Family Camping at Herald Provincial Park

In mid-July, we embarked on another camping trip, this one to Herald Provincial Park, near a town called Salmon Arm, BC.  We left Boise on Saturday, July 13, and drove up to Osoyoos, BC, a lovely little resort town on Osoyoos Lake which is known for being the warmest freshwater lake in Canada. We stayed in a hotel suite that had a separate (bunk bed) room for the girls, so they were happy, and we enjoyed a beautiful view of the lake from our balcony.  The girls splashed in the hotel pool the following morning and then we were on our way for the final leg of the drive to the Provincial Park.

Unfortunately for us, it was the Penticton Gran Fondo weekend...which means that for miles and miles and kilometres and kilometres, we were stuck inching along behind approximately 459,347 cyclists making their way up the hilly highway.  After what felt like our entire lives, we parted ways with the interminable clusters of bikers in Pentincton!! We stopped in Kelowna, BC for lunch at White Spot because that's just what you do when you're in BC.  Unsurprisingly, it was delicious.

We got to the campground and said hi to the crew - Liz, Cathy, Margaret Wells, Megan, Ben, Matt & Emily, Dave, Greg & Kristy. And Sydney & Kona, of course! We knew that the weather might not be awesome...but we didn't realize that meant thunderstorms and 2 hour long downpours! We were all a little worried that the tents would wash away at one point, or that we be sleeping on soaking wet sleeping bags, but luckily our tents all stood the test throughout the whole week of on again/off again rain.

We definitely made the most of the sunnier times, hanging out at the beach and swimming in the lake whenever there was a break in the weather. Dave & Ben got some fishing done and Zach took Claire to check out a big totem pole near the campground. We ventured into the town of Salmon Arm and spent some time at a cute little farm stand & petting zoo! We stocked up on some necessary rain gear, and tarped down our tent to protect against the rain showers. The kids had a great time hanging out with their cousins, swimming, smore-making & eating, reading and hanging out in Grandma's trailer! We got to hang with the family and really, truly catch up, which is always fantastic, even if it's raining!

On Saturday, July 20, we packed up the sites under threat of rain, but luckily it missed us! Everyone else headed back to the Lower Mainland, and we headed south to Richland, WA. We stayed at the Homewood Suites hotel, which is always great, and were all happy for showers and actual beds!  On Sunday we finished the drive to Boise with a lunch stop at Nells-N-Out in La Grande, OR.  We didn't get home until almost 6pm MT - it was great to be home!

We all had a wonderful visit with the Shepherd side of the family, and the rain this year just means that next year will be beautifully sunny and blue-skied! 

We're about to head off on our next (last) summer adventure - we're going to visit Jan, Ron & Grandma Dow in St. Augustine, FL for a week! We'll check in with an update when we get back, in the meantime, here are some pictures from our trip!

BC Camping 2019 Pictures!