British Columbia

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Posted by whalerho | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 25-07-2009

Our first stop in BC was at the Hat Creek campground. It was a wonderful ranch style campground with simple amenities. It was very hot (much warmer than we expected in BC) and we sat outside enjoying the views of the mountains while we drank cool ice tea.   The area was really beautiful and included an old inn, a barn with horses for trail rides and a little gift shop with ice cream.  We met another full time RV Family with four kids under 7.   Wow!!   They were a great unit and we had fun chatting with them in the morning before heading out.  
 
Our first Provincial Park experience in Canada, Crooked River Provincial Park, was excellent. What a beautiful campground overlooking a clear lake. We drank our coffee outside in the cool dew and took a nice hike around the lake.
  
I remember watching the show Dawson Creek and the town in the show was much more colorful than the real thing. No complaints though as it had everything we needed – a gas station, a market and a great visitor’s center where we picked up a copy of the Mile Post for our trip north. Dawson Creek is Mile Zero of the Alaskan Highway and we were excited to hit the road, anticipating Mile 2 and beyond!

We decided to plan a two night stay in Fort Nelson so we wouldn’t be traveling on Nikki’s 12thbirthday. Turns out that Fort Nelson is one of the most basic towns on the planet and the campground was ever so basic as well. Nikki was happy not to be traveling on her birthday but had a craving to shop. Shopping was not something I could offer in this town although we did try to find something in the morning. All we found was  a Movie Gallery store where we rented the first season of Grey’s Anatomy for watching later in the day.  Since there was nothing to do outside of our simple campground, the day focused on food! Nikki awoke to homemade crepes (thank you Daddy!), taco salad for lunch (ala Mommy) then Daddy’s famous potato balls for dinner. Warm brownies with ice cream and whipped cream ended the day full of carbs! Nikki was oh so happy to receive the top gift on her birthday list – a red ipod (red was her request as some of the money goes towards children with AIDS in Africa) and she spent most of the day setting up all her songs. Nikki’s 12th birthday was a memorable day and I am sure we will look back and chuckle when we think of Fort Nelson on her 13th birthday.

We met some really great people at the campground who cycled in from Fairbanks. Ward and Jacky were great to chat with and we were so impressed to learn they have biked in 46 countries so far! They were biking with an Englishman, John, who they met along the way and added the SPOT GPS unit to the trek. Now everyone knows where this trio is located at any moment. Ward and Jacky visit schools and give the students a piece of paper and a pencil. They ask the children to write down their dreams as “with paper and a pencil, you can create anything!” We plan to keep track of them through their website, www.fromthebenchesoftheworld.com.

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We have heard from many people how a stop at Liards Hot Springs is a MUST! We are so glad we made the stop as it was really amazing. The Hot Springs (110 F) were about a ½ mile walk along a nice boardwalk through meadows and a forest. We all soaked in the hot water enjoying the relaxation of the beautiful natural setting and the cool rain which lasted for only a few minutes. We woke up early the next day to have a quick soak before heading off to the Yukon!

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Comments (1)

Kim Kester said on 17-08-2009

You guys are having so much fun! I can’t wait to catch up either here in Campbell River or back down in Mexico. Thanks for keeping the website so up-to-date as we enjoy following your progress. We miss you! Watch out for the grizzlies!! haha!!

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