Serene Shuswap and the Tournament Capital

     After an 8 hour drive from Vanderhoof, we arrived in the beautiful Shuswap.  We were on our way to spend a night or two with Doug and Marlise Jordon at their cabin.  I actually thought that their cabin was right in Scotch Creek, but it is quite a bit farther down the lake.  The cabin is at the end of Magna Bay just before you get into Fraser Bay.  It is a cozy rustic cabin right on the lake with about 100 feet of waterfront beach.  And they have great RV parking which is totally flat!

We know Doug and Marlise through Jim and Marline and have never really spent one on one time with just the two of them.  So it was great to get to know them a lot better.  When we arrived, their daughter was there with her husband and 3 kids.  We arrived pretty much in time for dinner, as it had been another 8 hour drive for Ray.  After dinner Doug built a campfire on the beach and we ended the night watching the sun go down.  We had become so used to sleeping in the "not so" dark, that we were surprised when we went to bed that first night to total black!  It was peaceful and wonderful!!

Doug and Marlise's family left the next afternoon.  Very nice family!  We spent three nights parked at the cabin.  We went for a four hour long boat ride and had no idea that the Shuswap was such a big lake.  The lake consists of four arms which form the shape of the letter H.  The arms are called Salmon Arm, Anstey Arm, Seymour Arm and Shuswap Lake (which is the main lake).  The lake is fed by numerous lakes, on the north east side it is fed by the Adams River.   For an avid fisherman there is sockeye salmon, bull trout, rainbow trout and lake white fish in the lake.  Like the Okanagan, Shuswap Lake has a local "monster" associated to it.  It is known as the "Shuswap Lake Monster" or "Shuswaggi".  We looked for it but never saw a glimpse of it.  There are two waterfalls that I am aware of and one of which we visited on our boat ride.

Doug and Marlise

Doug and I (and yes I am the only one wearing a lifejacket!)

Ray enjoying the warmth of the sunshine

We had an excellent visit walking their "grand dog", relaxing and soaking up the sunshine.  We are sure that we will be back again, but had to say "so long" to continue on to Kamloops to see Tanya and Dean.

     We have been very fortunate on this trip to have some friends who can accommodate us parking the fifth wheel and truck on their property.  Prior to arriving in Kamloops Ray called his old friends Ron and Mary Friesen to see if they were in town and yes they were.  Being RVer's themselves Ron and Mary have an ideal spot for RV parking.  They even have a sani dump on the property.  Ray and Ron were backing the 5th wheel into the yard while Mary and I were up on their sundeck.  I happened to look over just as Ray stopped backing up.  I said "wow, you sure cut that one close" and Ron, who had been laying down some boards for Ray to back onto, came to the back of the 5th wheel and said "oh I guess I should have been watching"!  Ray had backed up right to Ron's trailer and when he had stopped did not realize how close he was to it.  He was about 4 or 5 inches from their trailer hitch!  Good thing he stopped when he did or we would have a trailer hitch that may have ended up in the back of our 5th wheel!  Never ever a dull moment!

     For those of you reading this who are not from BC, I will give you a few facts about Kamloops.  Kamloops is situated in south central BC on the two branches of the Thompson River (South and North).  It has a population of about 87,000.  The climate is semi-arid and has a colder winter then we do here on the coast, there is very little rain.  Summer thunderstorms can create lightning which in the past, has caused a few forest fires nearby.  The Kamloops Indian Band is northeast of the downtown area outside the city limits.  They have the Thompson Rivers University and Thompson Rivers University Faculty of Law.  There is also a small airport where Air Canada and Westjet fly out of.  There are lots of outdoor activities one can participate in.  From skiing at nearby Sun Peaks to biking on the mountain bike trails.  Boating, golfing are also very popular.  In the summer months you can visit the Farmers Market where you can purchase locally grown vegetables and fruit.  This particular Farmers market is not just open on the weekends, but also during the week.  Hosting tournaments, cultural events, training camps and national/international competitions, Kamloops is nicknamed "Canada's Tournament Capital".

     While visiting Kamloops we also had a short but great visit with Tanya and Dean.  As we were only there for two nights We did not see as much of them as I would have liked to but Tanya and I did manage to sneak off by ourselves and enjoy a nice Starbucks treat!!  We had an enjoyable dinner on the last night with Ron, Mary, Tanya, Dean and the two of us.

     We originally had wanted to go from Kamloops down to Osooyoos and possibly Penticton, but by the time we left the Shuswap, I told Ray that I was ready to go home.  So we decided to head down to the coast.  We left Kamloops about 9:00 am, which really was a late start for us and after a couple of short stops were home by 1:30

    This has been a much shorter trip then we anticipated and definitely shorter then our other two trips, but saying that, it has been great travelling around our own Province.  We are usually travelling through high traffic areas, but this trip we felt isolated at times.  Well I sure did, maybe Ray doesn't feel that way.  He may have something different to add when (or if) he reads the blog!  He keeps saying "oh I really should read the blog"!!!  Well get at it there buddy boy!

  You are probably wondering if we ever did find Sam McGee.  We did some searching for him, and  think that we saw his ghost a couple of times.  Especially while I was driving on the Stewart Cassiar Highway.  Remember that creepy forest?  Well I did feel like I was being watched.  Perhaps it was old Sam McGee making the trek back to the Yukon in the search of the never ending fields of gold.  One thing that I can tell you for sure, is that his house still stands on the corner of 5th and Wood in downtown Whitehorse.  The house was built in 1907 by a Mike and Tony Cyr for Mr McGee.  It is now one of the only heritage Bed & Breakfasts in Whitehorse.  So when you get gold fever and find yourself in Whitehorse looking for a place to rest your weary head,,,,,,why not consider the old Sam McGee Log House.....

Thank you for following us on this journey, until the next one.....


Q'u, q'u yet dahdi nuntghesht'ih yida.


