Revelstoke, British Columbia, Canada - Day 2

Wednesday, September 18, 2024

Last night was an awfully noisy night at the Lamplighter Campground in Revelstoke. Both Andi and Tory complained about people’s talking voices, smells from cooking, and cigarette smoke well into the morning hours. Plus, a train — there’s always a train by city campgrounds.

Wednesdays are Andi’s longer work day, so we planned to hang out the city of Revelstoke today to do work and school. If it’s just one or two voice calls, Andi is fine taking them outside the RV. Sometimes he walks around town while he does them. Today though, he had video calls and one he had to lead, so he asked if could have the RV to himself.

The library is a quiet place for the kids and I to get school work done without a lot of distractions. Unfortunately, the library in Revelstoke didn’t open until 1:00pm today. There’s a community center in town with an aquatic center attached, but that building also had limited hours today.

We packed up by 9:00am, and headed to the parking lot of the community center anyway. On the way, I saw a farm stand selling fresh veggies, so we pulled in to stock up our refrigerator. What a great selection!

Of course, we also had to stop at Tim Horton’s on the way for some delicious Timbits. Why are these so irresistable?! Tory, Aden, and I liked the kiosk ordering system at this location so we could see all the flavors available, and choose how many of each flavor we wanted.

Side note — We started using the Greenlight app at home this past summer to assign chores and one-off jobs to the kids. Tory and Aden each have a savings account and debit card attached to the app, so they can save and spend money they earn. Anyway, we’ve continued using Greenlight while we’re traveling, assigning RV responsibilities to the kids (taking out the trash, making their beds, etc.), and unique family goals like walking two miles every day. The app has been great for Tory and Aden to have their own spending money on our trip, so that when they want to buy something extra (like an iced latte from Tim Horton’s), they have funds available to do so.

For Andi’s first two voice calls, he walked around the community center parking lot & downtown Revelstoke while Tory, Aden, and I did school work inside the RV. Then, when the community center opened, the kids and I went inside there to finish up our schooling while Andi conducted his video calls in the RV.

After we finished, Tory, Aden, and I walked into downtown Revelstoke. Aden picked a restaurant called The Village Idiot Bar & Grill for lunch. Aden ordered his usual chicken tenders and fries, Tory ordered a caesar salad, and I had a pesto chicken sandwich. I ordered a burger to-go for Andi, but he ended up meeting us at the restaurant for a bit between his calls.

In our opinion, there’s a small town “sweet spot” of places under 10,000 people. No matter where we are in the world, this is the size of town that speaks to our family — safe, family-friendly, easy to get around, and still has things to do.

Revelstoke, British Columbia checked all those boxes. We loved this town so much! Great downtown businesses, beautiful city parks, emphasis on local foods, and tons of outdoor adventure in the area. I noticed tons of fliers hanging on the community bulletin board advertising babysitting courses, kids LEGOs meet-ups, fitness classes, and after-school programs. Again, great signs of a thriving, family-centered community.

Andi finished working around 3:00pm. We decided to camp in the Revelstoke area again tonight, but had no idea where we’d end up staying. “We could always go back to the Lamplighter,” I joked. “NO WAY,” Andi said. It was far too noisy and smelly there for his liking.

Fortunately, there’s several rustic campgrounds in the area. Andi picked one called Begbie Falls Recreation Area, located about 10 miles outside Revelstoke city limits. Driving the road into the campground was a little nerve-wracking as we had to share one lane with several oncoming cars. I’m guessing most people who visit this rec area have smaller vans or tents because the campground itself was not large. Anything bigger than our 25’ rig would’ve had a hard time maneuvering around.

Anyway, Andi secured us a great spot with views of McKanzee Mountain in the distance.

After we settled into camp, the four of us walked down the trail to see Begbie Falls. We followed the road from the campground into the dense forest, mentally taking note that we were walking down, down, down in elevation (which meant that we’d be walking up, up, up to get back to our camper).

Along the way, we saw several groups of rock climbers, as well as signs along the path for mountain biking trails. Begbie Falls is one of the premier locations in Revelstoke for outdoor adventure.

We could hear the falls in the distance, but couldn’t really see them through the dense forest. Getting to see the falls up close required us to walk down a steep hillside. “Come on, we’ve come this far. Let’s go!” Andi urged all of us. “I’m in!” Aden chimed in. Okay, okay… Tory and I were in for the downhill hike, too.

There was a shorter, steeper path straight down the hillside (likely to be a mountain bike trail), or a longer path of switchbacks to get to the bottom. I opted for the longer switchbacks, and Andi, Tory, and Aden followed begrudgingly. Those three would have easily chosen the steeper downhill route.

I’m glad we ventured down the hillside to get to the falls because it was definitely worth it. The powerful water crashed down the side of the cliff into the gorgeous clearwater river below. We’ve seen so many kokanee salmon running in the rivers of British Columbia. Andi said that for the locals, they’re probably like, “cool, a maple leaf” because they’re so used to seeing them all the time. But for us — wow! It’s so neat to see the bright red bodies of the kokanee fighting their way upstream.

We spent a half hour or so down by the river, watching the fish swimming and climbing on rocks. Then, we followed the trail to a forest clearing which wide open views of the Columbia River and McKanzee Mountain in the distance.

On our walk back to camp, it was quickly decided by Andi, Tory, and Aden that we were taking the steeper, more challenging climb back up the hillside.

Our moderately-challenging hike to Begbie Falls was great family time— lots of jokes and laughter.

Nobody was particularly hungry for dinner after our late lunch at The Village Idiot, so we hung out in the camper for the remainder of the evening. Tory’s favorite show right now is Young Sheldon, so she caught us all up on what’s happening in Season 7, and then we watched a few episodes together on the RV television.

Tomorrow, we promised the kids we’d do something fun in Revelstoke since today was mostly a school and work. Then, we’ll continue making our way west through British Columbia.