June 19th, 2024
Back to the province we call “home”.
GAS: Prices varied around the province – we paid as little as $1.65 but it was $1.89 in Victoria and surprisingly, a little less in Vancouver.
After crossing into BC on the Cassiar we stopped at the Welcome to BC sign:
We had our breakfast of cereal here. It was about two hours to the tiny village of Jade City where we booked a motel room for the night. In a search we’d done a few days ago, no lodgings came up on any of our apps along the north end of the Cassiar so, after a Google search; Fran found this place and two others and reached out online for prices and availability’ only this one responded. Jade City Store & Motel has a “motel” with four rooms with a shared bathroom and kitchen area for $125 a night.
Shortly after crossing the border into BC, our trust Civic turned over 400,000 kms!
It’s weird cause if you convert that miles it converts to 248,548 but if you convert 250,000 mito km it converts to 402,336 km so the engine is not at 250,000 miles as yet.
Then we saw a black bear strolling down the highway:
Here we have a queen bed, good Wi-Fi and free parking. The “city” has a population of 30 and there’s not much else here but the Jade Store and they have lots of chunks of jade rock lying around and a carving studio and of course, lots of things for sale in the shop. 
The setting is lovely with snowcapped mountains and evergreen trees and today despite reaching the mid 20’s C/ high 70’s F there’s a lovely breeze so it should be comfy for sleeping.
We were able to check in early when we got here at 1:30 and got settled.Wild life so far in BC has been pretty good in the 118 km / 74 mi we’ve driven so far.
We saw a black bear sauntering down the road (photo above), then a fox with a kill (maybe a bird) in its mouth
As well the usual marmots and rabbits.
Sidebar: Doug has been looking online at rigs for sale in Australia with not a great deal of luck mostly because so many are not what we want and when he finds something suitable or something we could make suitable, sellers don’t respond. If they do, they may answer once and then not again so it’s frustrating.
We had a quiet night in the motel; it was cool enough that AC was not needed (thankfully as the room didn’t have any!). They left breakfast for us then night before in the small kitchen and we packed it up for the road and left by 5:30 as we had a long driving day (4 hard-boiled eggs, two bagels, two granola bars, and 2 fruit cups of mandarin oranges).
The day started out with clear skies, got a bit cloudy for a couple of hours and cleared again. The scenery along the Cassiar Highway is lots of trees, mountains and bodies of water. It’s quite spectacular.
We really made not stops except bathroom breaks and breakfast at a rest area as well as taking photos of bears – black and grizzly!
We arrived in Terrace around 1 and that was check in time at the Lodge at Skeena Landing. Here we had a large king suite with balcony, fireplace, fridge, sink, sitting area, huge bathroom, great Wi-Fi and free parking. Fran spent the afternoon catching up on photos, Doug went to get gas, get the car washed properly (with underside but it sucked), got some groceries and brought back drinks and a snack. We then went for a walk down to the river where we met two fisheries’ employees, Frieda and Nathan, with whom we chatted for a bit.
After a dinner of sandwiches, we chilled for the evening.
Today we four black bears and a grizzly as well as rabbits, a squirrel and a marmot:
Friday we both awoke early (5ish), Doug went for a run while Fran did yoga and then we took our time to leave since we were up so early. We had booked our next lodgings at a hotel in Quesnel, so another long day with at least two stops.
We left Terrace early and just down the highway we saw a black bear come out onto the highway, stop, look at us as Fran was trying to grab the camera and he ran back into the bush. It was yet another beautiful day and the scenery continues to please.
We arrived in Quesnel around 2:30. We had a hotel room tonight for $133 CAD that gave us a queen bed, private bathroom, fridge, table & chairs, fast Wi-Fi and a pub downstairs. It’s Game 6 of the Finals and we decided to watch in the pub and have a pitcher of beer and a pizza. We were done eating and drinking by the end of the second period so we went upstairs to watch the third one.
What an amazing game! Oilers won again so the series is tied at 3 apiece and it’s back to Florida for the seventh and final game.
Saturday we awoke to cloudy skies that cleared up on and off and had a final 7 hour driving day to get us to Surrey. The car hit the 250,000 mile mark about fifteen miles out of Quesnel:
The drive south along the Caribou Highway (Hwy 97) was a different landscape with more open fields, cows and rolling hills and when we reached the TransCanada (Hwy. 1), we drove along the Thompson River and it was spectacular.
Passing through the Hope, BC area:
We stopped to do a bit of shopping at the Walmart and liquor store in Abbotsford.
Fran had booked us a room in an AirBNB type place and for $132 CAD where we have a private room with our own bathroom and a fridge, table and chairs in a quite modern house. We can use the kitchen and living rooms downstairs and there’s parking and Wi-Fi. It’s a huge McMansion type house in north Surrey.
No wildlife today except a bald eagle above but we did pass through seven tunnels.
After morning routines, we left the lodgings by 9:30 (quite a change from the past week!) and drove by the house that Josh owned about ten years ago. We thought it might have been torn down and a new house built there, but it’s still there with new siding and a new front door.
Then we went into New Westminster. Doug’s mom stays at a senior’s care home here and has been for a few years. We stopped to get her a McDonald’s diet coke and some flowers and then went to visit for about a half hour. She has declined even more since our visit last year and it’s very sad to see. The staff there is very cheerful and friendly, but she does not seem to want to do much but lay down.
Next it Fran went to meet her friend, Gaye, for lunch. Gaye and Fran have known each other for 44 years! They worked in the same law office back before we got married and we’ve kept in touch. She’s quite the world traveler and we enjoy following each other; she’s also only one day younger than Fran!
We had booked an afternoon ferry for today (it’s Sunday and sometimes they can get quite busy; we also booked one back to the mainland for next Saturday to get back to the mainland) for 3pm but we arrived around 1:39 pm (you have to arrive 30-60 minutes ahead when you reservation) and we managed to get on the 2pm so that was nice. The ride is 95 minutes long and you get to Vancouver Island at the southern end (but not the tip).
Doug had already arranged with his youngest brother that we could stay with him for the week (as we often do) and we drove straight there. We enjoyed a beer and a chat, ordered pizza for dinner and crashed by 9:30 – We are both glad the long days of driving are over for a while. The weather here is a bit cooler than the past few days coming south and will stay that way for a bit. It’s more spring like hitting maybe 18C / 65F but is still mostly sunny and quite pleasant.
We have made a few plans for visits with friends and family over the week but Monday we have none on the schedule till dinner, so Doug went for one of his marathon walks out to Sooke. In the morning Fran picked fresh rhubarb from D’Arcy’s garden and made a batch of tarts. (She did this twice more before we left.)
Fran met a high school friend, Tracy, for lunch at Mom’s Café in Sooke (we used to go there as teenagers!). She parked by the Sooke Legion and took a moment at her dad’s plaque there.
She then picked up Doug and we went to Whiffen Spit to its end point where her dad’s memorial bench. Last June when we were here it was gone – it had been taken away by the sea in a storm and was not replace until the fall so we didn’t get to see it.
We returned to D’Arcy’s and Doug had a shower and we had about an hour before we headed to Doug’s sister’s place in Langford. D’Arcy met us there and we had dinner and watched Game 7 of the Stanley Cup.
We were most disappointed that the final score was 2-1 for Florida.
We returned to D’Arcy’s for the night.
There were no animals or tunnels today! ha ha ha
As some of you may know, Fran turns 65 this year and will be eligible for Medicare. Since she’s not getting social security yet (by choice), her online application got stalled because of that so today she had a telephone appointment and got that set up – it takes 30 days to get processed but she’s covered effective the first of this month being her birth month. She has made doctor’s appointments for the end of July in South Dakota.
That afternoon, Fran met up with a high school friend, Kerstin, for a cold root beer at the A&W at the nearby ball. Kerstin became a pharmacist after high school and she was the one who introduced us to Therese & Pat back in South Africa, whom we’ve been good friends with ever since!
They chatted for about 90 minutes and caught up. Fran forgot to take a photo (again) but it was great to see Kerstin again – maybe we can get together again with our husbands next time we come back to the island. Thanks for taking the time, Kerstin!
That night D’Arcy barbecued us up a feast and his daughter, Emma and her boyfriend, Kyle, joined us. Emma is taking classes at Camosun College while she figures out what she wants to study. She and Kyle live in the basement of her dad’s house.
