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Gus Goes To B.C.

San Francisco to Vancouver Island in a 1987 Westy.

By Peak Design

the crew

If you haven’t met Annie on the Peak Design team, here’s why you should:

1. She’s our Director of Community and Sustainability

2. She’s a badass photographer

3. Her family is the most adorbs ever

4. her spaghetti is on fleek

5. sometimes she lives in a van

True story. Annie recently came back from maternity leave, but beforehand she took her wacky clan for an epic road trip in their vintage 1987 Volkswagen Wesfalia. We present you with the cast of characters:

Gus Goes To B.C.

Gus Goes To B.C.

Gus Goes To B.C.

Gus Goes To B.C.

Gus Goes To B.C.

A Van and a (quasi) plan

What would you do if you had a 3.5 month old baby, 80 pound dog, and two antsy adults looking for adventure? Obviously you’d stuff them all into a 1987 Westfalia named Gus and drive to Canada. We’ll let Annie tell the rest of the story in her own words…

We had no set agenda—just head north until we had to turn around or Gus broke down (I upped my AAA coverage to the highest possible level - 200 miles of free towing.). We’d drive a few hours a day and then just find a place to set up shop for the night. Our route ended up being up the 101, along the Oregon coast, around the Olympic Peninsula and up to Vancouver Island, and then back south along the coast again.

Most people have the same reaction…

A road trip with a baby…are you f@%#ing nuts?

Fact is, 3 months is a great age to take a baby on the road. They (and their belongings) don’t take up much space. They can’t walk yet so they (kinda) don’t mind hanging out in a car seat. They nap a lot (theoretically…questionable in practice). You don’t need to bathe them often (Milly only got one half-assed sink bath during the trip). No baby food mess to clean up. And, they don’t yet have opinions on the day’s planned destinations.

Gus Goes To B.C.

Gus Goes To B.C.

Gus Goes To B.C.

Gus Goes To B.C.

Milly and Boogie took to the road like total champs. Gus ran like a champ and become an official part of the family. He’s our mobile country home. He had a lot of mechanical issues that needed tending to prior to departure and we all held our breath for the first couple days in anticipation of a breakdown. The only issue he had was a broken sink drain pipe that we fixed with duct tape. We’d wake up, make some breakfast and then hit the road. Drive until we didn’t want to any more, find a nice place to post up for the night, and hang out. We all got into the nice rhythm of van-life.

Yachats, Oregon - land of beautiful beaches and delicious beer

oregon coast

Yachats was one of our favorite stops in Oregon. In addition to being beautiful, it’s got a great brewery we stopped at on our way North. The food and beer were so good that we made it the only required stop on our way back South. Priorities. Boogie was a fan of the Oregon beaches. Beer, beaches, baby, Boog-dog - all good things.

Boogdog soaking up the Oregon coast and some salt water

Gus Goes To B.C.

Gus Goes To B.C.

Gus Goes To B.C.

olympic peninsula

Olympic National Park is gorgeous. We stayed in actual rainforest which was mind-blowingly beautiful. We didn’t think we had time to make it up to Vancouver Island but when we arrived to where we thought we’d be camping one night, the area had been closed to a damaged road. This inspired a spur-of-the-moment race to the ferry dock to see if we could catch the next boat to the island. We made it just in time and off we went to Canada! Gus, Milly and Boogie’s first time on a boat and first international travel!

Gus in Olympic National Park

Gus Goes To B.C.

Gus Goes To B.C.

Gus Goes To B.C.

Olympic Peninsula rain forest

Vancouver island

VI is our new favorite place and we joke a little too often and seriously about moving there. It’s a van camper’s paradise. Stunning landscapes and incredible campgrounds. Also, those Canadians are just so darn nice.

Tidepool exploring on Vancouver Island

Gus Goes To B.C.

Gus Goes To B.C.

Gus Goes To B.C.

Gus Goes To B.C.

Gus Goes To B.C.

Gus Goes To B.C.

Going back to california

We took the 101 North and Highway 1 South. It’s slow-going but damn beautiful. Spent one of our last nights with an epic view of the great Pacific.

Room with a view - California Highway 1

Gus Goes To B.C.

Gus Goes To B.C.

I made a little vid of the trip below…

here's to next time

It was so sad to end the trip. We’re currently plotting our next adventure.

Gus Goes To B.C.

Footnotes

All photos taken by Annie Nyborg of the Peak Design Team.

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FootNotes

All photos taken by Annie Nyborg of the Peak Design Team.

© 2026 Peak Design

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