Up early today as we have a long way to go and we’re tired. We rarely travel two days in a row and now it will be three.
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349 miles today. Most of the day we will head NW and then south. Funny how the mind thinks it should be going north.
Heading out of the Bon Voyage at 8am.
We’ll head west for Terrace.
Not too far out of town and you can see this small lake is still frozen and there are snowmobile tracks left over from the winter.
It’s not break-up yet so the logs are still moving.
Ice on this lake too. It’s a really, really late spring everywhere.
The wide open highway.
First stop Vanderhoof which is about 70 miles west of Prince George.
Down the long hill into town. Vanderhoof is well known for….speeding tickets!
Typical of most small northern towns there are fuel stops and eateries along the highway and small shops on the back streets.
Leaving Vanderhoof and you see a “stud” mill on your right.
The only thing they cut here are 8 foot studs.
It takes a lot of small wood to make all those 2 x 4 fours. There is a cogeneration plant right next to the mill which uses the wood waste to produce electricity and then puts it into the grid. Very efficient
A tiny bit of grass here and the cows are out.
Now that’s a load!
I tried to get a picture of this “mobile” chicken coop in a big field. Load em up and move em on! Lots and lots of happy chickens and the eggs would be good too.
Not much green grass yet and lots of water in the field.
Another tiny northern town .
Hmmm……more ice.
We stop for fuel at LeJac which is a First Nations Fuel stop. This is an easy in and out that doesn’t require tight turns.
Fraser Lake….still has ice on it.
Pretty but not green by any means.
Everywhere I look there is ice, no leaves on trees and no green grass.
Pretty and no ice here.
We are coming into Burns Lake.
Down the long hill into town where the main highway will wiggle it’s way right through the middle of town.
An old building refitted and used for something new.
Burns Lake the town has a huge lake and it gets really, really cold here in the winter. Some springs when we come through the lake is ice free.
This is a huge long hill and Eric is going slow.
Still almost three hundred k’s to go. We’ve had a south wind today which would be a good thing if we were heading north but today we’re heading west and then south.
A little farm in the middle of no where.
We’ll stop in Houston and have lunch.
The visitor’s centre by the “ World’s biggest fly rod.” A good place to eat lunch.
As we drove out I saw this stuffed Kermode bear in the front of the visitor’s centre. They are known as the “spirit bear” and are a rare sub species of the American black bear. It is found in the central and north coast regions of B.C. We have lived in Terrace for 40 years and I’ve never seen a live one although Eric has.
Leaving Houston and this person has a huge amount of water in their front yard. Many areas of B.C. are in for huge flooding this spring because of above average snow packs and a late spring.
The snow is still way down the mountains as you can see in these logged over areas.
Heading down Hungry Hill just west of Houston heading towards Smithers. The summit is at about 2650 ft. Not very high when you consider we were travelling at 6,000 ft between Ely, Nevada and Jackpot, Nevada.
On the right in the distance is Hudson’s Bay Mountain.
Eric’s Grandparents came to Smither’s from Sweden in the early 1900’s. Eric’s father, Norman grew up skiing on Hudson’s Bay Mountain when there were no ski trails.
Coming into Telkwa before Smithers.
This is a tiny town on the Bulkley River.
Skiing is a big tourist draw in Smithers.
Quite the view when you have a mountain like that in your back yard.
Fishing, farming and skiing here. The main street of Smithers has been nicely done in an alpine motif.
This used to be the hospital and Eric was born here back in the winter of 1946. His mother Doris who had come to Smithers as a war bride walked to the hospital with her mother in law Gertrude when Eric was born. Eric’s Dad Norman was out on the road working for CN Telegraph.
One of the outlying farms on the west side of Smithers.
The old Storey barn. It’s looking like it’s on it’s last legs but when we moved to Terrace in the mid seventies it was in full use for hay storage.
“Mo-town!” The Morice canyon on the Bulkley river is a big tourist draw here especially when the salmon are trying to get up the falls.
