The south end of the beach at Hua Hin, Thailand.
Where are Kevin and Ruth now? Hua Hin, Thailand.

Where are Kevin and Ruth going next? Maldives on March 23rd.

Monday, May 28, 2018

Because if you don't ask, you don't know.

We sure are getting lots of daylight as we get closer to June 21st, the longest day of the year in the northern hemisphere. And of course it's even more noticeable as we drive further north.

On Saturday night, the official sunset was at 9:57pm. And then sunrise is at 5:20am! But the interesting thing is that when then sun sets... it lasts for a long time!

Here's the view out our bedroom window Saturday night at 9:56pm...

And it stayed like that for about twenty minutes!

It's going to be so interesting to see where we are on June 21st.... should be around the Arctic Circle by then, and we will have 24 hour daylight!

When we woke up Sunday morning, it was sooo quiet. Slept like a log. We had a hot drink and then drove in to Whitecourt to pick up a few things and use the free Walmart internet.

Just before we left our overnight spot, this critter wandered by, giving us a curious look before moving on...

Healthy looking coyote!

We drove 49 kms (29 miles) into the town of Whitecourt (pop 10,200). Nice looking town, with lumber and pulp and paper as the main industry.

Not many cars on the road at 8:00am on a Sunday morning.

First stop was Walmart where we picked up a few groceries and sat in the motorhome and used the free wifi to see what there was to do around the town.

We wanted to visit the Whitecourt Forest Interpretive Center, but learned that it's not open on weekends until June 15th. But during the week it's open every day from 8:30am to 6:00pm. This is also where the tourist information center is located. Doesn't make any sense to me why they would be closed on a weekend, even during slow season. They should be closed on a Monday and Tuesday, and open on the weekend! You'd have to think it would be even slower during the week, no? Unless they specialize in doing school groups during the week, but hey... there aren't that many schools out here! Anyhow, I guess we'll find out more today because we decided to hang around for the night.

We stopped and put another $100 CAD ($77 USD) in the tank, this time at $1.329 CAD per liter ($3.87 USD per gallon). Interestingly, the price in Dawson Creek. British Columbia 400 kms (280 miles) north west of here is cheaper than it is here!

They are a little more RV friendly out here. The local Canadian Tire store even has a free RV dump station and fresh water fill. So we decided to head over there to dump the tanks. We made sure the facilities were operating properly, then proceeded to use Sherman's shower to get ourselves cleaned up, knowing that we would be able to dump and fill again right away.

Then, it was off to the new Rotary Park. What a great job they've done on this totally free facility. And you can tell it gets well used with lots of people out having fun on a nice day.

A nice splash pad for the kids.

A great playground. They didn't have stuff like this when we were kids!

This place will be a zoo in the summer. 
It was a nice day, but not warm enough for me to be getting wet!

They even have a free lazy river tubing area.

We walked around the park, and then took a path down to the river.

Lots of people enjoying the totally free park.

As I said, we had decided to stay the night, but we didn't yet know where we were going to park for the night. Yes, we could have stayed at the Walmart, but we've learned that with very little effort there is always somewhere better. We thought about driving over to the Forest Interpretive Center and simply parking there, and that probably would have worked. But as we were out for our walk, we passed a church with a nice parking area in the back. And there was a guy out watering the grass, so we walked over to ask. Because if you don't ask, you don't know.

We walked around the corner to talk to him, and we were surprised to see that there was already another RV there! Turned out the other RV belonged to another church member who came to do some talks, and then left it there. It's been there for quite some time. 

The guy doing the grass watering said that he was one of the higher ups in the church, and that he would give us the okay to park for the night, no problem. 

Anyhow, it looks like a great overnight spot and we would bring Sherman over there after our walk.

They have a brand new pathway along the side of the Athabasca River.



I think they have a beaver problem here!

Another view of the park.

We had a nice short 4 km (2.5 mile) walk, and then we drove Sherman over to the church.

Sherman, in his overnight spot.

Well, it's Sunday, and the sign out front did say "Visitors Welcome"!

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Record low price today on the highly rated Sun Joe Electric Pressure Washer. Great for spring cleanup jobs...


And in Canada...




35 comments:

  1. We love that each town has its own personality. Those busy beavers sure can do a job, can’t they?

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    Replies
    1. Yes, they do all have their own personality. It really impressed us, to see that there was so much to do in Whitecourt and how they have made it so easy for families to enjoy the town and the surrounding area. Actually there is a lot of stuff there for just about anyone to enjoy.

      Luckily the beavers at Cabri, were never quite that industrious, having said that they might be if we didn't have beaver fencing around many of the trees in the waterfront area.

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  2. I know you have curtains to make it darker but you might want to pick up eye masks for when you hit the 24 hour daylight areas. We have super short days in the winter but our Summers rock in AB/BC

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    1. Already have them, thanks. In fact Ruth mentioned that just last night!

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  3. Beautiful country with clean not busy roads...love that. Yep, it will be daylight at night. While in Alaska, we were still out hiking at 11:00 p.m. at night and posted some beautiful trails in FB. The sun was out so when got back to our hotel, we used the black out curtains to try and sleep. Weird our bodies didn't want to sleep while the sun was still out. I had to force myself to sleep but up early. I was exhausted when I came home to lower USA.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Yes, it is definitely very clean up here, less people I guess to make it dirty! The road in general isn't that busy but we would still prefer to be on a quieter one but there really isn't any other option.

      It is going to be interesting to see how we do with all this daylight. We are already finding ourselves going to bed a little later than normal but we are still waking up about the same time, which is between 6 and 6:30am.

