Today was originally planned as just a transit day with roughly 6 hours of rural driving expected. However, it turned into a great day that the whole family enjoyed! We drove up Route 1 and stopped in Kamloops which is the last real city before Jasper (which is 3-4 hours further). We had previously planned to stay in Kamloops as it seemed like a good area for kids but it didn’t fit into the final itinerary.
As we drove towards the riverfront in Kamloops we passed the farmer’s market. So, we parked and walk back to the farmer’s market. Jaclyn bought some raspberries which everyone was quickly eating until Beckett dropped all of them onto the ground…only a few were rescued.
I tried to get some local beef jerky but it was sold out. This is becoming a theme on the trip with beef jerky and beer. Anytime I try to seek some out something prevents me from getting it!
As we continued to walk, Brooke and Jaclyn shared a delicious strawberry lemonade. We finished up that area of the farmers market and the kids spotted a playground so we hung out there for a bit. Some mean kid ripped Beckett’s hat off his head and tried to throw it off the playground. It didn’t go very far so the kid picked it back up and tried to run away with it but papa Weier snatched it from the kids hand (right in front of his mom). Kid definitely seemed like a bully 😒.
As we finished up at the playground Jaclyn and Brooke picked out a wood carved fairy house made by a local artist (who has sold over 6,000 carvings!) and I got a bratwurst from “Kurt’s Sausage”. The fairy house maker also gave Beckett a tiny glass ducky and Beckett proceeded to hold onto it for the rest of the day.
After we finished the farmers market we walked towards the river front only to be impeded by a real-life train passing right in front of us! Beckett was super excited! We watched the train and the finally arrived at the river front. This was the perfect area as it was a nice green park with a playground next to a splash pad.
The kids played at the playground for a bit and then headed for the splash pad. Brooke was immediately soaked but Beckett was pretending to be scared of the water and would life his shoulders and put his arms out anytime he got wet. He did eventually get soaked when he was spraying a bunch of kids with the water gun and one returned fire directly to his face haha.
As we finished up at the splash pad Beckett finally got the courage to do the water slide with Brooke and on his first attempt proceeded to fall back, spin and almost hit his on the metal pipe/concrete. After a few more equally sketchy times down the slide we decided to call it.
On the way back to the car I was a bad influence and said we should get ice cream so we grabbed some and set near the park. We were only in Kamloops for 2-3 hours but we managed to fit a lot in and it was great to give the kids a little reprieve from the car ride.
As we drove to Valemount for the night Brooke decided to make Jaclyn a sudoku. Brooke then spent the next 30 minutes learning how complicated it is to actually make a sudoku that works and only has one solution. Jaclyn’s completely valid solution to Brooke’s sudoku was deemed incorrect as it wasn’t the same as Brooke’s solution.
Roughly an hour before our destination we tried to stop at a floating restaurant but unfortunately it closed at 5 and we arrived at 4:50. The goods news is that in the 1-2 mins of us getting in/out of the car at the restaurant we managed to let in 15-20 mosquitoes (or as Beckett says “beh-skeeti-o’s”. Jaclyn had jinxed us earlier in the day by mentioning how few bugs we’ve encountered on the trip. We spent the next 20 minutes try to get them out the windows or smoosh them while not driving off the road. Every one I managed to kill exploded with blood all over my hand and the car…whoops! Good thing we’re trading in this car!
Approximately 15 mins from our hotel we encountered the first rain of the trip. Our car desparately needed a bath so it turned out to be a great thing. It quickly turned back to sunny and produced what Jaclyn claims was a triple-rainbow. Something so magical but still not strong enough to interest our teenage 7-year old daughter.
Brooke has been a reading machine on this trip, I think she’s read somewhere around 12-15 chapter books, which is great but also leads to a road trip with her head buried in a book and not seeing the sights 🤷♂️.
After we got to the hotel I put the kids to bed and Jaclyn went out for a little break and explored Valemount. She picked up some beers at Three Gorges Brewery (I finally got my beer!) and then went to a Korean restaurant for dinner. We’ve found it very strange that asian/indian food is the predominant food where we’ve traveled in Canada.
All in all, we had a lot more fun on this day than I expected and if you’re ever near Kamloops it’s worth a stop!
-Jay
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