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Waters Edge B&B
View from the B&B out over the river. Fresh fruit salad, pancakes with maple syrup, fresh berries and whipped cream and orange juice; that was breakfast today served up by Stuart, our host. It was delicious and after our second pancake we were too full to even think about having the slices of toast or a hot drink! Stuart saw us to our car and watched us back out of his long driveway, probably to make sure we didn’t drive over the grass!
Waving goodbye, we drove off through Prince George and out the other side. Prince George is the largest city in Northern BC, but we couldn’t find a Gap shop there (they may have one hidden, but who knows), but there was a Walmart which we stopped at and checked out their DVD bargain bucket and bought about six.
After Prince George, the scenery became drab and monotonous. A two lane highway with sporadic overtaking places interspersed through trees or boggy swamps. We saw mostly trees and swampland along the 200 or so miles we drove that day. No bears, no moose, a couple of deer, plenty of trucks and few cars, and a few lumber mills along the way. We passed many places where
Waters Edge B&B
View from the B&B out over the river. the land had been clear cut for logging, which looked ugly and scarred, with big heaped piles of trees lying on the ground, then we passed the places where they had replanted and little trees were growing up slowly. Occasionally there would be signs saying this new forest was planted back in the 80’s or something like that and looking at the trees and the surrounding normal forest, they had several decades of more growing before becoming a mature forest again. I wonder how the critters deal with their forest disappearing?
The towns we passed through left a lot to be desired, and now I can understand why there was so little tourist information about this particular area. There were some very pretty lakes, but unless you were travelling in summer, there didn’t seem much to see or do, that is until came along to Huston. From there the scenery started to change and so did the little communities along the way. Everything seemed nicer and prettier. The mountains were starting to make a comeback much to our delight! Funny how only after two days we were missing the majestic snow covered mountains that surrounded us.
Smithers was
like a lovely oasis in the middle of a desert. It was a delightful town with a slight Bavarian flavour to it, surrounded by towering snow covered mountains. It also had another perk in its favour! On entering the town, Liisa spotted a billboard and squealed with delight - it had a Taco Bell! First things first though, we found our place to stay that night. We were booked in at the Smithers Guesthouse and Hostel, which was run by Hans and Tina from Austria. They opened it up about two years ago after finding a niche in the market for a hostel. We had found the place on the internet and were pleasantly surprised at how nice the hostel was. We had a ‘family’ room which meant that we had a bunk bed, ensuite bathroom, a little stovetop range if we chose to cook and wireless internet. After dropping our stuff off we headed straight for Taco Bell for a very late lunch or supper then took a drive around town before crashing out after our long day of driving.
Update on Liisa’s elbow. The bruising is starting to come out and it’s still extremely painful when touched.
Yellowhead HWY 16
More of the sameness. Debated on stopping at a hospital for X-rays, to see if it is fractured, but decided not to as if it is broken there isn’t much they can do with it. So suffice it to say, it is just a matter of trying not to bump the elbow instead.
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Tara
non-member comment
It all sound great apart from Town boring and the elbow!! I have been following your exploits - wow what a holiday!! Great photos, I too love the wildlife and scenery pictures. Have fun girls. Love Tara