1970's Family Camping Trip to Canada

In August of 1970 we had a big green Mercury station wagon. We decided to take the family on a camping vacation. We went first to Northern California, along the Coast of Oregon, Washington, up to Vancouver Island in Canada, across Southern Canada to Calgary, down through Montana, Yellowstone Park, the Tetons, to Salt Lake City, Utah to Grandma Cowley's in Layton, then through Nevada to California. Marjorie went with us on the trip.

We decided to really organize things to make the trip run smoothly. We had sleeping bags, cots and tent for 7 people to pack on top and in the car. we thought we were being very smart by buying styrofoam chests and packing them with our frozen meat, frozen shredded potatoes, etc, to make to cook our meals. We went up to Grants Pass, Oregon, the first night. It was really hot. The campground was full and we had to pitch our tent in the overflow section. Cathy and Cindy's job was to put up the tent and take it down each day. Greg and Brad's job was to keep out of our way. No sooner than Cathy and Cindy got our tent up, a Hell's Angels group of motorcyclists set up camp right next to us. I was really worried because all I had for protection was a hatchet, which I slept with all night. Nothing happened. Our next stop was at a pretty little lake near Olympia, Washington. Things were just fine, so far. The next day we took the ferry to Vancouver Island, Canada and set up camp on the island. We started getting a really bad smell coming from our car. As the frozen meat started to thaw, the blood from the meat leaked through the styrofoam cooler into the back seats of the station wagon. It made the whole car smell rotten. Marge being a clean freak, started scrubbing the car from top to bottom, trying to get the smell out with not much success. The smell stayed in the car for months.

We toured the island, then caught the ferry to the city of Vancouver, Canada. That night we stayed in a campground next to the railroad tracks. We didn't realize how active the Canadian railroad system was. In the night the ground started shaking, light came into our tent and a loud roaring train noises made it seem like the train was going through our tent. This happened several times during the night.

The next day we stopped by Kamloaps and Shuswept Lake. It was very pretty and one of my patients was camped there. We went on and camped that night at Calgary because we wanted to go to the Calgary Stampede. Unfortunately they weren't having the Stampede, so we headed down through Montana to Yellowstone Park. There was a big rain storm which soaked all of our sleeping bags on top of the station wagon. There was a place there that rented sleeping bags for a dollar a night and I rented 6 of them. Marge covered up with a blanket. We visited all the sights in Yellowstone and saw all the bears. Then we went through the Tetons and drove to Layton, Utah, to Grandma Cowley's house. We stayed there a day or two and then drove through Nevada to our home at Kenny Court in Santa Cruz.

It was a fun, crazy time!