Monday, June 6, 2011

June 2-6, rural British Columbia

As we left Vancouver, we went through beautiful valleys that looked like they were carved by glaciers. The low clouds kept us from getting good photos, so you’ll have to trust us. There was a delay along the highway as a road crew cleaned up after a tipped over semi. It was loaded with produce, so we figured the forest critters would eat well that night. We stopped at Gold Trail RV Park in Clinton. The owner is half funny and half annoying, but makes a great $12 all you can eat BBQ dinner. We had ribs, rice, beans, corn, garlic bread, pickled beets (Dennis). We splurged on a $10 shared dessert – warm brownie, warm blueberries and berry ice cream. Simply brilliant! Sunshine greeted us the next morning and we continued along the Fraser River, seeing blue lakes, green meadows and more trees than you can imagine; followed by a “free” overnight stop at the casino in Prince George. This is logging and plywood mill country and we would have liked to take a mill tour but came through on Friday afternoon & Saturday. The next day began sunny but turned rainy as we reached Cassiar RV Park in Kitwanga. Not to worry, the sun was out again for dusk at 10pm. We passed gorgeous open countryside along the way. Moricetown Canyon was our favorite roadside stop – the water rushed through the canyon with incredible power. Tried to add a video here, but no luck. We thought about cousin Rudy when we stopped in Houston (not Texas) at the world’s largest fly fishing pole. We’re pretty sure he could handle it! Side note: Did you know it could take 13 minutes to eat a single almond? Anyone who has watched Dennis tackle a peanut M&M will understand this. We woke up to sunny skies and took the Jeep on a side trip to Prince Rupert, following the Skeena River to the sea. Surprise – a bear, right next to the road! We backed the Jeep up to take pictures and he wasn’t fazed at all. The snow-capped mountains, waterfalls and blue sky were breathtaking. We visited the North Pacific Cannery museum, which operated for nearly 100 years until the equipment was moved to Mazatlan, Mexico in the 1980’s. Downtown Prince Rupert has a cruise ship dock but is so small that any ship in port would dwarf the town! We saw two more bears on the way home. Interesting factoid: it appears that bears lift their legs to piddle. Barb saw the act but missed the picture. Kermode bears supposedly live near Terrace, halfway to Prince Rupert, but we didn’t see any. No moose yet either. But we’re looking! The town of Kitwanga consists of only a few houses, a gas station and this great church and bell tower. We greatly increased their population during our visit! Unfortunately, they have plenty of mosquitoes (our first) and Barb is on a killing spree.

No comments: