Day 2: Prince George to Prince Rupert

Yet another morning of waking up at 5 AM.

I woke up and got out of town as fast as I could. Prince George just depressed the hell out of me.

The drive out of town was alright, nothing spectacular, but I did notice that there were now fewer cars around. It was a pretty quiet drive.

The best part of the drive, in my opinion, was between Smithers and Prince Rupert. Smithers is one of the most beautiful places in BC. It is unbelievably beautiful and it could kick Whistler’s ass with one mountain tied behind it’s back. There were parts of the drive where I nearly drove off the road it was so damn breathtaking.

Prince Rupert was the start of the smallest yet most depressing part of my entire trip. In Prince Rupert I no longer had use of my cell phone. This might not seem big, but it ended up being a massive blow by day 5.

I get into town, try to call my parents to let them know I am alive and it’s damn near impossible. They have call blocking features on their phones that makes it impossible to call collect. I had to spend a small fortune in loose change to talk to my (step)dad for 30 seconds to let him know I was alive.

I stayed a campground about 30 seconds away from the ferry terminal and was charged a disgusting amount of money to do so. I met a lovely couple on the same ferry as me, heading over to cycle the Charlottes after getting married on their first day there. They were the first of many, many, many people from Alberta I would see along the way.

In Prince George I realized that every single step I took further North was the furthest North I had ever been. It was cool. It was the beginning of everything being NEW to me. I had spent a tonne of summers in the Cariboo Interior, but I’d never been further North than Quesnel, well Barkerville I guess, but Quesnel was where we went mostly. The Cariboo Interior has the skies of my childhood. It was great to see them again.

Prince Rupert was the first place I really noticed that the sun goes down much later in the North than it did where I’d come from. Prince Rupert was also the last night I’d see the sun for a very long time. If I had known I might have stayed up until it had completely set, but as it was, I was exhausted, so exhausted that sleeping on a wooden platform was a non-issue.

Day 1: North Vancouver to Prince George

I woke up at 5 am and could not get back to sleep so I decided I might as well set out on the road. Because I left so early I still have no proof that Jasmin’s mum exists other than Jasmin insisting she does. I have been in the same house at the same time as this alleged “mum” but I have yet to actually meet her.

I digress.

Traffic was pretty good and the drive was pretty typical. The weather was good, and once I started into the Fraser Canyon there was very little traffic.

I stopped in 70 Mile House for lunch and boy did I pick the wrong place. I ordered a ham and cheese sandwich, which shouldn’t be hard to foul up, but they did, and in a great way.

The bread was the most tasteless white bread ever. The cheese was an off brand cheese slice, and the ham was processed ham slices. It was awful. The coffee was worse.

In Prince George I found the College of New Caledonia, checked in and was amazed at how the students there live. I could have photographed the room but without the smell-o-vision plug in, it wouldn’t have meant anything. I’m surprised there isn’t a massive legionnaire's disease outbreak there. The place made me glad that I had sandals to wear in the shower.

All of Prince George was in the middle of a massive soccer tournament and all the hotels were book, as were the dorms I was staying in. The city was overrun by under 18’s. It would have been amusing if I hadn’t been functioning on a mere 5 hours of restless sleep, had been driving all day and I didn’t have to wake up super early the next morning.

People kept knocking on my door not realizing they had the wrong room. There were people running around trying to find “the party”. The person I shared a bathroom with (the rooms are all outside access with a shared bathroom in the middle) had brought a girl back to his room and I had the joy of hearing them attempt to get it on. I say attempt because I distinctly heard an “oops” and “I’m sorry”. She giggled.

I think I finally managed to get to sleep around 11 PM.

Prince Rupert

IMG_0681
Originally uploaded by dawnzzle.

Photographic evidence to support my claims of camping.

Let me state that this post is the direct result of intoxicants, namely booze so any and all spelling errors are not totally my fault.

Well okay, they are since I am typing this, but since booze were involved I am hoping you will forgive me.

Anyway...

I swear, once I am in a place where I can really sit down and speak about my adventures, I will. I have a coule of picutres (I really mean a couple, my camera has not co-operated) I would like to share and a few stories worth telling but current events have over shadowed everything I have been going through the last few weeks.

Today was the memorial service for a friend of mine. It was a very shocking re-introduction into civilization for me, to find out that somebody I knew had died. He was too young. He was too talented. He loved life too much. It' just not fair.

The one thing that kept going through my mind today was "I am too young to be doingi this yet again".

I am glad that I was here to say goodbye. I hope I have done him proud and I am glad that I was able to see people that I never get a chance to see, even if it had to be for such a shit reason.

I know I have said this before, but I can't say it enough::

I am so damn lucky to have the friends I have and to know the people I do.

I love you all and I am glad to count you all amoung my friends, and I mean it, even YOU.

I have arrived safe and sound in Washington. I am currently staying in the most beautiful B&B in La Conner. The Heron Inn. It's a dream.

Having access to email is a blessing and a curse. First thing I did when I got checked in was check my email (free wireless here!) and I was greeted with the very sad news of the passing of a brilliantly talented, amazingly wonderful, and all around great guy. It's put an interesting spin on the thoughts I have gathered from my time away from the world and as such it will take some time to rearrange my thoughts, let things sink in. I'll fill everybody in on my travels once my brain settles.

I have a handful of pictures but it looks like my camera is being a bit of a diva so I don't have nearly as many pictures as I'd like. If I find a scanner I'll try and scan my postcards so at least I have something to share.

Anyway, the main point of this is that I am safe, back in contact with the world, and I promise to share some of my tales soon.

First access to electricity and the internets in a week.

I'm alive.

I will have more internets in another week, at least I'll have electricity.

Maybe I'll do some writting of travel tales.

Postcards have been mailed.

I drove 14 hours today.

I love my cat.

My mum rules.

so lets get in this car and drive

So long Vancouver, and thanks for all the sushi.

I can't sleep. Surprise, surprise.

I'm so excited about leaving Vancouver, I don't even have the slightest pang, but leaving my mum... oooff, it's killing me. It's the only thing that is making me cry. I just love her so much I can't imagine what it's going to be like not seeing her every other day. It breaks my heart. What makes it even harder is her support. She is the one person that could keep me in Vancouver and she is my biggest cheerleader in leaving. She is the most amazing woman and I am so lucky to have her as my mum. She has made me who I am and I am happy with the person I have grown to be.

I had the most perfect send off this evening. My favourite North Van resident and I went out for dinner, drinks and chocolate cake. It was perfect. We spent three hours taking about everything under then sun and then some, just as we always do. I couldn't have asked for a more perfect last evening.

I don't know when I will get another chance to check in before Washington so I just want to say, thanks for reading, thanks for giving a shit, and I will be sure to post pictures and tales as soon as I can. Postcards will start being sent out within the week, so watch those mail boxes.

At the end of the line

It's my last day of work here.

It's been over 5 years.

Shouldn't I be a little bit less happy?

Heh.

Here comes the comedown

I am so glad I made sure my tent was waterproof.

As of right now, 100% chance of rain for the first two days of my vacation, and it looks like there are only going to be two days where it doesn't rain.

I don't mind, I'm just looking forward to being on vacation.

It would be nice if there was a little bit more sun.