(Goodbye, see you later)

Whitehorse to Vanderhoof

     On Thursday morning Keith stopped by our campsite for a coffee before we headed out.  It was great to see him and unfortunate that he had just arrived back in Whitehorse the afternoon before, so we only had time to visit at Debbie and Lonnie’s.  Ray and I were on the roady by 8:30 heading east again to hook up with Highway 37 which is the Stewart Cassiar Highway.  The drive from Whitehorse to the Hwy 37 junction was uneventful and quite boring.  We saw not one wildlife, not even a raven!  It took about four hours to get to the junction and once we were on Hwy 37 I took over the driving.  Of course it seems that when I do this the road conditions change or it rains.  This highway is very narrow and very curvy.  There are no lines indicating the centre of the road or the shoulders, but why should that surprise me?  The first mile or so was gravel but that changed to rough pavement with many potholes.  There has been a recent fire in the north end of Hwy 37, probably in the last couple of years and the forest is black with some lush green on the undergrowth. The burned trees are so close to the road that you almost feel claustrophobic and the burned branches from the trees reach out like tentacles.  I almost felt that we were being watched or followed.  Marline,,,,,,,maybe it was a Sasquatch getting ready to jump out in front of me,,,,,,or maybe an alien???  It was actually a very creepy feeling!  I was very glad a few miles down the road, to leave that part of the road behind.  There was a bit of road work, but not much.  I only drove for about 100 kms and gave the wheel back to Ray.  He did have some time to catch a bit of a nap during that time.  We drove until about 4:30 when we saw a big sign on the side of the road advertising an RV park with full hookups.  We turned left onto the highway and headed down a fairly steep gravel driveway for about 1/2 a km.  I was beginning to wonder what kind of place this would be as you could see nothing of it through the thick trees.  As we rounded the last corner we came into an open parking lot with a very nice log building.  Beyond the building you could see the well manicured campsites.  We were in luck, they were all empty.  The name of this park is Mountain Shadow RV park and is in a tiny berg called Iskut.  The hostess was about my age or maybe a little older, but very nice and welcoming.  Apparently there are two cabins that a person could rent if they chose to.  They looked cute overlooking the campground and very small lake. When we pulled in there were no other campers but within half an hour they started rolling in.  I imagine that this campground sees campers mostly just on overnight stops as it is in the middle of nowhere.   The place is for sale and I am wondering who really would want to buy it and live there.  Maybe “snowbirds” who can escape in the long winter months.

     I was so tired as was Ray, but it didn’t stop him from taking advantage of me and kicking my ass in a couple of games of crib!!  We hit the sack early and were up and gone by 7:30.  Once we were south of Meziadin Junction the roads improved immensely!  There were lines on the roads and not nearly as many potholes.  From Meziadin Junction you can head west to Stewart BC or Hyder Alaska.  I have heard that if you are in Alaska you must go to the Hyder Inn and get “Hyderized”!  Apparently that is what Ray did way back in the Fall of 1968 when he was working on the tug boats.  Anyway we decided there was really no point in going down that far only to have to come back, so we continued south east towards Smithers.  Originally when we were planning this trip, we were going to go to Prince Rupert and take the beautiful BC Ferry over to Port Hardy and come down the island.  But as we “fly by the seat of our pants” we always change our minds and go off in another direction.

     I am so glad that I downloaded the Vinyl Cafe CBC Radio show podcasts as it has kept us entertained on these long lonely highways.  Sometimes the Sirrus radio doesn’t come in and sometimes we just get tired of music.  And domestics we just sits and thinks…..ha ha ha….The Vinyl Cafe always showcases local talent that is more of a “folk” type music, so very easy to listen to.  Stuart McLean always reads a story sent in by an audience member and then of course one of his own.  He is such a great narrator!

     We Stopped in New Hazleton at the Information Centre as I had to use the facilities and it was a great place to actually pull off the road.  There were a couple of food trucks set up with people milling around.  We decided it would be a good time to take a break and have a bite to eat from some of the locals.  We chose the fish and chip truck as we were only going to share a side of fries.  In the end we shared an order of halibut and chips.  It was good but not quite as good as what we had in Skagway.  I chatted with the lady taking the orders and learned that her husband ran the food truck and did the cooking, she had a “real” job!  She worked at the local school as the janitor, so helped her husband out in the mornings until she had to happily skip off to work.  She told me that she found the food truck way too stressful,,,,,especially if there are more then two people waiting in the line up!  I had to laugh at that, but I guess when the area you live in only has “maybe” 5000 people then serving up more then one at a time would make one stressed out indeed!!!

     We were back on the road after about a 45 minute stop and continued our way eastbound.  We saw a couple of black bears today one was running up the bank and his old black fur was just quivering!!  The highway between Smithers and Prince George has the unfortunate name of “Highway of Tears”.  There are huge signs on the roadside with photographs of the young teens who have all gone missing.  All are teen girls.  Another thing of note between Smithers and Prince George you can see the devastation the pine beetle has done to our forests of pine trees.  Miles after miles of dead pine trees!  You do not see this at all up in the far north, most likely because it actually does get cold enough to kill of the pine beetles before they have a chance to kill the trees.  And a funny sign I am seeing a lot of…… “Do not pass snow ploughs on the right”…..now who would do that???  Pass them on the right????  Last time Ray did that, we ended up in a snowbank!!!   Driving into Smithers we saw a Safeway with a Starbucks sign on the side of the building.  Ray, the good man he is, offered to pull in so that I could get a latte, but I declined as it was close to 3:00 and that is past my cut off time for my daily intake of caffeine.  Yesterday a brilliant thought popped into my pretty little head, why not bring the laptop into the truck and I can work on my Blog by typing it up as a document and then when I find wifi, then I can copy and paste it into my Blog and add some photos. So that is what I did.  It was just sad that the wifi that we had last night and actually had to pay for, was so lousy!  Now that is something that stresses me out,,,,,,, slow and crappy wifi!!!   Okay,,,okay Vivian,,,,,,I am “o.mmmmm-ing”!!

     Our campsite last night was actually pretty decent.  We stopped in Vanderhoof at a place just east of town called “Dave’s RV Park”.  It was run by an old guy (well he looked old but maybe he was more “weathered” then old).  We asked for the full meal deal, all hook ups, cable TV and wifi.  Not sure why we asked for TV because again we were so tired that we went to bed early.  Also Ray is getting a cold, so he needs his beauty rest!  Anyway the sites were very nice and clean and if I had chosen to do laundry, Ray said they had a great little laundromat.  But I chose to do my Blog instead!  Thankfully the sun went to bed last night and we had some darkness to help us sleep!

