Salmon Arm: Tipi Getaway with a Rainbow

When we booked a tipi on a farm near Salmon Arm we didn’t really know what would be involved. The Airbnb posting had limited information and photos, but the description sounded nice enough and the price was reasonable. In addition, it was the only place available – of course, we only checked a week before we wanted to go away, with a driving distance that still sounded somewhat doable with two young kids.

So on a Wednesday morning we found ourselves driving east. Neil was so excited about the trip, it’s not every day that he gets to sleep in a tipi, so he didn’t eat much for breakfast and after an hour or so he complained he was hungry. Since our departure time wasn’t exactly early it was actually a good time to stop for lunch. We pulled over at the Bridal Falls picnic area where we discovered the first thing we forgot – mosquito repellent. I am not sure if we didn’t really think of our tipi getaway as an outdoor adventure or it just didn’t cross our minds, but no repellent or bug shirts were in our possession. The kids were bitten instantly.

Then we carried on and we managed to make it, without more stops, to Little Green Ranch, just past Salmon Arm, where the tipi was waiting for us. Stepping out of the car we were surrounded by mosquitoes, and our mistake seemed more critical at this point. Luckily the owners were very friendly and immediately supplied us with two varieties of repellent (including a kid friendly one) and coils which seemed to work best to keep the mosquitoes away. Neil immediately found his thing –  there was a small zip line on the property. There was also a BBQ for us to use, an outdoor shower, a gas powered fridge, an outhouse, and a fire pit. Most of the time we had the area just to ourselves which seemed like a much better deal than the crowded BC Parks campgrounds, especially in COVID times.

Mara Lake wasn’t far away and on Thursday we spent most of the day at the beach. Neil spent hours in the water, pretending that a log that he had found was his boat. We had so much fun at the beach that we didn’t want to leave so we put Kai down for his nap on the grass. That worked well until we started to feel a few drops, a big storm was on its way. From Mara Beach we also managed to spot a bald eagle nesting up high in a tree.

That evening we decided to check out the fire pit. Maybe it wasn’t the smartest move with a storm on its way. The kids were very excited about the fire, but about half an hour into it the wind suddenly became very strong and it started to rain. I was worried our fire would get out of control but luckily it didn’t happen. The rain didn’t last long and all of the sudden this magical perfect double rainbow appeared. It was the eve of my birthday and I thought it was very cool of mother nature to provide such an awesome gift.

As my dad pointed out – on my birthday I had spent the exact same amount of time in two centuries (you can do the math of what it means), and waking up in the tipi was a good start to the day. It was followed by raspberry pancakes from raspberries we picked at the farm the day before, a nice video chat with my mom (we were off the grid, but not off cellular reception), and plenty of messages from family and friends. As much as I wanted to keep my birthday low key it was nice to hear from people, especially in a year in which we can’t travel and can’t see our extended family.

The day carried on with a nice bike ride Gili had planned out just in time for another tropical storm. Kai spent most of the time napping in the bike seat and even the heavy rain didn’t seem to bother him. We found many Saskatoon bushes on the way and even some cherries. Like the previous night, the rain didn’t last long and we were sweating after a short while. We passed through farmland and rode on small roads with very little traffic.

Back at the car I finally got my birthday “present”, a mix of Lindor – Lindt chocolate balls. Lindt is one of my favourite chocolate brands and I was very touched by the gesture (we’re not big on birthday presents). I later found out that it was a free gift from the Superstore, given when you buy over a certain amount. Well, thank you Superstore 😉

After our bike ride we felt like swimming in the lake again and spent a lovely afternoon at Mara Lake. The evening fire was less dramatic than the previous evening and we had a quiet dinner. One of the nice things about staying on the farm was that we were able to buy meat and fresh eggs from the owners. The BBQ by the tipi was pretty awesome to have.

The next day was very hot and another bike ride was in order. We tried to find the Salmon Arm farmer’s market but what we found was indoors so we didn’t want to go in. Instead we went to the local park where our bike ride was going to start from and lucky for the kids there was also an awesome spray park. In the meantime Gili picked up lunch for us from a Mexican place and some much needed coffee for me.

The bike ride was really nice, with lots of interesting looking hills, and later Neil explained to me that they used to be volcanoes. Kai napped again and didn’t even move when we stopped to pick some cherries we found along the way. We reached a tiny community called Silver Creek where the local school had a nice playground or two. There was also a general store that luckily had some ice cream, a well deserved treat after a hot ride.

We rode back the same way and Kai was a bit of a handful in the bike seat when awake. At first he kept on kicking me so I had to strap his legs down and then he tried (and managed!) to disconnect the yellow bar from his bike seat and threw it on the road. Finally we were back at the playground in Salmon Arm and we drove back “home” to our tipi and another campfire.

Staying at the farm also had the advantage of seeing lots of farm animals from up close, something that our city kids are not really familiar with. Every evening we went to feed the pigs with our leftovers. Neil had a blast seeing them getting excited about our watermelon peel but Kai got really scared and started crying every time they oinked. There were also cows, sheep, horses, one alpaca, and a funny looking turkey named Tom. On the last night in the tipi a cat kept on coming in, trying to spend the night with us. He even left us a little gift in the morning – a dead mouse…

On Sunday we made the drive back to Vancouver with a refreshing lake swimming stop in Chase. Then both kids fell asleep and the drive was very smooth until Chilliwack. On the last part of the drive the traffic was really bad due to an accident and overall Sunday afternoon traffic. Luckily just before entering the really slow part of the drive we managed to buy two big boxes of blueberries so we had something to snack on during the very slow slog back home.

For my birthday weekend all I really wanted was to spend a few relaxing days with the people I love and keep the occasion as low key as possible. Staying in the tipi on the farm was really special, and biking, lake swimming, a bald eagle, storms and rainbows were an added bonus. I couldn’t have asked for anything better or anything more.