lining, alpine slide, downhill mountain biking, and my personal favorite, a suspended "adventure park"!! I had done an adventure park course in Revelstoke the previous summer and was so excited to try one again! 

When we woke up I called the mountain resort to book us a time to go ziplining!! It was K's first time I was so excited for her to experience ripping through the mountains hanging from a wire, there really is nothing like it! 

While K cooked breakfast I took advantage of the fresh water connection and flushed out all of the water tanks in the van. The previous owner had left some water in the tanks and it did not smell very good! Being new to this whole "RV ownership" stuff I searched for about an hour for the grey water dump valve, and the fresh water fill connection. After finally finding the connections I hooked up the water to the van, not totally thinking straight I started filling the hose before unraveling it.

I turned my back for one second and the hose erupted out of the plastic casing. Having no idea what just happened, I dropped to the ground ducking in cover from the imminent danger! As I slowly got out of the fetal position, surveying my surroundings to figure out what had happened; I noticed that my neighbors had been watching the whole time and were now hysterically laughing at my reaction. I smiled and waved at my audience as I stood up, brushing the dirt and gravel off of me. 

Over breakfast I told K about what had happened outside while she was cooking! After we finished breakfast we packed everything up to head up to the mountain. I had noticed earlier that the windows weren't rolling down, but didn't think much of it. When I started the van and began driving, I realized that all of my gauges weren't working!! A quick call to the dad's and we determined that we probably just blew a fuse. The trip just got a little more interesting, the only indication of how fast we were going was my GPS which only displays your speed some of the time. We also had no clue how much fuel we had... Let the adventure again! 

We stopped at the local Safeway to get some Starbucks for the drive and headed up the mountain! The clouds were gathering early in they day while I was messing around with the water tanks, and by time we were heading to go ziplining they began to get really dark... No matter, the adventure must continue! When we got to the ski hill and were pleasantly surprised that our "Zip instructor" was super cute!! We suited up and took a few pictures while waiting to go ziplining! 

Unfortunately it began to rain as soon as we began zipping! Rain drops hurt when you're zipping through the air at 70km/h, they pelt you like pieces of hail! On the first few zip lines We had to shield our faces from the rain drops! Luckily the rain slowed down and we were able to enjoy the beautiful views of the whitefish resort mountain. The rain turned the rocks a beautiful green and burgundy, K and I were fascinated by the rocks and kept " ohhh, ahhh" -ing at the beautiful rocks! 

Check out this ACTION VIDEO, of K and I enjoying the rain at lighting fast speeds!! Featuring our super handsome zip guide guy and our equally as awesome zip guide girl!! 

While we were picking out these fantastic professional pictures, Jeremy; our zip guide guy, came and asked for K's number. I nudged her arm, it's not everyday cute mountain men ask for your number; you have to take advantage of these moments! 

After zipping in the cold for hours we went back to the van and cooked some grilled cheese and creamy tomato soup, cause what else do you eat when you're cold?!? We laughed at our pictures and gabbed about how much fun we just had. The plan was to go back and do the "adventure park" for the rest of the evening. Unfortunately they had closed early for the day due to the rain. So we chose to go look around some more American stores in Kalispell, that would get us out of the rain for a bit! I have really missed target since they chose to abandon us in Canada, so I was more then happy to spend an evening looking around at all the "Pinterest worthy" decor! 

Later on that evening we met up with Jeremy for some dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings, there was a few football games on while we were there so we were surrounded by screaming fans. We sat and visited for a while before deciding to go back to Jeremy's place and hangout with him and his brother! We visited for hours before K and I had get going to our campsite, we bid our new mountain men friends adieu and headed down to flat head lake! The drive was gorgeous, there's just something about town lights at night that makes everything look so peaceful. The glow of the street lights on the water was absolutely beautiful, I stared out the window while K drove us to our campsite. 