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  4. With the sun lower in the sky there should be fabulous light for picture taking. Pretty scenery.

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  5. If you are Costco members they have the cheapest gas in GP. Was 126.9 yesterday when we were there.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks but we don't do Costco. Using Gasbuddy, we find that we can usually beat Costco prices by being able to shop around where there is no Costco. We would have a hard time benefiting from the $60 a year annual fee.

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    2. We don't see how RVer's afford to NOT be Costco members. If you are a member, you can get the Costco Visa Card. It gives you 4% cash back on fuel, whether you buy it at Costco or some other gas station. $4 each time you put in $100. If you go through $200/week, you recover the fee in a couple months on just that. Then there is eating out. It gives you 3% cash back on that. It can really add up over the course of a year. Oh and did I mention that there is no foreign transaction fee, so cheap and convenient to use in Canada. I don't work for Costco or Visa. Just love the Costco Visa card (and Gas Buddy when there isn't a convenient Costco).

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    3. That's an American Costco Visa Card. The gas deal is decent, but we don't eat out. Americans have a lot more choice than us Canadians! I use a Canadian TD Bank Infinite First Class Travel Visa...gives me 1.5% on everything we spend, not just restaurants and fuel.

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    4. While in PV Mexico, saw local lady from LaCruz in Costco & we split membership! Forgot cost, much less than in U.S. Shared & pay 1/2 a real deal. Bought great CA maple syrup! Samples? Enough for meal! Is Discover available in CA? Pays 5% back on gas, groc., eating out certain months & 3% everything else - even bills like elec., ins, cell phones, etc! Not eat out? Looked like YOU had nice time eating at Edmonton Mall recently (& rode roller coaster - AFTER eating!) See pics of you guys eating out w/friends/family from time-time; not on reg. basis - but sometimes! ;) Even Christmas time! We know Ruth spoils you with great nutritious meals...her cookies were yummy! Have friends/family from UK visiting & they have/use U.S. credit cards; not sure how. Using Int'l driver's license (not UK) & rent cars. Not advice/not expert; noticed what's used. You travel, budget/stretch $ better than others, w/o using U.S. credit card....you'd be dangerous if you had one! Lol!

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    5. We have found the few times that we have been in a Costco, that you really have to know your prices because you don't always get the best price there plus we don't have the room for bulk buying. As Kevin mentioned we have a great Visa card that gives us a return on everything that we buy when we use it. Plus we really hate having to pay for a membership just to do shopping! And pat, you are right we rarely eat out so the card would save us nothing in that department. ;-)

      Delete
  6. Nice to see your finding some interesting things to see and do in Alberta. Enjoy your day!

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    Replies
    1. There is a lot of stuff to see and do up here, unfortunately we just don't have the time to do it all! ;-)

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  7. Some wonderful areas around there to explore, and free is always good.

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    Replies
    1. Yes, lots of places to explore! We love free. :-)

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  8. One of my favorite sunsets ever was on a drive from Whitehorse to Dawson City, when it lasted for almost the entire three hours! Drive 20 minutes, stop to take sunset photo, drive 20 minutes and do it again, repeat, repeat. Amazing.

    BTW, many of us in Alaska dislike curtains, so we get used to just sleeping in summer daylight. Love it, in fact... winter was dark enough!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Too funny, I am sure we will be seeing that happening with us too, not driving though because we are normally parked up pretty early in the day.

      We can understand the wanting to have all that sunlight, especially after a long dark winter!

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  9. In early July (Years ago ) we were in Dawson city and the RVers where reading the paper outside at midnight.

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  10. We have never done it ourselves but I have heard that churches are normally welcoming to overnighters if they have room in the parking lot. I guess they live in the hope that we will wander inside for a sermon.

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    1. Yes, we have parked in quite a few church parking lots. It sure beats Walmart! And yes... we have also been invited to bible study in the evening...

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  11. We enjoy small rural towns much more than big towns or cities. A visit to a city is a rare thing for us.

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    1. So do we but we also find some big cities interesting, we just don't want to spend as much time in them and we hate the traffic! There is so much pretty scenery and hiking to do out in the country, we would much rather spend our time out in the nice fresh air. :-)

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  12. I'm excited for you guys to be taking Sherman to the Arctic Circle, and possibly be there on the longest (Northern Hem) day of the year. Nice parking spot (sure beats Wal-Mart!). Whitecourt looks like a nice town.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. We are excited too, perhaps even more so that you guys! ;-)

      We avoid sleeping overnight at a Walmart like the plague, we can almost always find somewhere much better, that is pettier and quieter that is still free. :-)

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  13. We are following your trip with interest. Will take basically the same route starting from Blackie AB on the 21st of June. Will watch closely as you progress. We are bonkers so it is interesting to watch other people do it.
    Bib Karen from Chase, BC

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  14. Same with state capitols. They are usually closed on weekends. I understand they want regular hours and work days also, but they would probably get more visitors by staying open on the weekends. I'm enjoying your travels north.

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    1. Yep, I will never understand places that deal with tourists yet close on the weekend when most of the tourists are out and about, maybe they hope they will stick around for another day or two and spend more money in the city.

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  15. My daughter teaches and lives in Whitecourt. Havent been back there for a few years. Nice to see how much the town has grown. Thanks for the pics.safe travels to the great white north!

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    1. She is lucky to live in such a pretty town with so many activities available. They have done a great job making it a fun town to live in. I hope that you can make it up there to see her one day soon and see it for yourself.

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