Prince Rupert RV Park, Prince Rupert, BC, Canada

Friday, 29 July 2011
Prince Rupert RV Park, Prince Rupert, BC, Canada

Hello all,

Today, we've taken it easy.  Walked around the tourist area of Prince Rupert this morning, and then this afternoon, toured a cannery museum in Port Edwards, about 10 miles south of Prince Rupert.  Now, Lin is doing the laundry, while I update this blog, and review a few pictures to include.  Tonight we plan to have a nice fish dinner at a local restaurant and then get ready to board the ferry to Juneau tomorrow morning.  We'll be up at 4:30 AM to get to the ferry dock at 6:00 AM for departure at 9:15.  We will be on the ferry for about 28 hours, arriving in Juneau on Sunday at 11:00 AM.   We'll be there a couple of days and then take another ferry to Haines, AK. 

That's it so far; all is well. 

Thursday, 28 July 2011
Prince Rupert RV Park, Prince Rupert, BC, Canada

We arrived at the Prince Rupert RV Park at 7:00 PM, after driving south from Meziadin Lake Provincial Park, where we stayed Wednesday night.  Thursday morning, we drove west to Stewart, BC / Hyder, AK; both are small villages at the end of the road, jumping off places for remote mines and small fisheries.  Just north of Hyder, the Tongass National Forest has a bear-watching site at Fish Creek.  We parked there in the rain and talked a bit with the Ranger.  He said that the salmon run was slow getting started, and that he'd seen only a few salmon headed up the creek.  We decided that since we were there, we should take a look, anyhow.  We read through the well-done descriptive material, and then started down the board walk.  We quickly spotted 3 good-sized salmon headed up the stream, and watched them for a bit.  Then we continued down to the end of the walk, and started back.  Lin spotted a black bear and her cub on the other side of the stream, and we watched them walk along the stream and cross it.  The Ranger said that this particular mother bear wasn't a good one, she let her cub wander out of her sight for up to several hours; not a good way to increase the local bear population.  It was about 11:00 AM when we left Hyder, headed back to Meziadin Lake and points south.  Lots of rain along the way, and the rain really got the waterfalls flowing -- we saw amazing amounts of water coming down the mountain sides beside Hwy 16 (The Yellowhead Highway) between Kitwanga and Prince Rupert. 

Here are some recent pictures.

Waterfalls along BC 37A
(Meziadin Lake -- Stewart)

Momma Bear & Cub at Fish Creek

Fish Creek Board Walk (Ranger, Lin)

Bear Glacier from BC 37A
(Meziadin Lake -- Stewart)

Meziadin Lake

Meziadin Lake Provincial Park (Lin)

Dave's RV Park, Vanderhoof, BC, Canada

Wednesday, 27 July 2011
Dave's RV Park, Vanderhoof, BC, Canada

Hi all,

We are camped at Dave's RV Camp, in Vanderhoof, BC; about 45 minutes west of Prince George.  We are settling into a routine, listening to Elmer Kelton's Texas Ranger series of recorded books on the iPod, and stopping from time to time for a look into the roadside markets.  The Fraser Valley in BC is a land of rolling hills and green fields interspersed with conifer forest.  It is beautiful.  The skies have been mostly gray, but so far only a little rain.  Hopefully we will see the sun today.  We've talked with fellow campers along the way, and they are indeed an international cross-section -- lots of nice people.

Here are a couple of pictures:

Setting up at Dave's RV Camp.

Dave's RV Campground

Brookside Campground, Cache Creek, BC, Canada

Monday, 25 July 2011
Brookside CG, Cache Creek, BC, Canada

Hi all,

It is Monday evening, and we are enjoying cool and cloudy weather in Cache Creek, BC.  Saturday afternoon we arrived a my cousin's home to greet his family, some other local cousins, my brother David, and a friend from grade school days.  We enjoyed time together and some wonderful pizza that Cousin Justin and his wife Betsy put together and baked in their new wood fired outdoor oven.  Nice times for all of us.  We left Sunday morning after breakfast and drove north to Birch Bay State Park.  It is a pleasant spot on Puget Sound, very remote and quiet.  We should have walked the beach, but didn't take the time to do that.  Today, we got started about 9:00 AM, and made our way north into Canada at Sumas.  Quick answers for a few questions for the Canada Customs agent, and we were headed north again.  We drove throught the fertile flats near Abbotsford, and then into the canyon of the Fraser River.  Beautiful country, and a stop at Hell's Gate, a famous narrows on the Fraser was definitely worthwhile.  We made our way through the afternoon as clouds came in, but only saw a few sprinkles of mist.  Now it is late evening, and the clouds are clearing out.  We are camped at Brookside CG in Cache Creek, BC.  Nothing fancy, but it serves the purpose.  Tomorrow, we are headed for Prince George and west to Vanderhoof.  I should be able to get in a post from there, as well. 

Here are some images from the trip, so far (pictures are in time order, bottom to top):

Frazier Canyon, Hell's Gate 2

Frazier Canyon, Hell's Gate 1

Ready to roll, day 2... (Justin, Lin)

Pizza's ready!

Justin, at the oven; watching the pizza cook...

At home, ready to go (Lin)...

On our way to Alaska

OK, we are packed up, and I am about to hook up our travel trailer to Big Red, our bright red Chevy Silverado 2500HD pickup.  My goal for this blog is to post a paragraph and a photo a day; it may not happen every day, but when we finish up back in Eugene, I hope we all have a good log of our activities and discoveries along the way.  Bon voyage!

Lin & Don