     Saturday morning we were again up and on the road by 7:30.  Gee I can’t wait to get home so that I can actually sleep in.  While making the turn southbound towards Valemont today we crossed over the Fraser River.  How many of you know that the Fraser River here is the same nice clean color as the Thompson?  But by the time it gets to McBride it is that dirty brown that we all know.  Today we are heading down to Scotch Creek which is in the Shuswap and is where friends Marlise and Doug Jordan have a cabin.  We are going to plant our sorry asses there for a couple of days.  Ray told me today that he is so impressed with his truck.  He is impressed with the mileage he is getting and impressed with how well the truck pulls on the hills.  So I am thankful to hear that.  Who doesn’t like it when their husband is a happy man!?

Land of the Midnight Sun - Whitehorse Yukon

     Whitehorse is the capital city of the Yukon Territories and with a population of about 28,000 is the largest city in northern Canada.  The Yukon River runs through the downtown area.  Apparently the city was named after the White Horse Rapids because they resembled the mane of a white horse. They say the climate is mild.  Well milder then some other northern communities like Yellowknife.  The air is clear and unpolluted. Unfortunately for my poor lungs, the elevation of Whitehorse is 2200 to 5500 feet.  5500 feet is likely in the mountains as I only had slight discomfort when we were in the campground. They don’t call the Yukon the “land of the midnight sun” for nothing.  It just doesn’t get dark up here.  Apparently it gets “dusky” around 3:00 am.  I need dark to sleep, so we put towels over the windows in the bedroom and hung a blanket around the shower door as it has a skylight.  It didn’t totally darken the room, but certainly helpedThis far north, Whitehorse has short winter days and long summer days.  20 hours of daylight in the summer is a bit hard to get use to for us southern people.  There is a good sized airport just out of town.  Air North, Air Canada are some of the airlines that fly out of the airport.  Apparently Luthasania also has direct flights from Germany a couple of times a week.

     Ray the bird man, has been very disappointed in not seeing any birds or BOB’s (Birds of Prey) along the way.  We saw bears, moose (including a dead one on the side of the road with a black bear gnawing on its carcass) and wild goats.  No deer either did we see.  We finally arrived in Whitehorse at about 4:30 pm.  We decided to set up our camp at the Hi Country RV park.  Of course we never prebook any sites on these adventures, so we had to take a site that only had electrical and water.  No sewer hook up.  The young couple running the park  said that we could possibly move sites the next day as some people would be leaving.  The campground is very clean with a spotless laundromat and shower area for those wishing to use the facility.  They have an excellent gift shop with better prices then things in downtown Whitehorse.  When we went outside after registering it was pouring rain.  Ray said lets just wait a few minutes to see if it lets up as he didn’t really want to set up camp while it was pouring.  We stopped back inside the store for a few minutes and then thought what the heck we may as well just “get er done”.  We ended up setting things up in a hailstorm and it was so cold!!!  By setting things up we just backed in and plugged the fifth wheel into the electric so that we could at least get the slide out.  We would hook up the water when the hail quit!

     Our first full day in Whitehorse was eventful although we didn’t go right into the town.  Our friend and former neighbour, Debbie Forsgren took us on a road trip down to Skagway.  The drive is just beautiful.  From beautiful green Emerald Lake to the deserts of Carcross.  Here are a couple of shots of Emerald Lake.  The photos do not do it justice as you cannot begin to imagine the different shades of green!

Yes a small desert is way up here in the north.  Then the beautiful glacier green Bennett Lake that goes for miles and miles.   The mountains are high and rugged.  As we got closer to the Canadian border we drove through an area that is totally rocky with ponds scattered here and there.  Some of the rocks have wind blown trees on them while other rocks are bare.  It is almost moonscape in appearance.  Skagway itself is nestled in a mountainous cove.  There were two cruise ships in the harbour so many people in the little town.  We had lunch down by the docks.  The best halibut and chips I have eaten in a long time.  Very lightly battered fish!  We wandered around the town afterwards poking in the shops and saloons.  They do have a very small Harley Davidson store, so Ray made a purchase of two t-shirts.  That brings his Harley t-shirt collection up to about 27 short sleeved t-shirts now!  Deb bought herself two beautiful lamps (which she had to pay duty on when we crossed back into Canada).  I bought nothing.  Mostly this town has saloons, cheesy gift shops and many many jewellery stores.  Nothing intrigued me enough to want to buy and maybe pay duty on.  We ended our first day in Whitehorse going over to Debbie and Lonnie’s for a drink.

     Day two in Whitehorse, we went to the Transport Museum and also the Beringia Interpretive Centre.  The Transport museum was interesting but the young guide appeared very nervous as it was only his third tour.  There was a great display of all types of transportation over the years.  The Bering Interpretive Centre is right next to the Transport museum.  The Beringia is a region surrounding the Bering Strait, Chukchi Sea and the Bering Sea.  It includes parts of Russia and Alaska.  During the ice ages Beringia had light snowfall so therefore was not covered in glaciers.  It was covered in grass and covered an area the size of BC and Alberta. This is a great display of when the woolly mammoths and scimitar cats used to roam the Beringia.

     Afterwards we went to the downtown core and found a Starbucks!!!  Of course we went there and had a latte which we checked emails.  The wifi in our campground is 30 minutes a day free and is very slow probably because everyone is using up their 30 minutes at the same time.  We hooked up with Debbie and had lunch at a bistro called Baked.  After lunch we drove up to the fish ladder and dam area.  Toured the fish ladder facility to learn all about the Chinook salmon spawning.  The salmon from this area travel down the lakes to the Bering Sea and back again to spawn.  A 3300 mile journey in their lifetime.  Amazing!  The photo below is a display of wooden fish which have been hand painted by the local children.  It was very colourful.

Day three in Whitehorse we went to a mining museum, which was quite boring.  The self guided part was interesting the but young man who took us on the train ride through the grounds never explained anything at all and as there were no signs we had to just guess at what the equipment was and what it may have been used for.  There were only the 3 of us on the train so perhaps he didn’t think he needed to say anything.  When he was asked what a piece of equipment was used for, he had to ask someone else for the answer.  Anyway the little jaunt out of town was not all a write off as Deb took us to a coffee place called “Bean North” where they roast their own coffee beans.  We had a great latte there!  Full bodied!  That night we went to Debbie and Lonnie’s for a fantastic dinner.  Keith (Debbie’s ex) had just returned from the coast so he was there as well as was Taylor (Debbie and Keith's daughter).

