McClure and Vancouver, B.C.

8/12/17

We left the Prince George campground at 8:15, stopped at the closest gas station to fill up, and headed out.  Tom fought an upset stomach all day.  I think the cabbage last night didn’t agree with him.  He did not stop for lunch or dogs (he is such a grump when he doesn’t feel good).

The drive was not pretty.  With 20 or 21 wildfires burning in British Columbia in this general area, the smoke was thick.  It was so bad that the main route south, Highway 97, was closed at Highway 24 (which is a secondary road).  The smoke was drifting in a northeasterly direction.  We went through the worst of it near Quesnel and Williams Lake.   Here are some pictures of the area. 

Smoke in Quesnel

Smoke in Williams Lake

Extreme Fire Danger

Complete ban on Campfires

Hwy 97 South is Blocked

It was 295 miles to Pine Grove Campground in McLure (about half of the distance between Prince George and Vancouver) where we had reservations at a Good Sam campground.  The campground looked a lot like a Thousand Trails campground – lots of pine trees and large parking spots.  All seemed well until we plugged in.  The electrical connection did not have a ground and our surge protector would not allow the current to go through.  We asked  to  be moved to a different space, but the campground had no other empty spaces.  They were completely booked up due to the detour for all the smoke.  Most all of the campgrounds in this area were in the same predicament, so we decided to stay.  But, we couldn’t take any chances with the power, so we unplugged and turned on the generator to run the air conditioning.  It was 97 degrees outside, and the coach was heating up fast – it was already up to 88 degrees inside, and without power for air conditioning, we could not stay without at least generator power.  It finally started to bring the inside temperature down, but we left the generator running until 10:00, when it finally cooled off outside.  It was a long, hot, night, and neither of us got much sleep.

8/13/17

We left the campground around 9:00 and headed for Vancouver.  We filled the gas tank in Kamloops.  The smoke cleared and the clouds threatened rain near Vancouver.  We stopped at noon for lunch and had a very nice rest stop lunch (Tom was feeling better today). 

Vancouver is a very big city, with lots of bridges and steep hills all around the area.  The first bridge we crossed is the Port Mann Bridge, newly built, and very beautiful.  It looked like it was a toll bridge, but no toll signs, and no toll booths, so we just drove through.  Here is a picture or two. 

Coming into Vancouver

Beautiful Bridge

The second bridge we crossed had no toll and it took us to North Vancouver.  We arrived at Capilano RV Park at 2:00 and had to unhook the Jeep before we entered, as the streets got us stuck in a dead end.  The ladies at the front desk told me that the Port Mann Bridge did, in fact, have a toll, and gave us a website that I could look up information about the toll.  I found out later that it was $9.35 for the motorhome to cross the bridge. 
 

We got to our space and had another problem.  The spaces were very narrow and a 5^th wheel trailer was next to us, with the truck parked across the front.  The truck back end stuck over our space by about 4 or 5 feet and we couldn’t get in, and nobody was home to move it.   I went back to the front office and one of the staff came back to the space with me and together, we were able to get Tom to park the motorhome with two sets of eyes watching both sides at the same time.  I still don’t know how he got us into this space.  Here is a picture of our parking space.

Parking job extrodinaire

Tom was really tired from the drive and the parking job, so he said he was going to ‘stretch out’ for a while.  At 7:30 we went out hunting for an easy dinner and a nail shop for me.  The nail shops were all closed, but we did find one close by.  Dinner wasn’t as easy.  Everything up here  is Asian food and pizza, and neither sounded good.  The traffic was very heavy and we had a hard time maneuvering through all of it.  We settled for Dennys, and it was OK, but not very good.

8/14/17

Since we have 3 full days here in Vancouver, we decided to get our chores done today and take the other 2 days for touring.  So….today was ‘clean up’ day.  We did the laundry first, then Tom washed the Jeep while I cleaned the inside of the motorhome----boy did it need it!  We had lunch, then went out for groceries and Tom dropped me off at the nail shop.  I got a manicure and a pedicure (haven’t had any nail stops for 8 weeks), and I feel like a new woman.  Tom came back and picked me up, and I fixed a nice dinner of pork chops and sauerkraut, along with fresh butternut squash – it was very good.  We watched a little TV and went to bed, both too tired to stay up. 

8/15/17

We had a lazy morning, then headed out to Chinatown in downtown Vancouver.  I guess I was expecting something like Chinatown in San Francisco, and I was very disappointed.  First of all, the traffic was horrendous, parking did not exist, and Chinatown was so dirty.  There were people sleeping on the streets, and the store fronts were in need of cleaning and new paint.  Many of the shops were boarded up, and the open produce markets really smelled bad!  We were going to have Chinese lunch, but changed our minds and stopped at a London Pub instead.  Our sandwiches were great and so was the beer. 
 

After lunch, we drove around the downtown area for a while, and found a really ‘hip’ area called Gastown.  It was near the docks where the cruise ships come in, and it was very ‘touristy’.  The shops were upscale, with lots of sidewalk cafés.  I didn’t see any parking however, so we got in line to go back over the Lionsgate Bridge to North Vancouver.

Lionsgate Bridge

Back at the RV and Tom took the dogs out to the small dog park here.  I worked on some paperwork for Dad, and called our contact at the V.A. for help with forms.  I also called Dad to tell him about paperwork coming his way.  We had a light dinner and called it quits for tonight.

8/16/17

I spent the morning finishing up with Dad’s paperwork and got it off to the V.A.  Then we took off for a second day of touring.  Today we went to the Capilano Suspension Bridge Park, which is only about 2 miles north of our campground.  Here we are.

Lots of people on the bridge over 450 ft long

250 feet to the bottom

A trail through the trees

The Capilano River gorge

The trail through the trees

This place is really beautiful.  The suspension bridge was built in 1889, originally by the local natives, and is Vancouver’s oldest attraction.  The bridge is a 450 foot walking bridge, now hung on cables that span the Capilano River gorge 250 feet below.  It is strong enough to hold over 1300 people at one time.  Long ago, the natives called it the ‘laughing’ bridge because is wiggles and wobbles when you walk on it.  The entire area is a lush rainforest, with many different types of trees.  Around the gorge, there are many separate trails built up high in the trees which reminds me of Swiss Family Robinson.

We drove down to the harbor in North Vancouver, to the Marketplace called Lonsdale Quay.  There were many shops, but mostly food.  We went out on the back patio area and I took these pictures of the harbor around Vancouver. 

The Port of Vancouver

Can you see the Cruise Ship in dock?

The Polar Star in No Vancouver harbor

One yacht with a helicopter on the back

We had a nice vegetarian wrap for lunch and an ice cream inside, then headed home.  All in all, a pretty good day.


 

8/17/17

We got up early and readied the coach for travel.  Then we pulled it into the RV washing area and Tom and I washed the outside of the coach – it was really dirty.  Then we drove outside the campground separately (as the streets are very narrow and very busy), to a spot we picked out yesterday to hook up the Jeep.  We don’t have far to drive today, just over 100 miles, but we pass through US customs and end up in Washington State.