2 Years Later

 I can't really say there was much happening in 2025 that I wanted to post here. Nic, Ozzie and I moved to Vernon BC, and along with a number of other ongoings with work and family, we had a pretty stressful time of it. So please forgive the gap in reporting. It seems fitting then to pick up pretty much exactly where we left off. Another camping trip to Vancouver Island.

We started at the Pacific Playgrounds near Saratoga beach. It was a pretty vast campsite with lots to do. It reminded me a lot of living in North Van. Lots of kids riding their bikes around and a place for the parents to go drink quietly and ignore them.

We rented from Island RV again, this time upsizing our camper by quite a bit. Nic and I have already done the exit analysis on this and agree this wasn't really a better option than the van we had last time. Comfort was hard to find in here with a bed that was little more than plywood and the cheapest camping chairs you could find. I have no issue renting from Island RV, but whoever owns the Keiko seems to be just trying to make a buck with the least possible investment. 

Nic and I always like to eat and do a pretty good job when we camp. For our first night, we got the pasta dish checked off our list with a nice bag of beef ravioli and Nic's home made sauce. 

Ozzie seemed keen at first on going for a paddle board. Later on he would just want to play with his water toy on the beach. We had a hard time tearing him away when it was time to go back. 

We really like Saratoga beach, but find the right place to stay has ever been a challenge. Nearby Miracle beach campground is un-serviced, a Pacific Playground was just too big and popular. 

But you can't beat this place on a sunny day. I'd like to think when it's my time to cross the rainbow bridge, my first glimpse of heaven  would look something like this.

Ozzie has been on the limp for a while now. An issue we really need to get properly looked at. But when he's excited, he can still zoom around. 

After Saratoga, we went back to the Cumberland Lake campsite and met our friends Sue and Lubo. We all really love the Cumberland forest. Mountain biking has really put this sleep town on the map. 

Just here I'm dumping random photos, mostly taken by Lubo. In fact, without him, this post would be pretty pointless.

When you think about it, the Cumberland campsite is perfect for us. We have some of the best trails in BC nearby and a calm lake to SUP board on. 

Lubo got a few shots of me on my board. I'm just going to show the one where I'm actually standing which also minimizes the plumbers butt. 

A fun game was trying to keep Ozzie try on the days when we were about to drive off somewhere. 

Dinner time team ups, nice company at the picnic table. 

End of day showers and sitting by the firepit.  The next morning we'd be off to our final stop at the Qualicum first nations campsite. 

Ozzie's new friend is Chevy who belongs to Darren and Angie from Saltspring. Nice like-minded folks, we actually exchanged phone numbers, something we I almost never do.  They left the next day and were replaced by a rather large group who though it was a good idea to bring a karaoke machine. Ugh. I hate to be like that but we had a shut that shit down. The singing was just bad, and loud. 

As normal, Nic and I played a few games on our trip. Boardgames are a prime example of how to enjoy your camping trip without annoying the people around you. Here, Nic is closing in on victory with Brass Lancashire. One of our favorite games. 

Later that evening, we'd be joined by Colleen and Jason, who just happened to be on the island as well sussing out a new camping trailer. I'm happy for them. It's good to see people getting ready to enjoy retirement to the fullest. Part of the reason we moved to Vernon was so we could play catch up and get ahead. My hope is that one day a pickup truck and camping trailer will be in our future as well. 

After 5 days of swimming and biking our dog was actually just trying to hide. I felt bad that we made him ride with a sore paw. Emet and Marlow were there with Colleen and Jason but Ozzie just had no gas left in the tank to play. 

We headed back across on the ferry late Sunday evening. Chris and Rich were kind enough to put us up for the night so we didn't have to drive in the dark. Waking up on mind however, Nic and I were both ready to head home. Rich made us coffees and we sped off, getting back home around 3 in the afternoon. 

5 nights in Ozzie's camper van

 If you ever get tried of stories about my dog, then you can just skip this post. It's fine. I won't take it personally. Not everyone is a dog person. 

But seriously, what's wrong with you?........

We left early, like really early, on Friday morning to make the 6|:30 ferry to departure bay.

It really is amazing what you can fit into my car. My Nissan Rogue was packed to the gills with bike stuff, camping stuff, paddle boards, blankets and pillows, a cooler,  a cappuccino machine, cloths and a largish brown bear.  The Rogue has never let me down but a full size pickup is on the shopping list. I'm hoping for 2027 to make this acquisition.

 

BC ferries has set up an amazing little dog friendly area on the upper car deck with chairs and benches. This is the sweet summertime traveling spot. No kids, just dog friendly people and views of the water and sometimes whales. It's bare bones but it's awesome!