Unfortunately the gate to where we were going to camp for the night was closed, so we found the nearest church and camped there for the night. Ah the luxury of camper vans. Park anywhere and climb up into bed.

.beatrice goes to Montana .09.20.16.

The bed above the captains chairs in Bea is slightly smaller then the one in Martha was. There's much less head space so if you wake up abruptly you will most likely smack your head off the roof!! Nonetheless it was comfy cozy. I had put a spare memory foam on the mattress and we had lots of blankets to nest in.

The sun streaming through the windows slowly woke us up, I'd opened the blinds overnight because I was too warm in my nest. The air was crisp and a slight fog covered the ground, K and I put on our matching new plaid jackets and set out to roam the campsite. As we strolled along a cute little chihuahua came running up to me, she was slightly bigger then Tia but had the same coloring; her name was Arizona. Her owners stopped to chat with us, I told them about my two girls and we swapped stories about our chihuahua's. They were surprised that Arizona had so quickly warmed up to me, apparently she's usually quite timid! I explained that she probably just smelled the girls on my clothes, but truthfully I am a closet dog whisperer. After chatting for a while about the gorgeous campground and nearby hikes, the couple offered for me and K to borrow their kayaks to explore around the lake!! How extremely kind and generous of them, we graciously accepted their offer.

The lake was a gorgeous turquoise color, the sun was shinning and the only sound was the distance hum of fishing boats out for the morning catch. It was beautiful. We stayed out paddling for almost 2 hours before coming back to visit with our friendly camping neighbors. After an hour of listening to stories about their travels across the states we bid our new friends adieu.


It's so wonderful meeting new people and hearing about their travels. One of my favorite parts of camping is you are surrounded by a lot of like minded, very friendly people who love to sit and visit for a while; one of my favorite pastimes.


Next we headed into Eureka to get some much needed brunch! My friend from work had also recommended a "mom and pop shop" in town that had great breakfast, Cafe Jax !

We got milkshakes with our breakfast, because when you're on vacation; calories don't count!! Cafe jax was filled with history from the small town of Eureka. The walls were covered in signatures and old photographs, it was truly a classic American diner! K and I basked in the small town atmosphere and decided to explore around the town a little more instead of going on a hike like we planned.

We walked up and down main street stopping in every store and admiring the "false front" historic buildings. We loved that all the stores were in these old-fashioned buildings, it gave the small town such character. Antiqued false front buildings, adorable decor shops, the beautiful colors of fall and the crisp mountain air mixed with warm glowing sunshine, I was truly in my happy place. 

 

After hours of strolling around Eureka we decided to head into Kalispell to do some more window shopping. We were pleasantly surprised to find another "Historic" Main Street! Again we strolled up and down the street, stopping in every store and gushing over the treasures each one held. The shops were so diverse; decor, knitting, thrift stores, western wear, antique's and even a Christmas decor shop. At the end of the main street there was even a gorgeous church, the St. Mathews Catholic Parish.

After a few stops at some American stores like Target, TJ Maxx, and the classic Walmart, we headed to our campsite in Columbia Falls. While K was catching up on keeping our parents informed about our daily adventures, I took advantage of some free time to change out the stereo in Bea. K, sneaky as always, took this video of me while I maneuvered the cords around the dash.

Unfortunately the stereo I had was too big for the dash, so I put the old one back in and cleaned up my mess while K made supper. We had delicious home (or Van) made mac and cheese.

It was getting chilly outside so we relaxed on the van, reading and catching up on social media before drifting off to sleep.

.beatrice goes to Montana .09.19.16.

K and I had planned to go on a road trip down to Montana in Martha. I had kept it a secret from K that I had bought Bea and sold Martha, so when I picked her up I had her younger sister take a reaction video of K seeing the new van! 