     Whitehorse has just a few of the big box stores that we have in the lower Mainland.  Canadian Tire, Marks Workwear and Walmart are the 3 bigger stores.  The do have Reitmans, Starbucks (yes!!!) and of course two Tim Hortons.  The craziest thing Ray and I saw was the 30 plus motorhomes and trailers parked in the Walmart parking lot!  Not all Walmarts allow overnight parking but clearly the one in Whitehorse does.  A lot of the RV's had awnings out and lawn chairs set up.  Odd indeed!!

Across the street from Starbucks is a very unique writing desk.  So I thought that I would sit a spell and work on my blog. Unfortunately the wind blue away my paper, but I managed to save my Starbucks Latte!

The trip up here has been worth it an Debbie made it what it was by showing us the area and the town of Whitehorse.  My sides are still aching from laughing so much!!!  We saw the MacBride museum which is an old log home.  We didn’t go inside as I am not going into anymore old buildings due to the old mildew smells.  We also saw an odd looking log cabin that Debbie referred to as Whitehorse's 3 story skyscraper.

It had been 15 years since we had last travelled to Whitehorse.  We saw it this time in a totally different season.  Everything was lush and green and the weather was between 7 - 18 degrees with a bit of a wind most of the time.  In 2000 when we were up here, it was Fall and the colors were amazing!  If it was not so far away to travel, it would be nice to see this beautiful town in the heart of winter.  Although I would surely freeze to death!!!

Dawson Creek to Whitehorse Yukon

     Last Saturday morning (Almost a week already).....we said goodbye to Dawson Creek at around 8:30 am.  We had decided to stop in Fort St John to meet up with Karen Lowry (Kokoska).  Karen and I went to high school together way back when!  I knew that she was living in Fort St John but thought she had just moved down to the Vernon area.  But they are in the midst of moving from their beautiful home on Charlie Lake.  In fact by the time I get this posted, they will be gone from the cooler north to the sunny Okanagan.  We spent about half an hour with Karen and her husband Dean at the Tim Horton’s.  Just as we were coming into Fort St John we were involved in a bit of a road rage incident.  Well we weren’t the “rager”, but perhaps the cause of it.  The lines on the roads up north are horrible (worse then those on the Coq)  and basically non existent, most likely due to the salt and sand that is put on the roads in the winter.  At times you are literally guessing as to where your lanes are, and there are no shoulder lines in a lot of areas.  As a tourist, this is very frustrating and I would imagine can be very dangerous.  So as we drove into Fort St John, all the cars in front were driving in two lanes.  We followed a truck into the right lane, when he suddenly veered to the left.  The “lane” we were in was blocked off with orange traffic cones, so we too veered into the left lane.  Now I am not sure if Ray did a shoulder check or not, but a black truck came speeding up beside us honking his horn.  We stopped a few feet ahead at the traffic light and the guy pulled up beside us in yet another lane, jumped out of his truck and came up to the window screaming at Ray.  You can use your imagination as to what exactly was said.  It all happened fairly quickly.  Anyway Ray apologized to the guy of course, because we were in the wrong by “veering” into his lane.  The guy went back to his truck and made a left hand turn, but was clearly very mad.  We were at fault for pulling in front of him, but really?  I thought the road rage was in high metropolitan areas only, but apparently not! All in all that is the only issue that we have encountered so we are doing pretty good and Ray is managing to keep his stress levels down!  We had a great visit with Karen and Dean and then we were off as we had a very long drive ahead of us.  

     I can’t stress enough about the beauty of the Peace River country and if wasn’t so far north, I could live here!  After leaving Karen and Dean in Fort St John, we continued north west on the Alaska Highway.  Our destination for the night was Liard Hot Springs.  From Fort St John, you head pretty much straight north into Fort Nelson.  Now I thought that Fort Nelson would be at least the same size as Fort St John or Dawson Creek.  There was not much in this tiny little town, but we did gas up the truck.  So far we had been getting about 13-14 miles per gallon, which is great considering we are pulling the fifth wheel and are going through a few mountain passes.  Much better then the 7 miles per gallon we were getting in the Chev!!!  Fort Nelson is the first “major” town you come to after leaving Fort St John.  Saying that, it is not major by any means.  There is a small airport there although we didn’t see it at all.  After stopping some fuel and I bought a cup of coffee from the store.  Knowing that it was not going to be anything special, but it was really awful!  If the male clerk in the store had not been so friendly I might have taken it back in and asked for my $2 back.  I really am turning into a coffee snob.  If the coffee is too weak it sets my heart a fluttering.  If it is too old (more then 20 minutes is my maximum) then it bothers not only my taste buds, but also my tummy.  I prefer a nice freshly brewed cup of bold coffee.  And it doesn’t have to be a Starbucks blend.  It can be made in a coffee press, coffee pot but most definitely not a camp pot as that just tastes like boiled coffee to me!  So you see,,,,,I am a coffee snob!  Anyway I gave Ray the cup that I bought as he is NOT a snob when it comes to the java bean.  

As we left Fort Nelson we noticed that it was getting quite foggy.  It turned out not to be fog, but was a forest fire.  The thicker the air got, the worse it smelled.  Like burnt wood (oh duh!!!).  I did have some hospital masks an my oxygen concentrator in the truck thankfully, as I ended up putting both on.  

I googled fires in the Fort Nelson area to see if maybe we should go back to the town and wait it out or continue ahead.  The fire was north east of us, we continued on as we were heading north west.  At times you could see the pink glow and a plumage of smoke coming off the mountain range directly north of us.  The air thankfully finally cleared and we were back to driving that long and winding road again. 




     As we were nearing Muncho Provincial Park we started to see some signs indicating mountain goats ahead.  The terrain in this particular area is very rocky and the mountains are also very rocky.  Large boulders litter the sides of the highway for miles at a time.  There is a mountain called Stone Mountain, and it is this area that is the rockiest of all.  And this is where was saw some mountain goats.  They just hang on the cliffs or stand on the side of the road watching all the traffic go by.  I wonder what they are thinking???

