Back Country Camping with Kids: How to Keep them Well-Fed and Wild | Ep 35

Today, we have a fantastic location to talk about, the one and only Anza-Borrego State Park. So grab your camping gear, and let's dive into this beautiful desert oasis!

Anza-Borrego State Park, located in sunny Southern California, is the largest state park in the Golden State. It's a vast, sprawling natural wonderland that covers over 600,000 acres, with the vibrant colors of the desert landscape providing a captivating backdrop for your camping adventure. The park is famous for its fascinating geological formations, rich history, and, of course, the stunning spring wildflower blooms that bring a riot of color to the desert floor.

Now, let's talk campgrounds! There are several wonderful options to choose from within the park, with the most popular being Borrego Palm Canyon Campground and Tamarisk Grove Campground. Both offer a range of amenities to make your stay comfortable, including restrooms, potable water, picnic tables, and fire rings for that cozy evening campfire. Plus, the park offers numerous primitive, backcountry sites for the more adventurous campers who prefer a more remote and rugged experience.

But there's more to Anza-Borrego than just the campgrounds! As you explore the park, you'll find plenty of opportunities for outdoor activities such as hiking, birdwatching, and stargazing. There are over 500 miles of trails, catering to all skill levels, and the park is home to some of the darkest skies in Southern California, perfect for an unforgettable night of stargazing.

And let's not forget about the unique opportunity to spot the park's most famous residents, the bighorn sheep, or "borrego" in Spanish, which gave the park its name. Anza-Borrego State Park is truly a gem, and I cannot recommend it enough for your next camping adventure. RSSVERIFY

Picking up where we left off, We were detailing the Great Canadian Roadtrip of 2021 which saw us travel West through Alberta  and back. When we last left off we promised to come back and detail our stay at Pike Lake Provincial Park…and we will get to that but first, I want to detail why you shouldn’t sleep on Saskatchewan as a vacation destination.

Saskatchewan has a broad reputation in much of Canada as a fly-over or drive through Province, Saskatchewan, however is among the most fascinating provinces you can visit, with warm people, small town charms and a ton of different, and fascinating eco systems to explore.

Known as the “Land of the Living Skies” SK does have amazing views of the sky from pretty much everywhere, given the flat prairie landscape, but it is so much more than flat and boring.

Did you know, there is a Buoyant Salt Lake, known as the Dead Sea of Canada in SK? That located at Little Manitou Lake near Watrous SK. The home of buoyancy and famed healing waters, you can also camp at the Manitou and District Regional Park, which has 108 fully serviced, sites as well as a variety of electric and non electric sites ranging from $24-37 per night. This park also has a pretty nice playgrounds, a golf course and beach area and is well worth the visit.

There is also an amazing Sand Dunes Provincial park which is so far North it’s almost in the Northwest Territories? How about Coulees, Bison, Rattlesnakes and Even Quicksand? All of those can be found at Grasslands National Park, as well as a Boreal Forest in Prince Albert National Park. All of that and 100,000 lakes to keep you swimming and fishing to your hearts content.

All of this and provincial camping fees that offer amazing amenities for camping fees which are 40% cheaper than Ontario Parks

One of the best of those is Pike Lake Provincial Park

PIKE LAKE

Located 20 minutes south of Saskatoon, Pike Lake Provincial Park is the perfect home base visiting Saskatoon and surrounding area. Lots of shaded sites and situated on the South Saskatchewan River, the park offers various recreational opportunities for visitors to enjoy including water activities, playgrounds, tennis, pickle ball and beach volleyball courts, mini golf and a popular outdoor pool with a waterslide. There is a 1.5-km Nature Trail begins at the interpretive centre and provides a great opportunity to experience the diverse wildlife and ecosystems contained within the park. 

Best, the Barrier-Free playground and Lakeside Promenade Trail features a level boardwalk surface and enables anyone to take advantage of what the park has to offer.

220 Sites. All Electric except sites 211-220. Rates are $33 for electric and $20 for non-electric. 

Fee for pool of $5/$2 youth or family rate of $15 

Hello everyone! We're BACK for Season 3 with even more goodies from our cross-Canada tour in 2021. Today we talk about Jasper, Alberta. More specifically:

• The places you need to pay to play (or drive)
• Length restrictions in Campgrounds
• The town of Jasper
• Things to do
• How to add another province to your list in less than an hour
• Where to shower;
• ...and much more!