After dinner we and D’Arcy watched a movie on his big TV on his back deck.
Wednesday was a day full of visiting. We started with lunch at the nearby Four Mile Pub with our friends, Trish & Ted – Fran has known Trish since she got her first job as a legal secretary back in 1978 and she married Ted in 1982. We had a pleasant catch up time.
Then we had an afternoon visit with Doug’s Uncle Dave, Auntie Marlaine and his cousin, Marnie in the Highlands, complete with dessert.
By 4:15 we were at our friends’ Byron and Sharon’s for dinner with our mutual friend Randy joining us. Byron and Sharon cooked up a storm including smoking ribs, and Fran brought dessert (rhubarb tarts and store bought Nanaimo bars) to add to what Sharon had already prepared. Boy, we were stuffed!
We got back to D’Arcy’s by 9ish and crashed after a short visit with him. It was cooler today with high’s barely reaching 17C / 64F and it’s supposed to stay cool for several days.
Thursday morning Doug went to meet a UBC buddy of his, Neale, at his home near Beaver Lake where they took a walk, had lunch and enjoyed getting caught up on their lives.
Fran caught up on website photos and blogging and did some walking along the Gorge River near D’Arcy’s house.
For dinner we went to a high school friend’s house, Kerry and her husband, Phil. She had also invited Steve from high school and his partner, Laura. Phil made us a wonderful Mexican dinner complete with margaritas made by Kerry.
Friday it was still on the cool side and like Thursday the sun would come out but not for long. We mostly hung around the house and did our walks, Fran made D’Arcy a third batch of rhubarb tarts, did laundry, we packed up most of our things. That evening we took D’Arcy and our nieces, Emma and Sophie out for dinner at McRae’s.
We were up early on Saturday and out of the house by 6:30 after saying our thank you’s and goodbye’s to D’Arcy – he’s always so generous with his hospitality (he always gives us his bedroom!). We did the 90 minute drive up island to Nanaimo to meet our long time high school friend, Bill, in Nanaimo for breakfast – he was driving down from Holberg waaaaay up island and he brought us six fresh crab! We had a nice catch up session and the ferry left on time.
We drove over to the ferry terminal and got some steps in while waiting in the light drizzle. We were on the 11:25 ferry from Nanaimo to the north shore of Vancouver. Fran’s sister Sandra and her partner, Anna, keep a one bedroom apartment in North Vancouver for when they come to the “big city”. They live on the Sunshine Coast in Gibsons now (used to be Sechelt) and Sandra works one day a week in North Van. They share this apartment with a friend who these days, rarely uses it. We get to use it when we come to town for a small nightly fee. Sandra left the keys with our friends, Pat & Therese, who live a couple of blocks away, so we picked them up and emptied the car into the apartment. We will be here for four nights, then one night with Therese as Sandra needs the place, then back here for another three. We are quite happy to stay put for a few days in more or less our “own space”. It’s still quite overcast here but dry and maybe a tad warmer than the island – might have hit 19C / 68F today.
After settling in and doing some grocery shopping nearby, we set about cooking and cracking the six large crabs. As there is no really big pot here, we had to do one half of a crab at a time! Fran would boil it, set it aside to cool for a bit then Doug would crack it and get the meat out. It took over an hour to cook them all one at a time and over two hours to crack them up. Once they were all cooked, Fran joined in the cracking. We nibbled a bit as we went and the crab is delicious!
Next day Fran made some crab cakes for our picnic tomorrow and a few for later in the week:
We had a quiet night in eating salad and sandwiches with cold beer and some chips.
Sunday it continued cloudy in the morning but the sun came out in the afternoon and warmed up into the low 20’s C / 70’s F. We had our monthly KEGS call in the morning, did our exercise, we went for walks and Fran went over to Therese’s to “borrow” some spices to make crab cakes.
Happy Canada Day on Monday the 1st. It again began cloudy but the sun came out in the afternoon and warmed up nicely. Fran spent some time in the morning making crab cakes and chatting with her sister in Ontario. That afternoon we went over to Pat & Therese’s for a visit and then they took us to John Lawson Park for a picnic and some Canada Day music at the beach. The weather was perfect and the band (at least their first 90 minute set) was really good – quite a variety of covers. At the break we moved closer and danced some but the music was not as good then so we left around 8 pm. It was a fun time.
