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When our girls were growing up, Goldie and I went on plenty of road trips with them.

Not all, but much of the travelling revolved around salmon runs and rivers.

I was the main angler, no surprise, but daughter Megan loved it too. Goldie and Allison were along for the ride, but we certainly all had fantastic times.

To this day, our daughters, now married and with kids of their own, speak fondly of those camping trips.

We did it all — tent, hardtop camper and, finally, a travel trailer.

Fast forward 30 years, and I mean really fast from the looking-back perspective, and we have grandkids eager to tackle a road trip with us. The two older ones, Rory and Harry are 10 and eight years old, the perfect age to get hooked on salmon fishing.

And even if they don’t grab onto the long rod bug, so what? They will have a wonderful holiday and fond memories. There is much more to a fishing trip than just fishing. At least that’s what we anglers like to say.

And, seriously, this road trip is more like a family holiday to the west coast with just a tad of fishing blended in for good measure.

As most of you probably know I am co-owner of a cabin on Crabbes River. My buddy Matt Brazil and I bought it mainly to use as a salmon fishing camp.

For the month of June that’s what it truly and purely is.

This year, we spent much of June there with a couple of our regular fishing friends.

For the rest of the summer, Matt and I share the cabin for family holidays. Last year, Goldie and I lulled away a lovely three weeks in total. She is even getting into a bit of salmon fishing. There’s a lovely pool right in front of the cabin. It’s easy to fish and a great place to learn.

Read more PAUL SMITH: Goodbye to the fishing vest — maybe PAUL SMITH: Newfoundland and Labrador outdoor columnist goes back to his first love — Castors River

PAUL SMITH: Goodbye to the fishing vest — maybe

PAUL SMITH: Newfoundland and Labrador outdoor columnist goes back to his first love — Castors River

The first order of business for a summer road trip is to figure how you are going to fit everything in the vehicle. We have a Subaru Outback and that off-road station wagon pedigree rig can hold a wicked pile of stuff with the back seats folded down. With Rory and Harry in the rear compartment, space was going to be very limited.

And Goldie has never learned the art of packing light.

The Outback comes standard with sturdy roof side rails and crossbars that just pivot across and lock securely into place. I have to say, it’s a fantastic design that saves you quite a chunk of change because good quality roof racks are not cheap.

I decided on one of those metal roof baskets that would clamp directly to the factory crossbars. I went with the Curt model that is reasonably priced and seemed like a very sturdy and simple design.

I’ll tell you more about how this works out later because, availability problem, no surprise. I’ll have the Curt rack in three weeks — so, next trip.

Lucky us, Peggy, Goldie’s kind sister, had one of those plastic roof carriers that she hadn’t used in years, just gathering dust in the shed.

It’s an older design that attaches with a strap and rain gutter clamps, so you don’t even need cross rails. I wanted no part of that, so I improvised with a few drilled holes, heavy-duty plastic cable ties, and nylon rope for insurance.

The Subaru even has tie-downs built into the side rails.

The company and its engineers really do have outdoor folks in mind. It’s not just about the catchy TV ads with mud, rocky roads, tents, canoes and camping gear.

With Rory and Harry in the rear compartment, space was going to be very limited. And Goldie has never learned the art of packing light.

Enough preambles and getting ready, let’s hit the road.

With the car stuffed, we pulled out of Spaniards Bay around noon. It’s 800 kilometres to the cabin and I hoped to make it before dark. There are plenty of moose on those west coast roads.

The kids were so good. I think they had themselves worked into the road trip state of mind. They had their devices and snacks and fully enjoyed the trip. Rory slept for a few hours, but Harry pretty much talked his away across Newfoundland.

They got very hungry around Deer Lake and it was time for a sit-down meal. And my rear end was due for a break from the driving.

We pulled into McDonalds in Corner Brook for a round of burgers and fries. Good times we are having on The Rock.

Driving along the highway and the last leg of the journey was spectacular. I love the west coast.

I checked on the water level in each and every Bay St George river. This is salmon fishing country.

But what drew the kid’s attention was the magnificent sunset over the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Wow, ocean sunsets are the best.

For the first time all day, we heard “how much further?” We were crossing the Crabbes River highway bridge and only another 10-minutes to St. Fintans and our cabin by the river.

I pulled the cord on the Honda generator and our home away from home lit up. The kids loved it. They settled in and we had some snacks, while I lit propane pilot lights and got the water system up and running.

I could sense it would be a wonderful week with tonnes of stuff to do and that’s besides the fishing.

I settled in for a snack of my own and a brew after I had all systems operational and our stuff brought in from the Subaru.

That McDouble was long gone.

It had been a long, but enjoyable day. We were all tired and we needed our rest for our beach day. Nanny loves ocean beaches and, for the first day, we were taking the kids to Cheeseman Beach. That’s as close to a Florida beach that you’re going to get in this neck of the woods.

Anyway, it’s bedtime in the Crabbes River Valley.

But, first, there’s nothing any more spectacular than the stars on a cloudless night miles away from street and city lights.

“Come on guys, let’s have a look at the stars before bunk.”

I do this each and every night at the cabin after I shut down the generator. The world goes black and silent. I usually take five-minutes to just gaze upwards.

You know you can’t see the Milky Way from a city or town, at least not very well. That’s the first thing the kids noticed, the glow of our own galaxy’s starlight in a band across the sky.

I explained how we live within a spiral galaxy with billions of other stars. They already knew that, but seeing it with their own eyes, well they said it was cool. Nothing better than cool, and then I showed them how to find Polaris, the North Star.

We ended up staying outside for a full hour and went to bed late.

No matter. Adventure awaited and I had salmon to catch.

More to come on our west coast adventure road trip.

Paul Smith, a native of Spaniard’s Bay, fishes and wanders the outdoors at every opportunity. He can be contacted at [email protected] or follow him on twitter at @flyfishtherock

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