#2 – Saying Goodbye to Tyler and Driving North to Vancouver

Our first leg of the trip was to drove to Vancouver.  Our departure date was delayed multiple times because our son Tyler was in the midst of getting a mission call (which he received to the Brazil Santa Maria mission) and then doing home MTC, and then being delayed in his visa receipt, which kept him at home with us for longer.  We could finally delay our going no more, because we had a cruise to catch, so we sent Tyler over to his Aunt’s house to finish the home MTC and wait for his Brazilian Visa, while we drove north.
 
Highlights:
1. Biking the famous Idaho/Montana Hiawatha “rails to trails” site
2. Family camping for the first time in ages
3. Explore North Vancouver and Lynn Canyon Park

Lowlights:
1. Saying goodbye to Tyler, leaving him with Krissy 
2. Saying goodbye to our house for 4 months and leaving it with renters
3. Slightly wet and rainy day- muddy biking
4. Recognizing the things we forgot, and tossing some of our 25-yr old camping gear

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Highlights:
1. Biking the famous Idaho/Montana Hiawatha “rails to trails” site - I love biking old train tracks.  This one was full of the history of the area (perfect for Jacob's homeschooling history class) and really stunning mountain views across the valley.  
2. Family camping for the first time in ages - We have never really been a "camping" family.  In all our world travels, we rarely were in a position to have camping gear on hand.  But for this road-trip, Tera and I wanted to recreate our 1996 post-honeymoon frugal travel experiences when we drove north to Alaska for our summer job, and camped along the way.  So camp we did, and Megan and Jacob were totally onboard.
3. Explore of North Vancouver and Lynn Canyon Park

Lowlights:
1. Saying goodbye to Tyler, leaving him with Krissy 
2. Saying goodbye to our house for 4 months and leaving it with renters
3. Slightly wet and rainy day- muddy biking
4. Recognizing the things we forgot, and tossing some of our 25-yr old camping gear