Tuesday morning Dog went for his usual Tuesday run and Fran joined Therese for a hike at Cypress Bowl. They have season tickets and cross country ski in the winter, hike in the summer. It was a very nice hike but at the view point it had not cleared so this is what we saw:
They were several chipmunks looking to be fed (and some people who DID feed them) and several blue jays also looking for food:
We had a quiet afternoon and evening around the apartment the rest of that day.
Sidebar: we THINK we have found a good rig for AU so now we’re asking a few more questions and hope to have a phone call to discuss price, logistics and a few concerns we have by week’s end; it’s a bit complicated with the huge time difference!
Wednesday morning, Doug set out on one of his marathon walks into Vancouver to meet his UBC friend, Sylvia for a visit and lunch. Sylvia graduated UBC as a teacher and went up to Tuk and Inuvik to teach in the 1980’s. They had a good catch up session before he returned to North Vancouver.
The weather is getting better and better and maybe too good as the temps are also heating up. Not good when the place you are staying in has no AC! But there is a fan at Sandra’s and Therese’s.
Fran took the bus into downtown Vancouver where she met her former boss, Kelly, for breakfast and then returned to North Vancouver by sea bus. The bus took her across the Lion’s Gate Bridge into the city, she got off after Stanley Park and walked the rest of the way enjoying the water views.
This is the 2010 Olympic cauldron which was lit for the games after the longest cross country torch relay in Olympic history. It sites in Coal Harbour near Canada Place.
She met Kelly at the Marriott and they had a really nice breakfast – he has finally more or less retired and he and his wife, Linda, live half the year at their place in Palm Springs now. The company that he created back when she worked for him, has done really well and is thriving under the leadership of a different employee that Fran was also good friends with and will be meeting up with on Monday.
She returned to North Van, tidied up the apartment as her sister, Sandra, was coming into town for her weekly gig and needed it tonight. We spent the night at Therese & Pat’s although Fran went out with Sandra for a happy hour and dinner to celebrate her upcoming birthday and returned around 8:30 for dessert and bedtime.
Thursday morning, Doug did his run; Fran and Therese took a walk
Doug took the car to get treats for the staff at his mother’s nursing home and visited with his mom bringing her her favourite chocolates, flowers and the usual diet coke from McDonald’s. It was a better visit than last week as she was more “with it”.
After lunch we returned to Sandra’s place where we’ll stay until Sunday; we will return to Therese’s for one final night in North Vancouver then. Today was another glorious sunny day; even the mountain tops were clear this morning but more heat is forecast as the weekend approaches.
Doug left around 4:30 and went downtown to meet his UBC buddy, Pete, for dinner and an evening out. At 5pm Fran was picked up by her friend, Dina, and we joined three other ladies: Linda, Sandy and Debbie from our working days at a large law firm in downtown Vancouver in the ‘80’s for dinner. Two ladies couldn’t make it but they had a great time catching up and laughing about old times – Linda had brought a bunch of photos from “back in the day”!
It’s definitely getting warmer and Friday’s high is said to be 29C / 85 F with 72% humidity and by Monday it will be up to 34C / 93F – that’s hot for Vancouver!
Friday it was slightly warmer again and full sun. We did our chores, shopping, etc. and at 3:30 had a phone call with a seller in Australia who had a rig we were interested in. We gave them some things to think about and they will call us back tomorrow (escrow, bed situation and storage of vehicle till we arrive) to discuss and hopefully finalize the purchase.
That evening we walked about two blocks to see our longtime friends, Chris & Irene, for dinner. Chris was at UBC with Doug and when we met them they had a toddler son, Jason whom Doug kindly taught all about “boogers”. Irene brings it up many times and Chris was quite disappointed when he met a young Joshua as Doug had already taught him about them too!
We had a lovely salmon bbq and watched much of the Canada vs Venezuela COPA match. By the end of regulation time, it was 1-1; then after 5 shots each, it was 3-3. It had to go to a sudden death shoot out round and Canada won! They move on to the semifinals next against Argentina.
