Lower British Columbia

Days 22 through 25. Tuesday, May 12 through Friday May 15.


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With a fully loaded RV, and a baby strapped in and riding shotgun the five (and a half) of us set out from vancouver to the North. The first leg was up to Whistler for lunch to check out the village and see if any thing was happening for the upcoming Winter Olympics. What we saw on the way, other than the beautiful drive along Howe Sound) was construction, and a lot of it. We made it in for a late lunch and bought some things in some of the village shops, Casey and I mostly finding Canada-related stuff at the Roots store.




And while we had not yet had any official Sasqutach sightings, we knew they were abundant in the area as we saw many Sasquatch crossing signs:




We did have a few close calls though, but they just turned out to be glorious mullets, or "hockey hair" as its called by the natives.

Speaking of mullets we also saw this van:



If you can't read the side, it says, "FREE CANDY". Classy.

We then set out for our campsite in Marble Canyon Provincial Park, but didn't quite make it that far. The road north of Whistler was in pretty bad shape and some weather started to come in giving us some rain and a little snow along the way. This slowed us a little, but wasn't a big deal. What was a big deal was the five straight kilometers of 11 and 13 percent grades leading us down into the town of Lillooet (also fun to say with a Canadian accent). At the bottom of the grade Harvey's brakes were toasty and stanky. The driving day ended in town when Harvey's hot brakes failed to do their job completely and we rolled through a stop sign. Clara expressed her dismay and we decided to stop for the night in Lillooet.




Wednesday morning I looked into the brakes and everything was good after they had cooled, so we took off for a long driving day up to Beaumont Provincial Park. We spent about eleven hours on the road, eight of them driving. Also during this time were the only three hours on record where I did not drive Harvey. Andy gave me a much needed break for a stretch and I chilled on the couch the whole time; Harvey even rocked me to sleep. Awesome. We arrived at Beaumont late in the evening, but it was becoming noticeable how far north we were getting and the sun didn't set until around nine.




The following day we didn't drive and spent the time exploring the park and playing euchre in the sun. There was a short trail in the woods that explained much of the area and showed all the beaver activity, though we didn't see much wildlife. The park brochure also described a hiking trail that sounded perfect for the day, but was pretty cryptic on the location of the trail head and we never did find it. So we played more euchre while Clara walked the dogs.





Andy and I finally broke out the fishing gear Friday morning and spent a very cold hour or two, coffee in hand, catching our limit of seaweed. We didn't really mind though, it was good to get out and cast a few. We then packed up Harv and took off. We stopped in Smithers for lunch, this was a neat little town according to the travel guides and has a alpine themed main street, but we all kinda felt disappointed with it. I was expecting more shops and a greater feel for the heritage of the area. (The salmon chowder kicked ass though)



(they apparently have Sasquatch there too)

From Smithers, we drove an hour to the Hazeltons. New, Old, and South Hazelton are three small communities that clam to be the totem pole capital of the world. The 'Ksan village in Old Hazelton has quite a few of them. We arrive a little after closing, but were still able to walk around and see some of the art.





Our campground, Seeley Lake Provincial Park, was not far past the Hazeltons and was just breathtaking. It's a very small place, just the campsites really, but it was right on the water. Andy and I were able to fish a bit more to relax, but noting was biting yet.

The 'couv

Days 20 & 21. Sunday, May 10 & Monday, May 11.

Our RV park in Vancouver was very nice. Definitely the best of the major cities, and Casey and I were able to do all of the laundry and clean up and rent a car and order pizza and get ready for the biggest test we're to face living in a motorhome: two more adults and a 15 month-old baby. The arrived late in the morning at the airport among a sea of asians, so they were pretty easy to spot. We went back to the park to allow them relax and decompress after a long journey and we caught the third period of the Wings' win over Anaheim. We went out for dinner downtown and found a place right on the water (none of us brought cameras).

By the way, the drive into downtown from HWY-1 is crazy! I have never seen so many junkies and hookers in one place, and I've spent a lot of time in both Detroit and LA! It was like the Hamsterdam episodes of the Wire. What up wit' dat, Vancouver?

