The Epic Journey Begins - Vancouver to Logan Lake

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In true holiday style, despite having the best intentions to make an early start, we finally left the house at the respectable hour of 11 am. Our plan was to take the northern route to the interior and stop off for the night at Logan Lake, where my aunt and uncle live. This took us first along the Sea to Sky Highway, passing through Whistler and Pemberton, and weaving between stunning mountains while getting glimpses of deep blue ocean. We stopped for lunch at a place called Nairn Falls before continuing our drive through mountain passes and small villages on our way across the coastal range. By mid-afternoon, we reached Lillooet where, somehow, we managed to get ourselves hopelessly lost. Normally, this would not matter so much but our little 'detour' took so much time that we were clearly going to be late for dinner at my aunt's place, not to mention Lillooet is a distinctly disturbing little town. Just to set the scene, Lillooet is situated in a bizarre micro-landscape, completely unlike anything else nearby and resembling the arid land you see in a Road Runner cartoon. The town itself is, I kid you not, exactly like one of those Wild West settlements you see in the movies, complete with hairy, blonde, boot-wearing cowboys, saloon doors and old-style rocking chairs on creaking verandahs. It was like we'd stumbled onto a movie set but it was the real deal. Needless to say, we got a fair few stares while we were passing through.

We don't take kinnnnnnndly to yooooour type rooooound here.

Now, now, Skeeter.....

By the time we reached an uninspiring town called Cache Creek, we were already running terribly late, so I decided to call my relatives to warn them not to wait with dinner. This 'should' have been an easy enough task, right? Not in Cache Creek. This place must hold the record for the most broken payphones per square kilometre in the history of time, and they were all separated by at least two blocks of mad running. I don't hold fond memories of that place.

Back on the road, dusk was descending. This is not a good time to be driving. Despite a deserted road both in front of and behind our car, a deer decided that our passing would be the perfect time to fling itself onto the road right in front of us. It then decided, seeing our car bearing down towards it at 90 km/h, that this would be a good place to stop. Quin screeched on the brakes and somehow managed to avoid it, while leaving a good portion of rubber from our new tires on the road. What a way to see our first deer of the trip.

We finally reached Logan Lake at 9 pm, a pretty little town that lies via an ugly, giant, open-pit copper mine. Quite the contrast. We were no less than 3 hours late for dinner - but my aunt had kindly saved us some. After catching up with my relatives for a bit, we enjoyed the comforts of a nice bed for the night, a luxury we will not be having again for the next few weeks, I imagine.

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Photos

Passing Through the Coastal Range
On the northern route to the interior

On the Road with Little Rufous
Note my strained smile as I get eaten alive by ravenous midges

Enter Lillooet
Home of tumbleweeds and cowboys