Liard Hot Springs

     Just before we got to Liard Hot Springs, we saw a young bull moose standing in a gravelled area eating something off the ground.  We managed to get turned around so we could get a photo of him.  We are seeing lots of wild animals on this trip,,,,unfortunately I can't add them to the blog as the wifi is so slow that adding photos is a nightmare!!!   Liard Hot Springs (which is in Liard Hot Springs Provincial Park) is Canada's 2nd largest outdoor Hot Springs and is well known for its natural setting and lush boreal spruce forest  Situated amongst the bushes and trees it is rugged but charming.  Walking on a wooden boardwalk through a marshland, you come to the change rooms.   Once changed into your swimsuit you step out onto a wooden deck which surrounds the lower hot springs.  The temperatures range from 100 to 130 degrees.   We of course chose to go into the cooler end.   Stepping down into the hot springs you cannot help but notice the wilderness around you.  It is so quiet!  One could almost meditate, it is that peaceful!   If it were not for the walk into the park, this would be an amazing place to visit in the winter!  There is something to be said about sitting in 100 degree water in a forest for 10 minutes.  The smell of sulphur is thick in the air, but after a minute or two you don’t really mind it.

Long walk out on the boardwalk to get to the springs

The mosquitoes were not so bad, you just had to make sure that you are sitting in the water up to your neck and watch each others faces so see if the bugs land on you.  When it was time to get out of the pool, you had to move quickly to get changed before the mosquitoes realized there was fresh meat out and about!  The campsites are spacious and as in all Provincial Parks, have no hook ups.  The Rangers were coming around selling firewood if you wanted to have a campfire.  I thought that was odd as I was sure there was a burning ban on for the whole Province?  Later that night we were inside our Fifth Wheel when we hear a male voice calling out “Hey Rockwood”.  Ray went outside to find a fellow and his wife who had some questions about our 5th wheel.  Ray invited them in, but they declined.  I stayed inside and chatted through the screen……..I was at least protected from the mosquitos that were flinging themselves at our screen door trying to get to my veins!!!  The mosquitoes were about the size of a dime!!!  No I am not an idiot!  The next morning we were up and on the road fairly early.  We had about a 6 or 7 hour drive to get to Whitehorse which was the next destination.  Between Fort St John and Liard we had seen so many black bears that we were not getting too excited to see them, but what we started to see more of was wild Bison.

     You know my blog would not be the same without a bit of playful ribbing at Ray’s expense.  We have left Liard Hot Springs behind us and are heading towards Watson Lake with just less then half a tank of diesel in the truck.  Ray of course doesn’t tell me this and I don’t ask because after our trip last year he promised me he won’t let the fuel get too low.  But after driving about 135 kms I do notice that he is driving a bit slower then he had been.  A sign on the side of the road for Iron Creek indicates a store and fuel stop.  There is a “closed” banner across the sign.  I don’t think anything of it, in fact I don’t really pay any attention to the sign.  A short distance up the road is a sign for Contact Creek also indicating a store and fuel stop.  This is about the time that Ray tells me that he hopes they have diesel.  I look over at him and ask “why”?  He tells me that we have been driving on fumes for awhile.  ARGH!!!!!  I can’t believe it,,,,there was a gas station in Liard but Ray thought that having just less then half a tank would get us to Watson Lake, but apparently the last half of the tank goes down faster then the first half????  Thankfully this tiny place of Contact Creek had gas and diesel pumps.  And they even have “full service” with an old guy pumping your fuel!  After the fill up Ray says that we were not totally dry but had 1 & 1/2 gallons of diesel left.  Ray says that would have only taken us maybe 20 miles and Watson Lake was still 68 kms away.  Contact Creek was the last place with fuel and with no cell service we would have been food for the mosquitoes or bears!!!  Or should I say Ray would have been because I would have stayed in the truck!!!

Watson Lake

     Watson Lake is first town once you cross the border into the Yukon.  I thought it was going to be bigger then it was, but no it was quite small at least at the highway there was not much to it.  No Tim Hortons and definitely no Starbucks.  Perhaps it was larger and we just couldn’t see the town.  We did stop at a “TAS” service centre and had breakfast, which was very good  There was a young biker who was on his way back home to Spokane.  He had ridden his Suzuki up to the Arctic Circle.  He looked like he was craving people to talk to se we had a nice chat with him.  As you enter Watson Lake, there is a “Sign Forest”. It is a park that has hundreds or possibly thousands of street signs and city signs from all over the world.  There is a path you can walk so you can read all of them.  

This not the best photo of the Sign Forest, but definitely gives you a good idea of how many signs there are.  The day was very overcast.

The drive from Watson Lake to Whitehorse is very long.  Between Watson Lake and Spirit River you will see many names "written" in rocks.  Miles of names placed securely in the dirt alongside the highway.

You have no idea how isolated I felt making this drive.  Constantly wondering who on earth would live up this far north away from everyone!  There is nothing but long lonely roads snaking their way through the forests and mountains.  As far as you can see.

I am unable to add the photos to this blog that I wanted to add and that would make it far more interesting.  The wifi experience in the north is not the best.  Yes we do have it, but it is extremely slow!!!  I will post our three days in Whitehorse, but want to be able to add photos to the blog,,,,,perhaps tomorrow?

Happy travels,,,,

Lori and Ray

****Update,,,,, managed to get the photos added!

Family Time in Dawson Creek

    We said our good-bye's to Gord and Viv at Bills Puddle at about 8:45 in the morning.  We had to stop on our way out of town to put some air into one of the truck tires.  For some unknown reason one was quite low.  I thought we might need to top up the truck with diesel, but as we had filled up in 100 Mile two days earlier, we didn't need to.  This truck is making Ray smile!!!  Off we head northbound towards Quesnel.  I am the entertainment director on our trips.  My job is to keep Ray entertained and awake while he is driving.  We do not want a repeat of driving in Minnesota last year when Ray "started" to doze off while driving!!!  LOL....well it really, at the time was NOT that funny!!  So before we left Mission I made sure that I had some new music on my iPod and also some Vinyl Cafe pod casts, as Stuart McLean is always entertaining to listen to and Ray loves his stories.  I also am assigned "wild life watch" and as we are in the north you never know what you may come across.  One thing that I have noticed so far on this trip is that we have thankfully not seen any wildlife road kill.  We did however, see this beaut of a brute (see below)!  Another cow moose (or moose cow?).  No babies with her this time.  She had been standing on the side of the road eating her vegetables, when she saw us.  She quickly bolted up the hill but not before I took this action photo of her.  Not quite same same action as yesterday!!  I love moose and in our two previous road trips across the country have not seen as many as I have on this trip!!!  We did see four more black bears but they were not in a good spot to catch a photo of them.  I still am hoping to catch a good photo of a black bear!!

