Kamloops
Scott Mclean
More tales about childhood tales and travels.
We traveled to Kamloops BC one summer. My folks usually looked for a motel with a kitchenette so Mom could cook supper and breakfast to save money. A lot of the old motels had them back then.
I distinctly remember Dad griping about it being highway robbery that the motel cost eleven dollars a night.
I have touched on this story before but want to get it in the collection.
We watched the light show on Grand Coulee that night. A little less impressive than the laser show we watched there with our boys a few decades later!
We stopped to visit relatives at Kettle Falls and took the old one or two car ferry across the Columbia. We spent the night on the Washington side of the border at Pierre Lake, where the mosquitoes seemed the size of sparrows. Steve was about 8 and expected moose, grizzlies, and Mounties as soon as we crossed the border. He was quite disappointed to find just more sagebrush and pine trees on the other side of Osoyoos.
We spent a night at Monte Lake. We were in an old tent made in Yakima and got invited to the campsite next door. The man was involved in the film industry and had a travel trailer that seemed quite luxurious to us. We were entertained by his teenage daughter and her friend playing guitars and singing. If Steve and I had been a little older we might have been interested in the fact they were wearing bikinis.
As it was, we just wanted to escape. There was a store at the campground and we were on a mission to try every one of the many Canada Dry pops. Did okay until I hit ginger beer. Never have been able to try another of those in any brand.
We made it up to Kamloops and drove all the way back to Brewster in Washington state in one day. I turned 11 in that motel the next morning and Mom made potatoes, biscuits, milk gravy, and bacon. We drove home and Dad took me to Giant T where I picked out a first base mit and two bats for my birthday. Mom stayed home and managed to make two rotisserie chickens, corn on the cob, and German chocolate cake. She also had picked up cantaloupe, watermelon, and several kinds of ice cream including my favorite chocolate chip mint. She had got hold of my Uncle Stan and Aunt Wanda. They came over with my cousins Tim and Terri to help me celebrate. Mom had made all of my favorites and got some of my favorite people there. A great end to a vacation adventure. No ginger beer though!
A few years later when I was about 14, three friends and I hiked and camped from white pass to Deep Lake campground up Bumping. We took our time and camped three nights on the way. Believe me there is a reason they call that area leading up to Twin Sisters mosquito Valley! We picked and ate huckleberries on the way and made huckleberry pancakes one morning.
When we got to the top of the trail heading down to Deep Creek we saw a blackbear eating berries. I picked up a rock a bit smaller than my fist and lobbed it. I hit that bear square in the butt! It let out a woof sound and charged down the side of the mountain. I guess it quite surprised a few hikers downtrail when it ran by them. Bears can move!
We were still laughing about it when we got down to the campground where Dad waited to pick us up. When we told him the story he told me I wasn’t very smart. He asked me what I would have done if the bear ran at me instead. With 14 year old bravado I said “Get a bigger rock!”
It was my birthday again and my friends were invited over for the party. Four young teenage boys who had been in the woods for 4 days and 3 nights proved to be pretty fragrant and most others there were careful to stay upwind!
All for now.