Kula Boy's Great Alaskan Adventure: Hello British Columbia

Thursday, May 5, 2011 – Yawning…up early again, 6:00am so we can catch the ferry from Port Townsend to Whidbey Island at 9:30. We left our quaint little campground (Elwha) at 7:10 and just as we were pulling out onto the road, we had our 2^nd mishap in the motorhome. We had a bag of trash to throw out, but didn’t see any trashcans or dumpsters around our campsite, so Kenny just put it in the jeep. As we pulled out of the campground, he spotted a big dumpster across the highway, he put the motorhome in park, grabbed the trash bag and ran over to throw it out, but the dumpster was locked. So, he brought it back, put it back in the jeep and took off. It was lightly raining and I guess he just didn’t judge making his right turn wide enough, and hit a 20’ log lined along the corner. All I heard was a scraping noise and he immediately stopped. He tried backing up a bit, but we were stuck in the wet and muddy grass and couldn’t go forward or backup. I tried to guide him out of it. But, we needed to move the log. So we both pushed the log over and it was just enough so he could pull forward and make the turn. Not too bad, just a little dent on one of the outside compartments.

We got to the ferry in plenty of time. We didn’t have a reservation and at first we thought we weren’t going to be able to get on. But, they measured us and we were just under 60’ and charged us $72.95 and told us we were okay to get in line. It was only a 30 min. ferry ride to Whidbey Island. It had been a pretty stressful morning, but at least we were able to stay in the motorhome after turning the gas off and could relax for a bit and even enjoy our breakfast on the ferry.

Driving through Whidbey Island reminded me of a visit Justin and I had with my dear friend, Joy and her two sons back in 1993. We took the boys to Whidbey Island and stopped and picked wild raspberries along the road. The boys filled their t-shirts with the delicious berries. We had a great time.

Once we were on Whidbey Island, the rain stopped and it was overcast and about 57°. Driving through the island, we drove through farmland and saw some buffalo, alpacas, an eagle and a mama cow licking and grooming her little calf. The road was lined with cherry blossom trees in full bloom on both sides. Then the scenery turned to wooded, forestry. Just when you think it can’t get any prettier, it does. We crossed over a bridge and got on Hwy. 5 heading north to Canada. We crossed the border at 12:45. A very easy drive from the ferry to the border. We transitioned to Hwy. 1 and saw many small waterfalls flowing down the rocks along the highway. We stopped at a nice rest area for lunch and took Kula for a walk.

It started drizzling as we continued on Hwy. 1, winding through the dramatic scenery of the Fraser River. Beautiful drive through the Hell Gate Canyon. Small patches of snow were still on the ground. We arrived at the Canyon Alpine RV Park nestled in the forest in Boston Bar at 3:30. We set up, of course walked the dog and relaxed a little, and then the sun came out, Yay! We tidied up the motorhome and I made spaghetti for dinner. After dinner, we went for another walk around the RV park and through the area. We were planning on staying here for a couple of days, as they advertised they had Wi-Fi, but the signal was so weak, we weren’t able to use it or our cell phones, so I wasn’t able to blog. We decided we would just stay the one night and move on.

One the ferry to from Port Townsend to Whidbey Island

Big trucker in front of us

Getting off the ferry

Getting ready to go through the border

Hello British Columbia

Canyon Alpine Campground in Boston Bar

Friday, May 6, 2011 – We tried to sleep in this morning since we really didn’t need to be anywhere at any time, but I still got up about 6:30. However, Kenny and Kula slept in for awhile. We had a very nice leisurely morning and finally got ready to leave Canyon Alpine, Boston Bar around 10:00. It was a little overcast, but still a very nice day. As we continued along Hwy. 1, the landscape changed to that similar to the high desert with signs posted to watch out for Big Horn Sheep, although we didn’t see any. This area is rich in “Gold Rush” history and is a historic region, not what we expected. Hwy. 1 transitioned to Hwy. 97 and we stayed on it heading toward Quesnel, BC where we plan to stay for a couple of days. We passed by an alpine lake, Williams Lake and were back in the forest. We arrived at the Robert’s Roost RV park nestled on the Dragon Lake…what a little gem. This lake was voted one of the 10 best fly fishing lakes in B.C. We were able to pick out our spot #40 which was on the peninsula facing the lake only 50’ fee away. We settled in, sat up our chairs on the lakeshore and had our own little cocktail party. Kenny called Ron to congratulate him on getting a “big” job in the Marina del Rey. The sun was out and it felt so good. We had to get our hats on and sweatshirts off. Later took Kula for a nice long walk, came back, had dinner and called it a night.