Today we left on our vacation. We had been anticipating it ever since I heard that I had won a ferry ride from BC Ferries to Bella Coola B.C. I had always wanted to go there, but could never figure out why or how I was going to. Winning the ferry ride sealed the deal and made the decision. I won a one way trip from Vancouver to Bella Coola.
After looking at the schedule we decided to drive to Bella Coola (about twelve hours from Vancouver) and then take the ferry ride back. The ferry rides were scheduled at 31 hours and we decided that we really wanted to be able to see all the sites (fjords, mountains, coastline etc). There is one ferry a week which leaves Bella Coola on Monday mornings at 8am and arrives in Port Hardy at 9pm. We decided this was what we were going to do.
We left Vancouver at 1pm. It was hot, but we have air conditioning. We had it turned on (cranked) most of the way. We drove highway 1 through the Fraser Valley and it was beautiful. I love how we travel from forest, to desert and back to forest again. I love the desert as I find it so much more interesting to look at than red (dead pine beetle infested) trees and forest that got thicker and thicker the further north we travelled. We could see the smoke from the forest fires in the Kamloops and Kelowna areas. It was a clear day and one could see the smoke rise from the ground in great mushroomy plumes. It was humbling to think of the chaos that was going on not that far from us.
At 6pm (approximately) we were in Cache Creek. We got out of the air conditioned car and almost melted. It was sooooo hot. The car thermometer read 38C. It felt hotter than that.
It was the most beautiful and modern Husky station I have ever seen. As we drove to and into Cache Creek we were inundated with signs bemoaning the fact that Vancouver is closing the dump there – and no doubt taking lots of jobs with it. While sitting at the Husky station we saw a HUGE double length truck piled high with compacted garbage. No doubt this will be a blow to the community to lose the dump.
A couple hours drive later we arrived in Williams Lake. It was nothing like I had expected it to be. I don’t know what I expected, but I guess smaller. It seems to have all the amenities here. Several large grocery stores, several hotels, and no end of food choices. Although it was only 32C here, it felt a lot hotter. There is no wind and we are landlocked.
We booked into the Sandman Hotel and it’s an amazing little place. The rooms are nice, clean, modern – and they come with complete kitchens. I was blown away by that fact. The lady at the desk was more than friendly and helpful. When my wireless internet failed to work she gave me the network device I needed to wire it. I just feel overwhelmed by the heat.
Tomorrow we head to Bella Coola. It’s about a five hour drive west of here. Hopefully it will be cooler.