    The Highway between Prince George and Chetwynd is very good.  Fresh road lines that you can actually see and no road work to speak of.  We had a relatively good drive.  Weather has been great!  We fueled up the truck in Bear Lake which is between Prince George and the Mackenzie turn off.  When we got to Chetwynd we stopped at good old Tim Horton's for a stretch and a cup of coffee.  It is Tim Horton's "Camp" week, so the restaurant had four paramedics serving up the brew.  I can't imagine how many paramedics this town has, but hopefully not one was needed while they were at Tim's!  As we drove into Chetwynd we noticed that there were a number of wood carvings.  Well there actually were "many".  There are more carvings in this small town then there are in Hope, which claims to be the "chainsaw capital of the world".  After being here, I beg to differ!  I took this photo of what I thought looked like a giant mosquito but Chris told me later that it is a "preying mantas".  The reason I thought that it was a mosquito is because the northern part of BC is noted for having very large mosquito's!!!  I have been bitten by one and it certainly was the biggest one that I have ever seen before!!

     As we continued north we drove through Pine Pass which is in the Rocky Mountain range driving to an altitude of about 1100 meters.  My lungs were okay as we didn't stop and get out of the truck at all.  Once we cleared the Rockies, the terrain changed from pine and spruce trees to rolling hills with multiple shades of green valleys.  We had entered the beautiful Peace River country.  We arrived in Dawson Creek at around 4:00.  We pulled into "Mile 0" Campground and I sent Chris a text to let her know that we had arrived and would be set up shortly.  There are a number of units here which belong to seasonal workers who stay month to month but saying that, it is a nice clean spacious campground and very quiet.  There is a laundry/shower facility and pretty decent free wifi.  There is also a Pioneer Village on the grounds here as well, and a nice walking trail.   Chris and Rod arrived within about half an hour after setting things up.  Their cute little dog, Georgia went crazy when she saw us.  She barked and yipped for about 10 minutes.  She was probably very happy to see someone from home!  Here is a nice photo of Chris and I.

     Dawson Creek is located in Peace River Country and has a population of almost 11,000.  Although Fort St John is larger,  Dawson Creek is known as the "Capital of Peace River".  The town is named after after the creek that runs through the town.  The creek was named after George Mercer Dawson who led a team of surveyors through the area in 1879.  In 1912 the Canadian government issued homestead grants to settlers, so Dawson Creek became a small farming community.  Not too sure what the crops were in the early 1900's but today canola, wheat and oats are grown in the area.  Rod says the fields of canola in the summer are beautiful and stretch far and wide.  In 1933 when the Northern Alberta Railway was extended, Dawson Creek became a regional centre.  Between 1942 and 1950 the city grew rapidly with the construction of the Alaska Highway.  In 1951 Dawson Creek had about 3500 residents.  In the 1960's the growth of the town slowed.  In the 1970's the Provincial government moved its offices from Pouce Coupe into the City.  A mall was constructed and Northern Lights College opened a campus.  Since the 1970's the industrial development went to Fort St John and Grande Prairie.  Since then the population of Dawson Creek and the economy have not significantly increased.  The economy of Dawson Creek is agriculture, retail (although there are no big box stores here and no Reitmans or Winners!), tourism, oil and gas.

     This photo is of the world famous "Mile 0" sign which is the start of the Alaska Highway.  Surprisingly enough it is not even on the Alaska Highway (which is Highway 97).  It is in the downtown area which is where the original highway went.  I had to take a photo of it anyway as it is a well known landmark.

     Rod had to work in the morning (on Thursday) so Chris took us to Pouce Coupe.  I love the name of this tiny little town and honestly was curious about it.  There are many tales of how the town got its name, but the most authentic seems to be named after an "Indian Chief Pooscapee" of the Beaver Tribe.  The first white man to settle on the  Pouce Coupe prairie was one Hector Tremblay who was a French Canadian  on his way to the Yukon for none other then the gold rush in 1898.  He was so impressed with the Peace River Country that he decided to stay in an area where the Dawson Creek runs into the Pouce Coupe River.  There is not much to this town but they do have a lovely museum.  We decided to tour it as Chris said that it has a great display of artifacts.  Unfortunately I could not take the musty smell so waited outside while Chris and Ray went in.

    We spent about an hour in Pouce Coupe before heading back to Dawson Creek, which is really only about 10 minutes away.  We went Chris's favourite coffee joint that kind of reminded her and us of Wendell's in fort Langley.  It has a very catchy name...."Faking Insanity".   They sell a variety of teas, Kicking Horse coffee, sandwiches and soup.  They also sell some pottery, wool and a huge selection of used, and in very good condition, books.  From here we went to the art gallery which is in a retired grain elevator.  Lots of great local pottery, hand made jewellery and old photographs which told the story of the area.  Just outside the art gallery is another famous landmark which commemorates the "World Famous" Alaska Highway.  There are three flags at the top of the structure.  Canadian, British Columbia and the United States Flag.  You may wonder why a USA flag?  Well the original Alaska Highway was actually built by the United States government and only took 9 months to construct?  Where is our government going wrong?  It took approximately 5 years to build the Port Mann Bridge and about two years to construct the Coquihalla Highway.  9 months, way back,,,, when the machinery and manpower was not available,,,,and the weather was so extreme. The recruitment poster for the highway construction projects read:

"Men hired for this job will be required to work and live under the most extreme conditions imaginable.  Temperatures will range from 90 degrees above zero to 70 degrees below zero.  Men will have to fight swamps, rivers, ice and cold.  Mosquitoes, flies and gates will not only be annoying but will cause bodily harm.  If you are not prepared to work under these and similar conditions, 

do not apply."

