Vancouver, British Columbia

8/26/13

Joy and I departed the motorhome this morning for a day in Vancouver about 60 miles away using our Jeep.  We stopped at Stanley Park (an island between downtown and North Vancouver across the Fraser River.  Rain threatened later today but we made the best of it walking along the harbor downtown and circling Stanley Park.  We enjoyed a wonderful lunch near the seaplane docks at Whistler Brewing Company.

On the way home Joy had to stop at Swiss Chalet (a rotisserie restaurant we discovered on an earlier trip thru eastern provinces) for some chicken for dinner.  The area around Chilliwack, BC where we are staying is very much like the central valley of California with abundant produce including corn, hazelnut orchards, all kinds of berries, and vegetables.  Fresh sweet corn is on the menu for tonight.

Tomorrow morning we will return to the United States via the Suma, Washington US Customs checkpoint.  We will be in Mt. Vernon, Washington for the next two nights while our coach gets some much needed lubrication and minor maintenance at the Freightliner shop before we continue our homeward journey.

Toll bridge entering Vancouver on Trans-Canada 1

We enjoy a nice day walking along the harbor in downtown Vancouver

A beautiful modern city

Lunch at Whistler Brewing Company

Joy contemplates lunch

So does Don

View north toward North Vancouver

Joy "has to have" some more roasted chicken for dinner

Success!!!!

Boston Bar to Vancouver, BC

8/25/13

Sunday dawns with a beautiful blue sky in the Canyon as we continue south now to join Trans-Canada 1 westbound toward Vancouver.  We stop at Minter Gardens in Chilliwack, BC for a tour and lunch with our friends.  The gardens are beautiful, but we learn that they will close in October after being open since 1980 due to the economy.  Following lunch our traveling companions turn south to cross the US border at Suma, WA.

Joy and I travel just a few miles stopping in Chilliwack at the Cottonwoods RV Park.  Monday we plan to tour Vancouver before returning to the US.

We park at Minter Gardens together one last time

Sharon and Joy dressed as twins

We walk the gardens on a beautiful day

As they say "stop and smell the roses" along life's way

Bob and Sharon wave goodbye for now

Off they go

Joy is left to ponder the future of our trip left with only the "same old man" she has lived with for the past 40 something years

Prince George to Boston Bar, British Columbia

8/24/13

We depart the civility of Prince George today to continue south along Highway 97 toward the Fraser River Canyon area.  Roadways are good with wider shoulders as we climb and descend a modestly rolling countryside.  As we pass Grand Cache we note this area is referred to as the Arizona of British Columbia as the area is desert-like except directly along the river valley where hay bales are in abundance is quite green irrigated pastures.

South of Grand Cache we enter deeper into Fraser River Canyon with towering majestic mountains now again surrounding us.  We stop for the evening in Boston Bar, BC at the Canyon Alpine RV Park.  We enjoy our last evening with our traveling companions Bob and Sharon Relyea celebrating our trip with a dinner at a local restaurant.

Hay bales along the highway everywhere

Approaching Cache Creek

Entering the Fraser River Valley

Fraser River overlook

Deeper into the canyon

Beauty everywhere you look

We celebrate our last night together after three months on the road in Alaska

Yellowhead Highway back to civilization at Prince George

8/22/13

We get underway Thursday morning again southbound on the Cassier Highway.  This road is 450 miles of beautiful wilderness with few small towns and even fewer fuel stops.  No billboards, no internet, no cellphone service – period.  We join the Yellowhead and travel east about 300 miles to Prince George, British Columbia.  We enjoy a beautiful rainbow as we approach our destination tonight, the Bee Lazy RV Park on Route 97 just south of Prince George.

8/23/13

Friday dawns sunny and warm as we begin a “down day” doing laundry, washing the Jeep, some minor maintenance items, and update this blog thanks to a wonderful internet at Bee Lazy RV.  Bob enjoys a game of golf this afternoon while Joy and Sharon roam about taking in the sights and doing a little shopping.  Don just blogs to catch up the week.  Tomorrow we head south again about 300 miles to Boston Bog, BC.

Headed east now on the Yellowhead near Smithers, BC

A full rainbow as we near Prince George

Joy wanted to prove with the Michaels sign we had returned to "civilization"

Here we are in Prince George

Side trip to Stewart, British Columbia and Hyder, AK

8/21/13

Wednesday dawns with abundant sunshine aw we head westward briefly today by car to visit Steward, B. C. and Hyder, AK.  We stop for a great view of Bear Glacier about 20 west before continuing to Stewart – the most northern ice-free seaport in Canada.  Logging and mining support this gold rush town along with tourism in the brief summer season.  Hyder officially lists itself as a ghost town with about 100 residents.

We then travel north about 23 miles on a gravel road up into the mountains to see Salmon Glacier - oh my, what a sight!  The pictures will speak for themselves.  We head back into Hyder to a late lunch before returning to Fish Creek hoping to see some bears dining on salmon now making the run up to the spawning grounds.  Plenty of salmon but no bear sightings today.  We head back to camp in a foggy and rainy evening.  Tomorrow we will travel another 100 miles south before joining the Yellowhead Highway eastbound to Prince George.

Bear Glacier on Route 37-A

Looking up onto the ice field

Downtown Stewart, British Columbia

Our lunch destination in Hyder, AK

Views of Salmon Glacier

Salmon glacier is only accessible by road from British Columbia

Wrangell, AK is about 80 miles distant

Pictures cannot describe the beauty we have seen

My friend Bob walks to the edge for pictures

Blue glacial ice is formed when all oxygen is compressed out of frozen water under pressure

Our next stop to hopefully see bears feeding on salmon

An elevated walkway keeps humans in and bears out

Salmon are here in the quiet waters to spawn

Here we are spending our last hours in Alaska enjoying yet another glacier

Never too far away are these mighty birds also looking for a salmon or two

Sharon and Joy pose for another picture in front of Salmon

Waiting for the bears to arrive

A cold rain sets in this evening, no bears appear tonight