Coming along the Skeena River towards Terrace and the coast mountains start to close in. Smithers is in the Bulkley valley on the east side of the coast mountains and it’s much more open there.
The long hill down into New Hazelton. Here you’ll find the historical ‘Ksan Village in old town. Again a huge tourist draw.
Hwy 16 coming through New Hazelton. Old Hazelton is off to the right and it’s situated along the Skeena River. Old Hazelton was as far as the paddle wheelers could go up stream on the Skeena. It was here that Eric’s grandfather Gus got off the paddle wheeler and walked to Smithers overland before there was a railroad. A different era.
The mountains are closing in and we’re starting to feel like we’re almost home.
Kitwanga off to the right and Hwy 37 the Alaska/Stewart highway. Highway 16W ends in Prince Rupert so if you want to go north….this is the place to do it.
90 kms to go.
The big farm at Price Creek.
I tried to get a picture of the “ Seven Sisters” but all our Mexico stickers and road grime got in the way!
Traveling along the Skeena River.
Pioneer Chapel in Usk about 25kms east of Terrace.
That’s Kitselas Mountain which we can see from our front door at home.
We aren’t going home today but if we were we’d drive off to the left just over the bridge which is coming up ahead. We live on a 40 acre parcel of land up on the left.
As we head into town the Skeena River is on our right and we drive along it every time we go into town.
Our daughter and son-in-law live in Thornhill which is just outside Terrace.
Coming through Thornhill.
And….we’re here. Daughter Erika and grand daughter Abby are here to greet us with the dogs.
On the left is Chloe or Schmoopy as Eric calls her. In front is Maple and to the right, Tikki. Tikki is their 11 year old chocolate lab, Chloe is 3 years old and Maple is 10 months and they are Greater Swiss Mountain dogs. Throw in a couple of cats and a few horses and it’s quite the menagerie!
That’s the house in the background.
All right you guys….get into your dog run.
This is Ellie or Smelly as Erika calls her because ….she’s always smelling things. A very independant “chatty” cat who doesn’t like to be held.
Tikki’s tired….time for a nap.
Beer and a snack before dinner….just what the doctor ordered.
Abby is a vegetarian and she’s making a ….vegetarian pizza. Erika hand made the pizza dough and a sausage pizza along with a Greek salad.
All delicious.
That’s Abby’s pizza and I really liked it. We really cut down on meat this winter and this is a good alternative.
Good too.
That’s Wade on the left in the middle. So ends the day and it’s now time for us to go to bed. A good drive, dinner with family and now nighty night!
Tuesday morning….
Erika and Wade moved to this 30 acre property about 7 years ago. They updated the house interior, cleared the alder out back and had the 7 stall barn and hay barn built. Erika planted the fields and she and Wade now have most of it fenced.
This is Erika’s young horse Jackson an almost 4 year old gelding riding in her ring. Not fenced yet but that will come.
I haven’t seen her ride him before and he is a beautiful horse. A bit of a teenager but….he’ll grow up. She has an older horse called Eddie who she rides as well. Mostly just dressage.
Nice barn with a concrete walkway down the centre and all the modern conveniences. Nice!
Erika has hay storage above the barn but since she orders large bales that she moves with the tractor she needed a hay shed as well. Grand daughter Abby rides Diva. Erika also has a number of borders as well.
Tikki napping and Chloe on guard.
A nice setting for a barn and riding ring. Erika runs a tight ship and everything is always neat and tidy. She and her Dad have a lot in common.
The road back to the house and you can see we are parked just below the shop which they also had built.
Nice view.
We can run power from the shop and we’ll stay and visit for another day before heading home. Eric will go out and check things out at home while I do laundry and ….catch up the blog.
We had a good trip home but we are tired and there will be a huge amount to do when we get there. I’m not unhappy that it’s a late spring because that means all my gardens won’t be growing rampantly yet.
Tomorrow we head home.
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