     We hooked up with Rod about 2:00 when he finished his work.  On the outskirts of town far over on a bluff you can see a number of wind turbines quietly turning.  Rod asked if we wanted to get up close to them.  Of course Ray was delighted and has a huge interest in how we can produce electricity in different ways then we are currently doing.  It was about an hour drive up to Bear Mountain Wind Park.  It was very beautiful drive passing the Bear Mountain cross country ski and hiking trails.  The road up was well maintained.  There are 34 for these massive turbines.  Not all were turning as it was not really windy.  Bear Mountain Wind Park is BC's first commercial wind facility.  It was started by Peace Energy and is owned by AltaGas Ltd.  The 34 turbines are among the largest in the world today and each 3 million watt turbine produces enough energy to power 1000 homes.  The turbines were manufactured in Germany.  The steel towers which are 256 feet tall and weigh 236 tones each, were made in Saskatchewan.  Each blades is 135 feet in length with a full diameter of 270 feet.  So you can imagine how huge they are when you are standing at the bottom looking up!

We ended our night having a great dinner and drinks at Browns Social House.  Best Caesar salad yet!  Then we all came back to our campsite and sat outside.  We were going to start up the fire pit, but it never got dark enough!!!  Chris and Rod went back to their house around 10:30.

     Friday morning Ray and I went to wander through the Walter Wright Pioneer Village.  This is attached to our camp ground so we thought we would take a wander through it.  Again I could not go into the buildings due to the musty smells.

As you can see, the village has a well kept boardwalk.  Can you imagine how slippery that would be in the snow, or even the rain we get on the coast???  Yikes!!

I leaned into the Telephone and Telegraph office to take a photo of this telephone operators board for Shannon.  Thought you might get a big kick out of how the operators equipment was in the early years!

And this????  Well some of you younger people may not recognize this, but it is a manual typewriter. In the 1970's when I started high school, we had to learn how to type on these before we were "allowed" to progress to an electric typewriter.  My how things have change with the invention of iPads and Tablets!!

Not sure what this old bird is doing??  Oh,,,,, I was sitting outside of one of the old churches near the rose garden which was dead!!  No roses!

So the highlight of our time in Dawson Creek for Ray has been our trip today.  We drove from Dawson Creek back to Chetwynd and then to Hudson Hope so we could tour the W.A.C. Bennett Dam.  A very large area was flooded to create Williston Lake which is about 270 kms long and 150 kms wide, making it the largest man made lake in Canada. The dam took 7 years to construct (1961 - 1968).  It cost $750 million to build and was the largest project of its kind in the province of BC.  . Today it would probably be triple that!!  The dam has the capacity to generate more than 13 billion kWh annually.  The dame is 610 feet in height and 6,785 feet long.  They had to blast through bedrock when constructing the dam.  We took a tour down 500 feet into the tunnels of the dam where we were able to view the turbines at work.  It was very eerie being down that far underground and honestly,,,,I don't think that I could work down there.  As you can see from Chris and Rod's garb, we had to wear hardhats and very colourful vests.  

There is a great new Visitor centre with a gift shop, cafe and "hands on exhibits" which are great for the local school kids.

The above and below photos were taken outside the visitor centre.  You can see the dam on the left side of the photos.

We were able to drive across the top of the dam (but not allowed to "stop" until we got to the other side).  This drive was about a km long and the lake one one side and the hydroelectric power house on the other was an amazing view!  This particular view was taken from a viewpoint looking back on the dam.  You can see the layers in the rock.  

After leaving the W.A.C. Bennett dam we continued on north to Fort St John.  On the way there we stopped at another viewpoint (even though Ray was tired of looking at the beautiful Peace River) for one more shot of the Peace River.  This particular spot is where the controversial Site C dam is proposed to be built.

The Peace River valley is truly a beautiful place with its rolling hills and valleys stretching as far as the eye can see.  The river winds lazily through the valley, causing one to imagine what it must have been like in the late 1800's during the gold rush when men from far and wide would make the trek for that search for gold.

We continued on into Fort St John.  Ray made a comment that the area reminded him of the drive from the Halliburton area towards Newmarket Ontario.  And yes he is correct.  The same rolling hills and fields after fields of crops of whatever is grown in the particular area.  No mountains to speak of. Or at leave none that we of the Lower Mainland see on a daily basis.  Just south of Fort St John we took the "old Alaska Highway".  We were headed to the Kiskatinaw wooden bridge.  It is in the Kiskatinaw Provincial Park on the old highway.  It is a quiet road which allowed us to park the truck at one end of the bridge and walk across it.  What is unique about this bridge is not that it is made of wood, but that it is also build on a curve.  A wooden curved bridge.  How unique.  It smelled like railway ties.   Like creosol.  That is because approximately 500,000 board feet of creosoted BC fir was used in its construction.  There were many timber bridges built, this is the only one still in use.  It is a three span, 100 feet long timber truss structure.  It is an odd feeling when walking across it,,,,,because it leans to one side... because of the curve!!

We have had an excellent two full days here in Dawson Creek.  Tomorrow we continue our journey,,,,Heading towards Whitehorse.  We will stop in Liard Hot Springs and may not have wifi.  So until we do......

Take Care,,,,

Lori and Ray

Our time in Williams Lake

We left home this Monday at 9:00 and met Ray's sister Shannon. at Whatcom Tim Horton's and had a bite to eat and a coffee.  We left there at about 10:00 and our journey began.  We took the Trans Canada highway through the beautiful Fraser Canyon.


We decided to stop at Hell's Gate and take the tram across the Fraser River.  It had been years since I had been there and only a couple of years for Ray, as he took his friend Danny, from Sault St Marie when he was visiting from Ontario.

Our tram operator was a young man named Connor, who is working at Hells Gate for the summer. He is a Trenton University student and said that he lives in Peterborough Ontario.  He was very pleasant and offered to take our photo before we left the top side of the tram.

  

So after we take a couple of photos we get into the tram car along with two other couples.  It is very clean and bright with lots of windows, but I was very pleased that it wasn't too hot and the tram was not full of people.  In other words, lots of breathing space!   I really do not like heights, but I figured that if I am busy with my camera taking some photos along the "drop" down to the other side, I won't notice the height nor the swaying movement of the tram car.  While we were moving along Connor gave us some of the history of Hell's Gate.  Hell's Gate is a 115 foot wide narrowing of the Fraser River.  There is more water per minute rushing through this passage, then Niagara Falls.  It is 170 feet deep.  It is surrounded by the Cascade Mountain range with towering rock walls that plunge right down into the muddy waters.   The narrow passage is a popular place for jet boating and white water river rafting tours.  Although you will never see me going through this passage of water in a rubber raft!!!

