Jasper/Hinton, Alberta

We made it to Hinton KOA outside of Jasper.  Terrible flooding in Calgary, Canmore and Baniff.  Roads are closed --- no one is allowed in Calgary.  The pictures we are seeing on the news shows Calgary totally under water.  The Calgary Stampede area is completely underwater.  We are watching road closing a to see how we can leave from this area ----- we are staying until Monday in hopes that we can leave here through the ice fields -as the road is closed I to Lake Louise.  Never thought we would have any of these problems, but we are very flexible and believe it or not enjoying the adventure.  Chatterbox---be safe on the trail---can't wait to hear about your adventures.  Love ya'll....

Prince George BC

Well, we were ready to head up the Cassier Highway this morning, BUT we had over 3 inches of rain and parts of the Cassier washed out.  SOOOOO again we are not able to travel up this road again.  So we decided to go to Plan B.  We traveled to Prince George today and almost had to stay in the Walmart parking lot because the three RV parks were full.  Tomorrow we will travel to Jasper, Alberta for a few days.  Hey Chatterbox----  take care on your hiking journey for the next two weeks.  Hope the rain won't dampen your trip.  Love ya'll..........

North Pacific Cannery

The North Pacific Cannery is the oldest intact salmon cannery on the west coast.  It was built in 1889 and ran continuously for almost 100 years.  It employed hundreds of Chinese, Japanese, First Nation and Europeons as fishers, cannery workers and support staff during the salmon runs up the Skeena River.  These people each had a specific job to do and area within the cannery to live.  The buildings are all well preserved and in great shape.  We learned anbout the beginnings of the cannery when the salmon was all hand cleaned, cut and packed into tins.  The fishermen went to sea and brought their catch back to off load into tug boats that took the salmon up the Skeena to the cannery.  The salmon were then off loaded onto the docks and then directly onto the cannery floor.  The salmon were then prepared by removing the head, tail, fins and innerds, some say with just 8 knife cuts, cleaned, cut into pieces, placed in tins, sealed with lids, presure cooked, labeled and then ready to be shipped off to mostly WWII soldiers.  Then we saw the automated line that replaced hand packing in the 1920's.  The plant was in operation until 1969 when the salmon numbers declined and also fresh salmon was prefered to canned salmon.  I sure am glad that I was not eating canned salmon at that time!!  After the cannery we went to the artsy district of Prince Rupert called Cow Bay.  This bay got it's name from when cows arrived on ships and the ships could not dock, so they opened the gates and let the cows swim for shore in the bay.  There were very different boutiques along the bay. 

Thanks Meg for your answer on the cows lying in the dirt.  What a great answer.  Hope all are well and you chillins are enjoying your summer vacation.  Love ya'll,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Prince Rupert

Well, we made it to Prince Rupert.  the drive in was amazing as we followed the Skeena (river of mist)River with all the snow covered mountains around us.  What a drive.  Then we hit the construction.  They are chip and sealing the roads!!!!  Our vehicles look like there is 6 inches of dust and dirt accumulated  on them.  We went to the Museum of Biritish Columbia this afternoon.  It gave us the history of Prince Rupert and the beginning of the First Nation People to settle here.  The carvings were amazing.  Tomorrow we go to Prince Edward to tour a historic cannery.  Salmon canneries were big here in British Columbia, but only a few of them are operational.  Wednesday we will leave Prince Rupert and travel to the Cassier Highway where we will begin our treck north to Alaska.  Miss ya'll.........

Ksan First Nation Historical Site

We drove from Vanderhoof to Hazelton today.  We toured the Ksan First Nation Village and learned a lot about the First Nation People who settled here before the Europeons.  On our way here we stopped to take a picture of the largest fly rod in the world and lo and behold there was an electric car charging station.  When I get a more powerful Internet connection I will post it along with the amazing bobbin lace we saw yesterday at Ft. St. James.
Meg-----I have a job for you----  We have been passing fields of cows and in each field the cows are all lying on a hill of mud!?  What I want you to research is--- are all those cows lying in the mud to cool their milk system? OR is there another reason?

We are off to Prince Rupert tomorrow for a few days.  Hopefully they will have a decent Internet signal and I can send a few pictures.  Love ya'll........

Barkerville and Fort St. James

Yesterday we were in Barkerville, BC with no Internet service or cell service.  We stayed at Caribou Joy's rv park.  She is an Aussie here to strike it rich on her claims.  Barkerville was a booming gold town in the 1800's.  it is said that when the gold was good some of the miners panned over $2000 a day.  What an interesting old town.  There were docents giving the tour and informing us of the history of this town.  We ate a late lunch at the Wake Up Jake restaurant.  It was good to see school children learning the history of BC.

Today we drove to Vanderhoof, BC and are staying at Dave's RV Park.  We then drove to Fort St. James to tour this outpost of the Hudson Bay Trading Company located on Stewart Lake.  What an informative tour.  When the forest service took over this historic site, they accomplished restoring each building to it's original condition right down to the contents that would have been in each building.  The furs that were stored in the warehouse were amazingly in very good condition.  The trappers would bring their furs to the fort and trade them for supplies.  The furs would be packaged into 100 pound bundles.  They were then placed on. Boat and sailed down Stewart lake, pot aged over land to another boat on lake bow big, port aged over land and boarded onto another boat and taken to Prince Rupert on the Pacific Ocean.  The furs were then place on a steamer and sailed around South America to Europe.  This process took at least one year.  The reverse was taken from Europe and brought flour, sugar, pots and pans, etc. to the fort.
All in all we have had two wonderful history learning days.  Tomorrow we travel to Prince Rupert which is on the Pacific Coast.  Happy Father's Day to all you Father's out there.

Love ya'll.........

Lac La Hache, BC

We are at Big Country Camp ground for the night.  It is a small, very quaint and natural campground.  The drive up Canada 1 was very beautiful, through the mountains.  We are actually on the Carabou Waggon Road route that the gold miners took from Seattle to the gold fields in the Yukon.  We had our first rainy day today within and off rain showers.  Tomorrow we go to Barkerville, an old mining town.  Don't know what we will find in the way of an RV park, but we certainly are going to find out.
Hope everyone is doing well.  Love each and every one of ya'll.  till tomorrow............