Saturday morning, we left around 11:30 for Kananaskis Country, where a work party had been organized to help prepare Don and Becca’s new house in the park for them to occupy it. Don’s family all came to help - his parents, his brother Doug and Michelle, and their four children. I have no idea what all got done because most people were working inside the house. Michelle and I (Katherine) and the kids worked in the back yard, sanding and painting the shelves from all the closets, and the kitchen cupboard doors, with plenty of help from Jenna, Britta, Ben, and Kessa. It was a warm sunny day, but fortunately there was a steady breeze which helped keep us all from getting overheated. This work was rewarded! At 5:30, we knocked off and took off for ... read more

Although we had originally planned to stay one more night in Jasper, we woke up this morning with itchy feet. We got a refund on our campground fees, and took off down the Columbia Icefields Parkway, which runs between Jasper and Banff. This highway is designed to be a scenic drive, not a transportation corridor. Large commercial vehicles are forbidden, and you must have a park pass to drive on this highway. The scenery all along the way is just one spectacular view after another, and there are abundant stopping places, ranging from pull-outs, through viewpoints, picnic grounds, all the way to the Icefields Centre, across the road from the Athabasca Glacier, about halfway along the route. We took the drive slow and easy, stopping frequently. Although the total distance of this drive is only 230 ... read more

We left Prince Rupert around noon, and headed eastward towards Smithers. The scenery from Prince Rupert to Terrace was some of the most beautiful we have seen yet on this trip. There is nothing along the road between Prince Rupert and Terrace except scenery, and the highway was nearly empty. It made me wonder from time to time how long you might wait for help here if you had car trouble! Might be another of those nights passed by the side of the road. From Terrace, we kept going straight on, thinking we might stop around Smithers, but by the time we got there, we felt we were on a roll, and just kept going. We drove until about 7 pm, and ended up camping at a small provincial campground about 30 km west of Vanderhoof. ... read more

Our only full day in the Charlottes was Sunday, July 10. We got up relatively early, and took the short walk to the beach before breakfast. It’s a beautiful, long, sand beach, with some pebbles, and utterly deserted. We then breakfasted in the camper, before heading north towards Masset. Along this perhaps 50 km trip, we must have seen at least 100 deer browsing along the roadside. Shortly after setting out on the road, around 10 am, we encountered a pickup truck badly stuck in the right ditch, but heading in our direction. A couple of other vehicles were also stopped but we also pulled over to see if we could be of any assistance. The truck was in pretty bad shape, but there was a young couple on and in it, who were obviously the ... read more

We have enjoyed poking around Prince Rupert today. It’s a town of about 15,000, reminds both of us of small towns we have lived in. We were able to find a shoe repair place very quickly, and get my broken belly bag repaired. We were also able, finally, to replace that fresh crab dinner we had been looking forward to in Ucluelet - a nice seafood place in Cow Bay had half crab dinners for $13.95. Also had excellent chowder there! We’re catching up with our email at a nice little internet café called Java Dot Cup, and they charge only $3.50 an hour, the cheapest we’ve found so far. After posting this, we’ll head out for more exploration, and hopefully make it an early night tonight in preparation for another voyage tomorrow. It takes about ... read more