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After running a few last minute errands around town we were on our way to Montana!! Our first trip to the states without our parents, we had truly reached adulthood! The 4 hour road trip down to Montana was filled with lively conversations. Mostly my new favorite past time of asking/answering lots of deep, personal, and hopefully soul searching-ly motivating questions! We talked about our goals and things that we aspire to be some day. We talked about how grateful we are to be single and independent. Sometimes it is a little lonely, but it is also incredibly empowering to be completely happy on your own. We also discussed the things we'd like to learn to do! K wants to learn new knitting patterns and to learn how to make new things, like mittens and slippers for her best friend! I'd like to learn to make beautiful patchwork quilts, and also to play the ukulele which has been comfortably living in my closet! 

I love going on road trips late at night with friends! There's no social distractions so you get to spend multiple hours with your friends just talking! Something that our busy lives can sometimes take away from us. I love the opportunity to just sit down and visit, taking the time to learn more about your friends through asking questions which lead to deeper conversations. 

Finally at 2 am we crossed the border!! The border patrolman was very direct and cold, my mom had warned me about this behavior so I was prepared. I answered all of their questions plainly and didn't try to make small talk. After shinning a flashlight around in the back of the van the gentlemen handed me our passports and said "that's all". We did it!! We officially made it across a border and we're off on our new adventure!! 

A friend from work had told me about this great camping spot that was free and absolutely beautiful on lake Koocanusa. It was pitch black out when we arrived so we picked a spot close-ish to the water and climbed up into bed! Slowly falling asleep while chatting about how excited we were to be out on our own, seeing the world one road trip at a time. 

I couldn't wait to see what our campsite looked like during the day!

.martha trip part 7 .08.23.16.

Sadly our last day in Vernon has come. We woke up slowly to the sound of the ducks HONKING outside. Tia and Mia quickly started barking to alert us to the nearby danger🙄 (Too bad they couldn't alert us to the danger of our potentially murderous neighbour!)

Since it was our last day we decided to start a tradition and go back to cosens bay! See .excation part 7

Thinking we were smarter then last time, we followed the road to the last point where it crosses the path to the beach. M hopped out and took the beach stuff. I would bring the dogs with me on the 2km walk to the beach from the parking lot; that way they would be tired and sleep on the floaties. 

This trip to cosens bay was slightly different than the last, in that we weren't in my little car anymore. Martha was too big to turn around on the narrow dirt road. Luckily enough there was another parking lot farther up the road. As I drove up to the parking lot it was clear that it would be a much farther walk then if I had parked at the other parking lot. As I was walking down to the beach, I looked through the tree's for some trails that lead down to the lake. After all I could see it through the trees.

I picked what looked like a small bike trail and made my way down the (very steep) hill. The path quickly ended and I was left with a bunch of fallen down trees and a steep hill. The dead grass was very slippery, and the only thing to grab on to for balance was some rose bushes and pine branches. Ouch!! 

Oh did I forget to mention I was wearing a dress and slip on sandals? Not my best choice of attire when scaling a steep hill. Tia and Mia quickly became tired of maneuvering around the fallen trees and tall grass. I quickly figured out that the only way to get down the hill as quickly as possible was to carry the dogs. Luckily I can hold both Tia and Mia in one arm, I used my free hand to grab onto whatever I could to stop myself from falling down.

About an hour later I finally made it out of the woods. Once I emerged from the tree line I immediately found a real path to take me to the beach. 

***If I had only walked a little bit farther down the road from the parking lot I would have found the beginning of this trail. It went along the tree line into a valley which lead to the beach.***

Patience is a virtue everyone, and I learn that lesson over and over and over again. 

It wasn't till I was walking on flat ground that began to feel the stinging on my knee intensify. I had thought that it was just another scrape from climbing over the fallen trees, but it was beginning to turn blotchy and was even starting to swell. I began to worry that I may have brushed against some poison ivy. When I finally made it to the beach, M was already packing everything up! She was getting ready to come searching for me, with both of our cellphones and no idea what was taking me so long she was beginning to worry! 