Well, we did it. Teahouse Challenge is Complete and we are all better off for it. In today's episode we cover:

• The parking problem at National Parks
• The closest campgrounds to Lake Louise
• How the Chateau is the nicest hotel you'll never see (maybe)
• Why Lake Louise is SO turquoise
• Who Lake Louise is named after
• the Lake Agnes Tea House
• the Plain of Six Glaciers Teahouse
• What the Teahouse challenge is
• Our two favourite tips and tools for this trek
• Everything you wanted to know about alpine outhouses

Today, we review three quick days camping in Banff National Park and the town of Banff.

We'll talk Parking, food, park entry and campgrounds for RVs as well as tips for making sure you can snag that coveted Parks Canada Booking.

Helpful tips included in this episode:

• Booking a National Park Video
• Best Pizza EVER!
• Banff Ave. Brewing Company
• Banff Trail Riders
• Banff Gondola

Well, here you have it, folks! Our Annual Spooktacular! Today we (okay, just Melina) are detailing 5 more places we've laid our heads which are completely, and totally haunted (alledgedly). Today we're talking about:

1. Letchworth State Park and the Legend of Mon-a-sha-sha
2. Disney's Fort Wilderness Resort and RV Park
3. Albuquerque New Mexico and the Myth of La Llorona
4. Thunder Bay and the Ghost Ship SS Bannockburn
5. Drumheller and the stories that will have you saying "I ain't 'fraid of no ghost!"

Here is the link to the Drumheller GPS-guided Ghost Tour

Here are the two Ghostbusters: Afterlife Trailers:

Official Trailer #1
Official Trailer #2

Remember - if you have any spooky stories to send us, give us a shout hello@rvcanucks.com

In the third and final installment of our series on the Alberta Badlands (yes, it's that good that we need three episodes), we welcome Ben and Janine to talk to us about a family of 7 in a Motorhome, newbie travels, and of course, we'll learn all about Dinosaur Provincial Park and what sets it apart from Drumheller.

Dinosaur Provincial Park is 48km from Brooks Alberta, about 2 hours Southeast of Drumheller, and is a UNESCO world heritage site. Unfortunately, we didn't make it to the park on this trip, so we've brought our good friends and RV newbies, Ben and Janine to tell us all about their adventures at Dinosaur Provincial Park and give you the highlights you need to know.

This is episode two of our two-part series where we visit the Alberta Badlands. In Episode One, we covered Drumheller, Dinosaurs, and the Royal Tyrrell Museum. In today's episode we dive into the fascinating, storied, and sometimes tragic past of Coal mining in Canada, as well as travel to the world-famous hoodoos and go for a walkabout in Horseshoe Canyon.

Today is Episode 40 – and we are continuing our coverage of the RV Canucks 2021 Grand Tour with a two-part profile of the Drumheller Valley, AB. On the next two episodes, we’ll talk about the unique geography of the Alberta Badlands, the sometimes dark history of the Coal Capital of Canada—and of course look at the unique reasons Drumheller is considered the Dinosaur Capital of the World. 

Today we Discuss:

• RVing options in and around Drumheller
• The River Grove Campground and Cabins
• Downtown Drumheller and why we're in love with it
• the Royal Tyrrell Museum

Be sure to keep your eye out for Episode 41, when we continue our journey in Drumheller by visiting the Hoodoos, Horsehoe Canyon, and learn a little about Drumheller's Coal-Mining Past.

today is episode 39, and we have a pretty exciting interview for you with Revolution Trailer Uplifting in Winnipeg MB, who we met and fell in love with on Instagram, and asked if we could interview them for the show. Lucky for us, they agreed and Fiona and I got to fill our little HGTV-obsessed hearts full.  If you’ve ever even thought about casting the beiges and browns of your rig aside and renovating your trailer to a more relaxing esthetic (a la RV Fixer Upper – if you know, you know) – this is the Canadian place to do it. 

On our way West, we stopped by to tour the Revolution Studio, and chat with Meghan who coordinates nearly every aspect of the process with clients and we were thrilled to see how the work gets done and learn a little more about the process in general.

For more on Revolution Trailers, or to see their work - Check out their website , Instagram , or Facebook