Getting off the ferry we headed to Save on foods to pack the car even fuller. Nic put 2 large bags of groceries at her feet and we drove up to Lantzville to get our Pleasureway camper rental.

 

 Rich calls this glamping but we disagree.  Smallish vans like this are nice, but requires a lot of set up and tare down time. Set up the bed when you get to the site, but put it all away when you need travel storage. And I'm not bragging or anything, but I poop bigger than this bathroom. 

One of the best choices we made was to bring our De Longhi espresso machine. Wherever we had hookups, ie, first 3 nights, we had Cappuccinos . Such a nice way to start the camping morning.

Nicbucks is open!

We planned this trip around my Brothers annual BBQ. All are invited and those who show are fed burgers and hot dogs. So far I've only ever had burgers, but Cameron doesn't cheap out. He gets the keg burgers from Costco. So good!

This is a pic of most of the young-ins that showed up. Natalie and her kids, Pat's teenager, Sami(pants) Allistair and Sonja's 3 kids.

You may not know it, but you're looking a a picture of a Unicorn. All 4 dogs down and resting is something I never thought I'd see. Normally Ozzie spends his time at Cameron's trying to hump his dog, Angus, the black lab. Ken brought Barkly, John brought Daisy. The 4 played the whole time I think except this maybe this moment only.

2 nights at the Qualicum First Nations Campground. The only negative comment I have is there is little or no shade. I kept thinking, thank god it's cool and overcast. If it was hot and sunny, we'd all have been roasting. Other than that, our spot was perfect. Right next to the cabins where Natalie and Pat were staying. A large space for Ozzie to wander out the back of our campsite.

This was our view on Saturday morning. Pretty nice.

Sunday morning found is driving into Cumberland for a bike ride. We parked the van near the trail head and started off for Soba no Michi, the climbing trail. Thirsty Beaver, Teapot and the Crafty Butchers were like visiting an old friend. Nic and both got into the flow zone right away.

We were really proud of our pup too. Our Cumberland ride was probably the longest of his ride career. 3.5 hours since the climbing trail is so mellow. But he ran it like he'd done it 100 times.

Before the ride, I got a call from the Cumberland Lake Campground. I was asked to change to site 16 instead of 17. They had a family that wanted to take the 2 sites next to each other. 

Ok No problem I said.

Overall, the Cumberland Lake campground is great, but by agreeing to change sites, I agreed to camp in the wet spot. The rain set in hard Monday morning and it seemed the entire campground was draining through our site. I won't show all the pics I took, but neither site 15 or 17, or basically any other site there had this issue. What is one of Murphy's Laws, no good deed goes unpunished? It really made packing up and heading to Miracle Beach

 

I was able to contact Kelsey at the Cumberland camp ground a few days later.  I told her I felt somewhat screwed by the situation. She happily refunded my money for the one night and said I should try to find her next time I wanted to camp there so she could help out further. 

 

I was really impressed by this and just wanted to mention in here in my post. I'd say none of the campsites we visited  on our trip were perfect. But the way she handled my complaint makes me want to go back. 

Well done, you!

We arrive in Miracle Beach for an agreed upon rest day. The rain that day sucked but we did our best to adapt. We used the awning to cover the picnic table and played our second game of Brass Lancashire. |Both Brass games are excellent. We were able, barely, to keep this game from getting wet.

We packed in the game and went inside for a late afternoon sip of scotch. Nothing else to do besides sit and chill.

Ozzie thinks this plate of cheese, humus and crackers is his. 

 

Yeah actually, a lot of it was.

Our table(attachment) had just enough room for 7 Wonder Duel. Another fave. 

 

 

Ozzie was really well behaved on our trip. For 5 nights he shared our bed space and let us sleep in. The rest was rare and nice, but I think the fact that we rode and paddle boarded most of the trip tired him out. Plus all the plays he got in with his friends. The whole trip was really nice in that regards.  

 

Ozzie will often stare at us in such a way that makes us wonder what he is asking for. It turns out this is the facial expression of our dog when is waiting for me to get up and go to the bathroom so he can steal my spot in bet. 

 

Recorded for later reference, Ozzie. 

The morning view from Miracle Beach. Nice but not where it's at.

Saratoga beach has the white sand and is much more dog friendly. I didn't get it on video, but Ozzie went nuts here. Sand, water and other off leash dogs! As our dogs matures, a display of the zoomies gets more and more rare. But zoomies will bring me back to Saratoga beach eventually.

 

Back to the site for Taco Tuesday and a game a Carcassonne.

Ozzie napped out the rest of his trip. We packed up Wednesday morning and got the Pleasureway back to Lantzille 30 mins late.

A view of the trip home.