Monday was kinda dreary and we all agreed that the Vancouver Aquarium was the place to go. This is in Stanley Park which is also a very cool place. Clara brought her A-game.










After the aquarium we went to check out Granville Island; also a cool place. The have a huge market where we picked up some delicious hand-made ravioli, sun dried tomato pesto, and some of their finest meats and cheeses. We also hit a bakery for the next morning's breakfast, and Casey was able to find a small book store where she got books two, three and four of the Twilight series after ripping through the first book in two days.




Dinner was fantastic at Sammy J. Pepper's and we returned to the RV to continue the epic euchre battle between Trumpshaker and Parliament Trumpadelic (NOT Grand Trump Railroad).

We're Alive!

Sorry about the lack of posts. We're doing well and are in Alaska. The signal was basically non-existent in Canada and then things really got crazy as we crossed the border. I'm trying to post right now but the signal is weak and I can't upload photos. Stay tuned...

Marmotville

Days 17, 18 & 19. Thursday, May 7 through Saturday, May 9.


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It was a very rainy drive from Sasquatch Provincial Park east to the Okanogan Valley. The road wound up through the mountains and eventually broke through the weather for some much needed sun. The countryside was very pretty and all different names of the places are very fun to say with a Canadian accent: Kamloops, Osoyoos, Kelowna, Okanogan, Kooteney. That's a hoot, eh?

The drive took a while but we finally made it to Kekuli Bay Provincial Park overlooking beautiful Kalamalka Lake. The campsites were spread out and on tiers up the side of the hill so they all had views of the water. Also, all of the hills that the campsites sat on were completely infested with marmots; more on that later.





The next day was drive-free and Casey and I were itching to out in kayaks on the perfectly still waters of the lake and we took Harvey into the nearby town of Vernon to rent some but we apparently were a couple weeks early in the season and were denied. Since we were in wine country we also contemplated checking out some wineries, but we agreed we were in a much better mood to do nothing than to drive the RV around. So we just hung out at the campground and read, walked, and played Bananagrams.





The whole while Niko defended us from evil marmots that seemingly had us surrounded.






The next day we packed up to head back west toward Vancouver. We took a slightly longer way back to hit the BC Wildlife Park in Kamloops to get a preview of all the cool stuff we were going to see as we headed north into Canada:







After that we drove to Vancouver to get ready for Andy, Melissa, and Clara to arrive the following morning. One last thing I need to share though. On the way we stopped for gas and had a most unusual encounter. Since good ol' Harv is not that maneuverable, we had to sit and wait about ten minutes for this to happen:



I swear this woman had never bought gas before. All the other pumps were open, too. Anyway, congrats lady, you made the blog.

Canada!

Day 16. Wednesday, May 6.


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Bright and early we took Harvey into the shop for his headlight malfunction. The place was tough to find... definitely not for passers-though, but they treated us very well. It was another rainy day, and we sill had our rental car so Casey, the dogs and I piled in with our books and found a nearby park to hang out in while we awaited word on Harvey. They got back to us around 10:30 and the news was good - just a bad wire connection needed to be cleaned up and we were on our way!

The bad news was that the electrical problems caused enough of a delay that we were going to miss our ferry to Vancouver Island. Luckily it wasn't paid for yet and we contemplated taking a later one, but we were looking for a stress-free route and the island involved a lot of tough driving in a forecast of rain. So we decided to head east instead of west toward B.C. wine country! Wince country means sun, eh?

But first...


Woo hoo! Universal health care! 13th grade! Poutine! Uh... well poutine seems pretty nasty.

Anyway. It was still a bit too far to drive to the Okanagen Valley (the wine region) for one day so we decided to stay in Sasquatch Provincial Park for the night. This decision wasn't based solely on the clearly awesome name. Casey and I are also fans of Harry and the Hendersons and were interested in befriending one of these gentle giants to join us on the rest of our voyage. Alas, we came across none. I figure it was the rain keeping them in their caves and not the sight of a dog with a lampshade on its head chasing every creature in sight and doing handstands when it pees.

I digress. Here are some photos from The 'Squatch: