Quesnell and Smithers

Quesnell is one of those Northern BC towns that has seen better days when the logging industry and the Gold rush powered it's economy. On our walk we went past the Fraser River which was very high and rushing down in flood. This Spring is turning out to be one of the wettest on record and the rivers are certainly showing it. The main street of Quesnell shows how bad the economy is with many shops closed up and many to let signs everywhere. We wandered around, bought pizza and took some pics then headed back to the hotel.

Smithers is a ski and central town in the Bulkley  Valley.  

We stayed at the Aspen Hotel

It always amazes me how people behave.

The glacier above town.

We took the dogs for a good run around the playing field near the hotel.

it was a lovely sunset

A big wooden state at the entrance to the old town.

Whistler to Quesnell

Today was Greg's birthday and after the pup woke us up he took the dogs out for a walk on the ski slopes that are green and lush with Spring. The dandelions were just scrumptious so there was a black bear waiting to wish him Happy Birthday.
We went up through Pemberton and up Duffy Lake Road. This is a very beautiful drive through huge mountains with spectacular lakes. on the banks of the mountain streams we saw pretty orange columbines and lovely swaths of purple Lupines. As we got to Lillooit the sun can out and we climbed out of the Fraser Valley with its flooding river and decided to take the less driven route from Pavillion over the mountain to Clinton. This was a very hairy route only to be taken by the brave of heart. But along the way we did see a bunch of cowboys and cowgirls moving their animals from pasture to pasture. We drove through some very very untouched wilderness and were surprised by the strong smell of Sagebrush.
At Clinton we saw the Motel that Monsanto built and we found everything was for sale.....sort of a sad thing but we did spend some time wandering through an old things store that was quite fascinating. I felt sort of sad when we left that most of those things used to be other peoples' pride and joy once.
From there it was a long drive through Williams Lake to Quesnell. All along the way we had views of the Fraser River in flood since what with the heavy rains and the Spring runoff the gushing is very strong this year. Now we are at a motel that is in the centre of Quesnell but at least has a ground floor room that we can dash out with the pup when he wants to go outside. also we have the rugged man ambience of road workers, tow truck men and builder boys all around us smoking and texting their many girlfriends ......this is very interior BC. Now we are off for a walk next to the river and then a bite to eat and tomorrow a very nice drive up to Smithers.....lovely scenery.

We are off to the wild up North.

Nice and easy start to our trip. The 10am ferry to Crofton and then the 12 ferry to Horseshoe Bay. First destruction of the day.... Pup chews through leather handles on the back door....puppy naughty puppy. Just because he's cute he thinks its ok. Off to Whistler tonight.

Here's a TED talk by Wade Davis about the Stikine

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGzDNfMumYU

Planning a trip up North

 On the 9th of June we go on a short two week holiday up to Northern BC. Greg missed out on the trip I did up there with Mum two years ago and I really wanted to show him the place and also to get further up to Telegraph Creek and try get to the Spatsizi Plateau and try see Mnt Edziza and the Eve cone of an extinct volcano.

I got this book for Greg at Christmas and it is all about this area.

So our plan is to leave Saturday morning and get up to Whistler, then through Duffy Lake road up to Williams Lake. Then too Smithers and then up over the Skeena River to Stewart BC. our hope is to get up to the Salmon Glacier again but apparently there has been sop much snow this year that the terrifying road up there isn't open yet. We hope it will be by the time we get there in three weeks time. From Stewart we are off up the Cassier Highway to Dease Lake and then down on yet another of Canada's most dangerous roads to Telegraph Creek on the Stikine River. Here we will try and get a flight to the Mnt Edziza . This area is one of the most inaccessible areas of our province and so I am sure we will come home feeling very spoiled. To top it all off the pups will be with us so Baloo will get the feel for what it's like to live in our family.

 This is what the Spatsizi looks like.

 The Stikine river near Telegraph Creek.

Mnt Edziza with the dormant Eve Cone in the foreground.

Baloo arrives at home.

So on the 5th of May Greg picked up Baloo from Eva's house on Don Orr Road while I went off to Victoria with Yogi to trade in my old white ML320 and pick up my new silver ML550.
Yogi was very surprised that someone new was in the house when he arrived but soon after the two of them made best friends .

Baloo started running around with Greg's slipper as soon as he got home.

Big surprise at the little interloper.

Later that afternoon Yogi kept a good watch over the new little guy.

A New Puppy

Here's the first time we saw Baloo. Eva brought him to the office with a whole bunch of other pups for us to choose.

 He was always bigger than all the others.

 and also very sleepy

On March 15th Baloo was born. His Mum is Millie and his Dad is Riley. Millie is a Boxer cross American Bulldog and Riley is a big Boxer from Ontario. We wanted another dog to keep Yogi company and also so that the new dog would learn how to behave from Yogi. Baloo was the largest pup in the litter of 13...4 boys and 9 girls. He has a tail that is in docked and dew claws so you could say that he is au'naturel.