Almost to Alaska

When I left my blog last we had just had a day in Seattle...so I'll begin there.
6-15-2011
We waited around most of the day for FedEx to deliver the part for the RV. Finally received that around 2 PM. Jim got right to replacing the slide roller. It took a little muscle but Jim was able to get the urethane cover over the metal slide and finally installed. Works just fine. We decided to go ahead and get on the road. Of course, by the time we did it was rush hour. We decided to take 405 north out of the area to bypass downtown Seattle. That worked well except for all the traffic...no way to avoid that. We actually made it to our campground near Vancouver (actually in Surrey) at around 7 PM. This campground had cable so we hooked it up, turned on the TV just in time to see the news about the RIOTS in Vancouver. Seems the Canucks lost the Stanley Cup and people in the streets decided to set cars on fire and break out windows in all the businesses around where they were. Very exciting.
6-16-2011
Listened to the news in the morning to see how Vancouver was doing after the riots. Lots of volunteers showed up to clean up the city. By the time we got there all we could see were boarded up windows. Still lots of news crews around but all the burned cars and broken glass was gone. Pretty impressive. We did manage to find a small carpark down a tiny alley and parked the car for the whole day. Walked to find the Trolley to tour the town. Didn't find the Trolley but did find the Big Red Bus Hop On/Hop Off. Paid for the day and started riding. They had a little taped commentary going about all the things we were passing and a little history about Vancouver. We did bypass some of the streets where the rioting happened the day before. Later in the day we would return to the normal route.
Got off the bus at Canada Place...convention center right on the bay. Walked a little bit there and took some pics. Cannot believe how cold it is still and very windy out over the water. Saw a huge yacht moving around in the water. Also saw sea planes landing and taking off...probably airtours. The surrounding mountains were beautiful. It was a beautiful day...lots of sunshine.
We managed to ride around the town a couple of times getting on and off as we wished. We got off in Gastown for lunch then got back on to ride back to Stanley Park and visit the acquarium. When we got back on to go back to the car we wanted to ride all the way back to stop #7 where our car was parked. We began this ride at stop #16. Well, fitting our luck, our driver finished his day at stop #21 and we had to get off and walk to our car. We needed a little exercise anyway so we set off walking back thru Gastown almost to Canada Place and then back about 12 blocks through the city. We passed lots of boarded windows from the riots...people were standing all around and writing on the boards. I took some pics of that too.
We enjoyed Vancouver and were happy we got to see it. So much to see and do...we just don't have time to do it all.
6-17-2011
Got up and got back on the road. We hope to make it further than we planned so we can make the next three days easier on Jim...even drives. We started out driving east on Highway 5 to Hope, then connected with 1 north to Cache Creek. We were planning on stopping there but knew we could go further. We connected with 97 at Cache Creek and headed to Williams Lake. We actually passed there and settled in a little lakeside campground at McLeese Lake. The drive was beautiful. We drove beside Fraser River almost the entire way. Very big river and some places the road was right down by the water. The river was very fast...lost of water moving through the canyons. Wish I could take pics of everything but it's difficult to do that in a moving rv. Between Cache Creek and Williams Lake there were little towns named for the miles...70 mile House, 100 Mile House, 150 Mile House...very unusual. We did get to see a bear on the side of the road near the beginning of that day. Only one we've seen so far. Oh, I almost forgot...it's still cold but we've found mosquitos! Could do without that.
6-18-2011
It was nice to be in a campground with WiFi. We tried to catch up with email and I loaded some pics on facebook. It started raining last night and was still raining lightly this morning. We were able to get started with no problems.
We are headed to Prince George to connect with 16 west. Will try to make as many miles as we can to make the last day of driving to Hyder, AK, short as possible. The weather cleared up quickly as we went down the road. Caught back up with Fraser River...still moving fast. Lots of up and down hills and curves. Just enjoyed all the scenery. Went through several small towns. So cute. Most have lots of flowers all along the road. Don't see that in Louisiana.
Went through alot of Moose Warning areas but never saw any. Hope to see at least one on this trip. We managed to make it all the way to Smithers, BC. We are camping at Glacier View RV Park right on highway 16. We turned in and I went in to check in. Came out and our site is right at the entry. Guided Jim into the site...kept the car hooked up. Finally grabbed the camera asking "Where is that glacier?" Walked to the front window of the rv and looked out....Snow covered mountains and glacier right outside the window. Actually it is right across the highway. Wish I had a better camera with long lens. I've looked at it all with binoculars. Saw a beautiful waterfall...too bad I can't take a pic. Hope the clouds will clear in the morning so I can get a better pic.
In the morning we will head to Hyder, AK. There is a bear viewing place there so hope we see some. May be too early for them to be hunting salmon in the river. We'll see.