Dawson Creek - The Start of the Alcan Highway

We left Prince George at 7:40AM. When we drove through Pine Pass, we got our first glimpse of the Canadian Rockies. Next we saw Azouzetta Lake. On our way through Pine Valley, we were stopped for a dynamite blast related to road construction. We even got a photo of the blast.
Next we went to Chetwynd, the chainsaw carving capital of the world. The artists compete every June. Some of the carvings were very beautiful and quite amazing. It was recommended that we take Hwy 29 to the Alcan Hwy, instead of Hwy 97. The route was very beautiful along lakes and rivers with some steep windy grades. We joined up with the Alcan Hwy at Fort St. John, where we dropped the trailer at a campground for the night, and drove about 50 miles South to Dawson Creek – the start of the Alcan Hwy. We got a photo of the 0.0 marker for the start of the highway and visited the Alaskan Highway Museum. On our way back to St. John, we took a portion of the Old Alaska Hwy across the original curved wooden Kiskatinaw Bridge, which is an engineering wonder.

We will be headed up the Alcan Hwy tomorrow.

Quesnel BC and the Fraiser River

We drove from Williams Lake to Prince George today. We spent most of the day in Quesnel wandering around. We went to the Quesnel Museum. I got a picture of Grant pretending to pump gas from an antique gas pump into a White Motor Car. Apparently, the company is most famous for the trucks that it produced later. The town is sort of a peninsula between the Frasier River and the Quesnel River. The town has a River Walk which we took. The Frasier River is a big river. On the River Walk were some pieces of antique equipment like a water wheel and pump and a steam donkey excavator. Grant took a pretty picture of the Frasier River through a Cottonwood Tree. There was also a Crafts Fair in town. We wandered through, but resisted the temptation to buy. The town’s fire hydrants are painted to resemble different tradesmen and women. Grant took a liking to photographing them. He got 6 out of the 23. One thing I have noticed in BC is there are flowers and huge flower baskets everywhere. I had to have a picture of some of them. On the way out of town, I had to get a picture of Grant with the huge gold pan. He needed it to go with the huge skies from 100 Mile House. He needed the big gold pan to hold the gigantic gold nugget he plans to find. However, he pointed out to me that at the mining museum, all he found was fools gold.

Off to Dawson Creek, near the border with Alberta, tomorrow…

Williams Lake

We left Whistler, BC at about 8 AM, continuing on the Sea to Sky Highway. Our first picture is of Green Lake, set in the mountains near Whistler. There were several places in the highway with 13 % grades. It wasn’t always relaxing, but it was certainly well worth the extra effort. We stopped at Joeffre Lakes to view the glaciers, and at Seaton Lake. We crossed Cayoosh Creek many times on several one lane wooden bridges, often crossing over or under the train tracks. We stopped in Lillooet to see the railroad and station and the Seaton Lake Reservoir Hydro Plant.

We left the Sea to Sky Highway and took Hwy 97 North out of Clinton.

We stopped at 108 Mile Ranch Heritage Site, where many of the log buildings from the gold rush era had been relocated. There are 13 historical buildings there. We toured several of them. We also witnessed the end of a wedding letting out from the church in the rain. 108 Mile Ranch is one of many stops on the Road to Gold Fields. The 0 mile marker was at Lillooet. The towns in this area are called 70 Mile, 100 Mile, 150 Mile etc. The towns established as rest stop houses based on their distance from Lillooet. It’s funny to see towns named after mile markers in a country that is metric all the way.

After leaving 108 Mile Ranch, we were stopped behind an accident in which a truck towing a travel trailer burned completely. The fire started with a short in the wiring in the truck. Thank the Lord that no one was hurt. We were there on the scene for approximately 2 ½ hours. There was fear that the trailer’s propane tanks would explode. Thank the Lord that they did not. A helicopter was sent out to drop water on the grass fire that was started. It reminded me that we are spoiled with the fast emergency services in the U.S. First police car didn’t arrive for 45 minutes. Ambulance didn’t arrive for at least 1 ½ hours, and they never sent out a fire truck.

We are spending the night at Williams Lake on Hwy 97.

Sea to Sky Highway

We drove around Birch Bay and Draydon Harbor one last time in Blaine. The tide was in. We love the water. Then we crossed the border into Canada. We traveled on Hwy 99 through Vancouver up the Sea to Sky Highway. From the Vancover, BC side we could see Vancouver Island across the Strait of Georgia. The Strait of Georgia has these huge islands that are literally mountains in the water. It was awesome.

Next we stopped at the Britannia Copper Mine and took a tour. It was an exceptional mining tour. We got to ride in a train on the rails through the mine. Next they showed us how early miners hammered the rock by hand to get the ore. They operated several of the air pressure driven drills that were invented later. Then they operated a mucking machine that throws the rocks over the top of the machine into a bin. The Britannia Cooper Mine was the largest copper mine in the world. It also produced gold and silver. It was the first mining tour that we have been on where they operated the equipment.

We continued on the Sea to Sky Highway after lunch. The mountain and water views are spectacular. We walked down to the Brandywine Falls. We stopped for the night in Whistler, BC. It was the site of the 2010 Winter Olympics. We are going to check out the site of the Olympics this evening.

Tomorrow we will finish the Sea to Sky Highway. From here we head towards Cache Creek on Canada Hwy 1. Mileposts, which we are using for this trip, warns of sharp switch backs and 14% grades. I will be a little nervous.

Blaine, Washington

We decided to spend a second night here in Blaine, Washington. We visited Mt. Baker this morning. It’s the second largest volcanic mountain in Washington – the first being Mt. St. Helens. It spews steam at times but hasn’t been a cause for concern since the 1990’s. It has two high peaks – Grant Peak and Sherman Peak. Of course Grant was thrilled that Grant Peak is the tallest. The mountain drive was beautiful. There was a magnificent 100 ft high waterfall on the Nooksack River that we walked down to.

This afternoon we visited Birch Bay and then Drayton Harbor. From Drayton Harbor you can see Mt. Baker about 100 miles away. You can also see British Columbia and Vancouver Island and the U.S. Customs station and the Peace Arch. The tide goes out about ½ mile everyday. Swimmers play in the water that remains. Boats are attached to buoys, but they are out of water on the beach when the tide is out.

On to Canada tomorrow…

Blaine, Washington

We arrived in Blaine, WA about 9PM last night. The traffic through Seattle was brutal. Blaine is right on the border with British Columbia. It has two bays with views of the ocean. We have decided to spend a second night here and see the area. We will cross the border into Canada tomorrow morning.

And yes, the cinnamon roll is good. We are still eating it for breakfast, lunch and dinner...

North to Alaska

We are off and away at last. Our destination is Soldotna, Alaska. We were planning to leave on July 10th, but apparently the truck had other ideas. It spent a week in the shop getting it's frozen spark plugs changed. Well better at home than on the road.

We left Kristin's house at 6:45AM. We were advised that we needed to stop at a restaurant called "Heaven on Earth" at Exit 86 on Interstate 5 in Azalea, Oregon for their famous cinnamon rolls. I have included a picture of Grant taking a bite.

We spent the night in Seven Rivers RV Camp in Canyonville, Oregon.  I thought you might like to see a picture of our rig.