After a couple of games of cards, we said goodnight. They will be joining us on Sunday for dinner to celebrate Fran’s birthday.
Saturday was an even warmer day with full sun again. We had a second call with the Australian fellow, John and his wife, Pam and made a deal! They are even going to make the change we need to the dinette table for us before we get there. They also offered to pick us up from the airport and we can stay at their place for a couple of nights till we get settled in the new rig. Now we have to come up with a name for this Aussie camper.
At 4 we left for Burnaby; Fran’s cousin Bryan lives there with his wife, Heidi, and their two teenaged kids, Sean and Molly. Her godfather, Uncle Dick, joined us for dinner. Fran’s godmother passed earlier this year and he now lives in a seniors’ assisted living building near Bryan.
As we usually do when we visit, Doug brought his balloon bag and even though the kids are teenagers, they enjoy getting balloon animals. Sean (now 16) actually managed to blow one up without Doug’s pump!
We had a nice bbq and we took Dick back to his place to check out his digs before saying goodnight. He took us on a tour. He has a great little one bedroom corner suite apartment on the 11th floor with lovely views. He showed us the common areas before we left too.
Sunday morning, we got up to more sunny and hot days. Doug went for his long run, Fran did a long yoga practice and then we had to do laundry and clean up the apartment as this is our last morning here at Sandra’s North Van place. It was going to get up to 30C / 86F today so the “heat warning” they predicted is happening.
Doug gave Fran her birthday present early – a lovely white gold palm tree necklace to match the earrings she already has (but unfortunately, they are in storage so she’s going to get them out when we get to Nevada) and she loves it. The kids both sent messages and called later and tonight will be her birthday dinner.
Josh and Serena both did a video chat with Fran that day as did her younger sister, Cynthia. She received lots of love via phone, FB and emails.
After lunch, we “moved our living” over to Therese and Pat’s, one final time and had a leisurely afternoon sitting outside in the shade trying to stay cool.
Sandra came over at 5:30 and we all went in Pat’s car to the restaurant for dinner: Mange e Bevi – a high end Italian place with a nice outdoor patio. Anna, Chris and Irene joined us at the restaurant so were eight for dinner.
It was a lovely meal with delicious food and great company. None of us ordered appies but we all ordered dessert. The restaurant served their version of the British Sticky Toffee pudding and six of us ordered that; the five women ordered it with salted caramel ice cream instead of vanilla and Doug ordered it with – you guessed it if you know Doug – chocolate! It was excellent! They waiter served Fran’s with a candle:
It was still a pretty warm evening but we were mostly in the shade at the beginning and then completely in it. Everyone had a very nice time and Fran appreciated them all joining us and Doug setting this all up.
When we left we dropped off Sandra at her bus stop as she was catching the ferry back to Gibsons where she lives and we returned to Pat & Therese’s for a very warm night of trying to sleep. We did use two fans but it was plenty hot up in the bedroom upstairs.
Monday morning, Fran took the sea bus downtown again and this time met with another former coworker, Dave, for breakfast at a small little place near the sea bus terminal. It was great to catch up and see how well he was doing. He’d gotten married since they worked together and now has two pre-teen children. Time flies.
She caught the sea bus and a local bus back to Therese’s and after lunch (Fran ate little as she’d had brekkie) we packed it all up and said our goodbyes. Seeing and staying with them is always a most enjoyable experience. Thanks again Therese & Pat!
We drove down to New Westminster for a final visit with Doug’s mom bringing her a diet coke and her favourite chocolates this time. She was pretty with it today and the visit went easier for all.
Next it was our final visit in BC; we drove to Cloverdale in Surrey, where we had dinner and overnight with our long time friends, Dave and Wendy whom we’d not seem in about eleven years! Dave barbecued up some burgers and we had them with fresh peaches and cream corn followed by the rhubarb and strawberry pie we’d brought along. They too, do not have air conditioning (it’s not a big thing here in the lower mainland as it never used to get this hot) so we opted to sleep on the main floor on an air mattress rather than upstairs in a bedroom. We had two fans going and we did manage to sleep.
We said our goodbyes on Tuesday morning and headed across the border with no hassles in the Nexus line.
In BC we drove a total of 2,789 km / 1,733 mi.