     The Fraser Canyon was a route used in the times of the great gold rush for miners wishing to access the upper Fraser.  Canadian National Railway runs on the south side of the river with Canadian Pacific on the north side.  In 1914 while CNR was building their tracks a large rock slide fell into the river at Hells Gate obstructing the passage of the salmon who need to swim upstream to spawn. The salmon had difficulty passing through the water.  In 1944  the Pacific Salmon Commission began construction of a fish ways to allow the salmon to once again be able to pass through the passage at Hell's Gate to their spawning grounds up river.  In the 1970's the fish ways at Hells Gate became a tourist attraction, followed by the air tram, observation deck, a fisheries exhibit, restaurant and gift shop.

     Leaving Hell's Gate we continued our drive to Williams Lake.  We arrived at Gord and Viv's in Williams Lake at about 4:00 PM.  We camped in their driveway which fit both truck and trailer.  We had an excellent dinner prepared by the Vivacious Vivian the Gracious Gordo.....  Bar-b-qued Beurre Noir Halibut (which Gord caught in Port Hardy), a delicious potato salad Viv made, which had both red potatoes and sweet potatoes (don't tell Ray, because he loved it) and a green salad.  We had a great night of catching up.  I have to say for those who do not know,,, but Vivian and Gord were our neighbours who lived directly behind us (in Cindy and Les's house) from 1995 until 2003 at which time they moved to Courtenay and then to Williams Lake.

     A bit about Williams Lake....  With a population of almost 11,000 Williams Lake, which is located at the junction of Highways 97 and 20, is the largest urban area between Kamloops and Prince George.  It is the home of the annual Williams Lake Stampede and also the home town of Man in Motion, Rick Hansen.  During the Caribou Gold Rush in 1860  Gold Commissioner Phillip Nind and BC Provincial Police Constable arrived from Victoria to organize a local government and maintain Law and Order.  Two trails lead to the gold fields.  Douglas Road and another trail from the Fraser Canyon both met at Williams Lake making it a good place for settlers and merchants. In 1861 a government building was built followed by a courthouse, jail, post office and of course a roadhouse thus making it a central meeting spot.  In 1863 the town was elated by the news of the construction of Cariboo Road being built.  Unfortunately when it was built, it bypassed the town entirely going through 150 Mile House instead.  This doomed the town until the construction of the Pacific Great Eastern Railway (later becoming BC Rail and CN Rail).  Today it is a booming town with primary industry being forestry, logging, milling, mining and ranching.  Coming into William's Lake you will notice the Information centre on the right side before you get into town.  It is right beside the "Chances" Casino.  We did not stop at the Visitor Centre on this visit, but did last year when we were here.  They have a museum and a great gift shop.  I urge anyone travelling through to stop and go through this visitor centre.

     Today (Tuesday) we went on a road trip to Quesnel Forks Ghost Town which is where the Caribou and Quesnel Rivers connect.  It is about an hour and a half from Williams Lake, all great secondary highway roads.  The Forks, as it is known around the Caribou is 11 kms from the tiny village of Likely BC.  The oddest thing that we saw in Likely  was a stop sign in the middle of the lake.  As there was no boat traffic whatsoever on the lake, I am not really sure who the stop sign is meant for?

While in Likely before heading on to The Forks, we stopped to use the facilities and take a few photos.

Quesnel Forks was founded in 1860.   For two years the tiny village catered to about 2000 transients,  most of which were miners in the search for gold.  About 100 residents lived there full time.    In 1865 when the Caribou Wagon Road was built, Quesnel Forks was bypassed and Barkerville became the major mining centre.  Be the mid 1870's the majority of the population had left The Forks leaving behind a group of Chinese miners and merchants.  Today this is a historic site with refurbished buildings.  There is a campground for those who wish to spend a night or two.  The cemetery has some very old unkempt graves along with some newer ones.  The most recent was a headstone of a young lady who died in 2012 and was buried in this ghost town.

This is at just inside the entrance to the cemetery.

Got a bit of a chuckle out of the name here....  "Au Chew".  Not sure if that was a surname or not.

This headstone indicated the deceased died of small pox.  A disease which has not been around for a few long time.  You can see how unkempt the plot is.  Some were in a worse state,,,, with the actual ground sinking a few feet.  One had to be careful when walking around.

As you can see from Viv's attire, there were a few mosquitos out and about!!

Ray and Gord peeking out from one of the old buildings.

And of course,,,, a selfie!  The building behind us is the one Gord and Ray are peeking out of.

We spent about an hour walking around the ghost town.  It was very peaceful and beautiful.  

Driving away from this spot makes one think of years gone by.  Wondering how hard life was for all of the residents.  Having to travel across the country from many points (including the USA), using a donkey to carry their merger belongings.  Working on the railways which have made our country bring goods from east to west.  North to south.  We really have no idea what these ancestors of ours had to deal with.  It takes going to one of these old ghosts towns to really appreciate what we have today.

Driving down Likely Rd I saw a beautiful young bear sitting on the side of the road.  Of course I didn't have my camera handy to take a photograph.  Viv wanted to turn around and go back but one the next corner of the road we saw a beautiful female moose with her baby.  We stopped in the road and grabbed a camera.  All of a sudden, Mama moose saw us and started to run towards the truck.  She ran right up to the drivers window, snorting and frothing at the mouth.  She was not happy with us thinking that we were going to harm her little baby.  These are the two photos that I did manage to take before we slowly drove away.

We were on a high seeing these two beautiful beasts.  We also saw a large herd of bison!

Again we had an excellent dinner.  Bar-b-qued elk steaks, quinoa salad, ceasar salad and potatoe salad.  We cannot complaint about our wonderful hospitality!  I am being a bit rude tonight trying to get this blog written and posted.  Viv wants to read it and I won't let her until I am done.  We have had an excellent visit and will return again to the town of Williams Lake.  Unless of course, Viv and Gord move residences when he retires..... then we will visit at their new place.  I realize how much we miss them as neighbours!  We continue our journey tomorrow as we head to Dawson Creek.  

We leave you now with this beautiful photo of a butterfly Viv took a picture of at The Forks.