We took some pictures of my battle scars and sent them to mom in hopes that she may be able to help us diagnose what was happening!

 

(Ignore my super sweaty, greasy hair. We were showering in the lake that day)

Mom sent me some helpful information, but it turns out it was just a case of stinging nettle. 

Tia was completely exhausted from being carried for so long so she quickly passed out in the beach stuff while M and I tended to my wounds. 

Unfortunately we only had the beach to ourselves for about an hour. People slowly started to trickle in, some just passing through on their morning hikes and others coming down for a morning swim. 

One particular beach visitor effectively ruined our afternoon. He had an adorable pit-bull puppy, but it was unleashed and it was making lots of people uncomfortable. I don't discriminate against different types of dogs, I believe that all dogs have the potential to be kind and loving creatures. The people around us did not share this opinion. All we heard for the next hour or two was people scoffing at the young "gentlemen" and his dog. The guy and his puppy were fooling around and the puppy was getting a little rowdy, jumping up on people, running around chasing the ducks and genuinely just disrupting the peace. Tia and Mia get a little worked up around other dogs so we took them out on the floaties to try to salvage a little bit of relaxation. 

Later in the afternoon my hands were beginning to wrinkling so much it was beginning to hurt. I paddled in to the beach to get some drying time in the sun, I let Tia and Mia jump off the floatie to walk up the beach to our stuff. Just then the playful puppy saw the girls and bolted towards them. 

*** As previously stated, I loathe people who don't leash their pets, or more specifically people who don't have control of their pets when they choose to unleash them. This did not help my temperament with what followed. *** 

I calmly swiped the girls up at the last possible second before the playful puppy came crashing in. Just wanting to play the puppy started jumping up my leg trying to get to the girls. My chatty beach neighbors exploded. The began to scream at the young guy that they were going to report him and blah, blah, blah. 

I walked back in the water, calmly bouncing the girls in my arms. My hands were shaking. Not because I was angry, but because it had scared me. That puppy was significantly bigger then my girls and if I hadn't of swiped them up they could have been seriously hurt. 

Finally the yelling petered out and only a few mumbles were uttered from my defending beach neighbor before he apologized for the outburst. I politely told him that I can speak for myself. M came out in to the water to ask if I was alright, we stood in the water rocking Tia and Mia in our arms planning what we wanted to do for the rest of the day. 

All of a sudden the young guy started to get worked up again. He was uttering how he was going to fight the guy who had engaged in the yelling battle with him. I was fed up at this point and I had heard enough. Less politely I told him that it's over, to stop whining about it and move on. After all I was the one who's dogs almost got hurt and I hadn't said a word up until this point. He immediately began to focus his angry energy on me, saying I was discriminating against him because he had a pit-bull. ------Now, I'm not overly proud of what followed. But I work in the oilfield and I've learned the best phrases to cut men down. I watch the guys do it all day everyday. 

I got in to a fight. A word fight. Luckily I won the battle and the skinny little loser leashed his dog and left. The gentleman who had fought with the boy earlier had a very surprised look on his face. He later told M that he should have just let me tell the boy off in the first place, and that I really could speak for myself! 

Sadly we had to leave the beach in order to get to our campsite in time! We were staying somewhere in between Kamloops and Jasper so it was a bit of a drive away! We stopped for an actual meal at "Mr. Mikes Steakhouse" before heading to the mountains!

^^^ M my very happy (not tired at all) co-pilot!! 

We didn't get to the campsite till late so it was pitch black by time we got there! The stars were absolutely beautiful and the crisp mountain air was exactly what I needed to cleanse myself of that crappy encounter at the beach. We had some leftover wood from the previous night's fire. After many failed attempts at lighting the fire, we decided to call it a night. I crawled into bed and began pinteresting/googling how to light a fire, because clearly my years of Young Women's Camps didn't teach me!! 

Sadly our trip was over, the next day was spent driving home and getting ready to return to my bleak reality. Working.