Vancouver Island - Day 1

For the third time since we started this blog, we drove from Regina to Lethbridge.  600+km of pretty empty landscape, but it is the most logical spot to stop before heading into the mountains on the southern route.  We spent a lot of time yesterday and today remembering our previous trips to Lethbridge, including the one in 2009 where we went to a bunch of the same places we will visit on this trip, just with much younger children.  It's a bit jarring to read those older posts where every driving day was spent dealing with small kids who didn't want to be in the car all day, versus today, where all the kids have their own books and electronics and basically sit quietly in the back for six hours.

The day started fairly leisurely, as we slowly got everyone up and got the van packed and ready to go.  I think we were out of Regina shortly after 9:00am and drove all the way to the Saskatchewan border before stopping for a picnic lunch.  It was windy, but warm in the sun, so Bradley, in a repeat of our last trip, ate his lunch in the parking lot so he could be in the sun.

After lunch, we packed up and drove to Lethbridge.  There was a little bit of rain, and a couple of very questionable other drivers on the road, but other than that, the drive was uneventful.  Once we checked into our hotel, we walked to a nearby hobby store and did some shopping.  Lethbridge's hobby store was quite a bit better stocked and busier than any of the ones in Regina, despite only having half as many people.

Then it was off to supper.  As it was close by and pizza is a cheap supper for a group, we decided to go to the same pizza place we went to back in 2018 when we here for the start of a mini-Alberta trip.  It was a good supper, well loved by Jonathan and Evan and tolerated by Bradley.  Sandra and Evan devoured a chocolate calzone for dessert.  After that, the younger kids played in the pool for a bit before heading to bed.

Tomorrow we head into the mountains and plan to end our day in Grand Forks, BC, where the forecast high is 36C.  Our first actual hot weather of this very wet and cold spring and summer.