Road Trip 2009-Part 2

After visiting Prince Rupert, we went up to Fort St. James, outside of Vanderhoof. We visited the fort and had a great time learning about skinning the hides (it sure smelt something awful though).

Next we went to look at one of the oldest existing churches in BC.

Dan went fishing at Stuart Lake in Fort ST. James. He didn't catch anything, except himself. But he is still learning the art of fly casting.

Later that night, after the winds picked up and Dan could no longer fish, we went looking for a waterfall that we had seen on a postcard at the Fort. The tourist lady had given us directions, so we went looking for it. We ended up 50km off the beaten path on a road less travelled. We didn't see a waterfall, but we ended up getting up close and personal with a beaver at some unnameable lake. It made the trip worthwhile to see the beaver in "its natural habitat."

Our next stop was Wells. We got to stay in a 1930's hotel. The hotel was beautiful. The pub it was on top of, not so much. The singer in the pub was horrible. The accordion accompaniment was terrible. And of course, the fact that this was all happening at midnight made it all worse. From Wells, we made a day trip to Barkerville. We took in a show about the fire, panned for gold and took a carriage ride. It was amazing to realize that our entire trip was along the gold rush route in the 1890's.

One morning, we took a moment to see the Bowron Lakes. I mean, we came that far, why not? We ended up renting a canoe for an hour and paddled around the lake. Dan got another opportunity to fish, but only caught some seaweed. But at least he can say, he fished on the Bowron Lakes.

After Barkerville and Bowron Lakes, we went down to Williams Lake, where we had planned a Jet Boat Adventure. And what an adventure it was. We were accompanied by the Cariboo-Chilcoton Tourist Center leaders, as well as Aboriginal Tourist Center leaders. It was meant to be a bit of a photographic journey for them, as they gained resources for upcoming magazines and 2010 footage (yep, look for us on TV!)

We all got an opportunity to deep net fish in the Fraser River, since our guide was an Aboriginal.

We got to taste authentic Aboriginal foods, like salmon and bannock. We also ate this amazing ice cream, that comes from berries that are only ripe for one week and when mashed end up fluffing up into a delicious ice cream.

We really enjoyed being out on the water and learning about the Aboriginal way of life and their culture from real Aboriginals.

We were on the water for 8 hours, even though our tour was supposed to be 6 (that was thanks to the photographers and their need for the perfect shot!) It was definitely the highlight of our trip.

We ended our trip with a brief visit to Penticton to visit Grandma. It was a nice way to relax. Grandma took us to Peachfest, so we could experience the nightlife. It was lame, by big city standards, but Grandma sure got a kick out of it. The night ended with free pizza which Grandma took full advantage of. We left the next morning to finish our journey through the Hope-Princeton and to our wonderful home. We collapsed in our own bed, exhausted but happy.