for those of you who read the comments know we saw a cow elk yesterday, she was majestic standing in a small clearing on a hill overlooking the freeway. This was one of those days when Roy said you will have beautiful views, (if it were sunny). Like me he jinxes himself by telling me how beautiful things will be. I only need to bring up are trip down the Columbia River Gorge. He used to drive that and you could see the river all the way, when trees are small. I thought I see no river, sheepishly he says trees grow.

That’s ok, I almost made snow magnet happen it was cold and raining a few more degrees and could have happened. Today we head to La Wis Wis campground and exploring Mount St Helens and Mt Ranier. Look for pictures.

Monday when we drove through the northern cascades.  We left Oroville Washington in the morning after a short night of sleep after the 15 hour road trip.  The amount of water we have driven by this trip is amazing.  Our trip through 97 and 20 were no exception.  We also climbed over the nortern end of the cascades where yes at the highest points there was snow.  

I also saw the George dam which provides power to Seattle Washinhton the lake it created has such an emerald color to it.  The other thing was the wind  that occurs up on the overlook of Diabolo Lake which is worth battling. From the overlook it only took a few minutes to get down to lake level.  Please follow the two links for more information. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diablo_Lake https://www.nps.gov/noca/learn/historyculture/the-builders.htm

After we finally came off the mountain a stop at the visitor’s center was in order.  Of course, I got a shirt it has on the back alot of parks that I’ve visited and a few I’ve added to the list like Craters of the Moon.

This part of the trip has been should we stay or should  we head somewhere else to stay.  Driving throughthe campground at the park we decided to move on into Seattle actually Whidbey Island and lucked into a site for two nights. We also added another night to Cliffside on the Naval Base.  

So this coming week will be the eclipse and we already have our spot to see it.  I know it’s not totality but we are going to get 98%. Also on the list is the ape cache (we did headquarters last year) and some farmers markets plus general running around.

1.  Fire and Ice
2.  15 Hour Day
3.  3 in 1

When I’m done telling the story let me know what fits.   

It all started in the morning of August 13th at Prince George.  We pulled in Saturday night and the smoke was heavy and continued to increase, thank goodness for rain.  By morning the rain had knocked down alot of the smoke, you could still smell it though.

We have been changing plans based on fire and smoke forecast, our first thought was one night in Prince George then one night in Barkerville then one night elsewhere in northern Washington then onto Whidbey Island.  Barkerville seemed like a neat historic town. http://www.barkerville.ca

So head out of Prince George get down to Barkerville to smoky didn’t even attempt to drive down to see it.  Another town to add to the list of need to go back to see.  Did I mention it was raining and you could still smell the smoke.  We grabbed lunch and headed on down the road.

We would have headed to Bella Coola https://bellacoola.ca via 20 but that was closed at Williams Lake BC so no go but we knew it. Cache Creek via BC 97 except that was closed at JCT 24 we knew that too.  Driving on hwy 24 we climb a hill and see this white stuff on the ground (it was fresh).  Once we realized what it was we stopped and took a picture.  The highway was curvy and I think would have had good scenery if there was no smoke or snow.  We hit 5 heading into Kamloops.

We had thought that Kamloops would be a good place to stop.  The town was alot bigger then I expected and where we were going to stop there was no parking.  It was about 6pm so we thought head on.  Gorgeous scenery and rolling hills down near the water on 5a.

 We catch 97c and start heading up a steep hill stopped at a brake check area by Loon Lake.  It’s like 8:30pm so we decide let’s unload dig out propane coffee pot and eat sandwiches for dinner.  Sitting with the lights on with no electric (didn’t want to start ginny) getting chilled.  Roy looks at me and said you want to head to the border.  I say sure it’s only 2 more hours.

We follow 97c down to where it ends at 97.  Roy wakes me up to make sure he was going the right way.  BTW I had just fallen asleep.  We drive along water for quite sometime, I never realized how many lakes and rivers in BC.  This will also have to be done during daylight.

About 12:30 we get to the border crossing and the gates are closed except for commercial trucks, so Roy wakes me up again. (BTW I had just fallen back to sleep).  What to do it says on the website open 24 hours, so I called the number explained we were at the crossing.  After a little chuckle he said pull through the commercial lane.  The border agent was chatting with us and glancing in the car for about 5 minutes.  Well we cleared customs and entered Oroville Wa at 1am, this means we are definately on the home stretch.

The end of our Canada tour got cut short, this is good because now we have stuff to do next time.

It’s not because I’m fluffy.  I actually feel more like that burnt area you get when you roast them over a campfire.  Seriously, the smoke in Prince George is rough air quality is 45+ which is very high.  I’ve never seen smoke like this it’s freaky.  The fires still have the same roads closed so this is good news.  Rain is in the forecast so that should knock down some of the smoke.

It did or at least it washed away most of the soot.  The smoke is still in the air this am but not as thick.  We are off to Kamloops today then in the US tomorrow. 

It’s not because I’m fluffy.  I actually feel more like that burnt area you get when you roast them over a campfire.  Seriously, the smoke in Prince George is rough air quality is 45+ which is very high.  I’ve never seen smoke like this it’s freaky.  The fires still have the same roads closed so this is good news.  Rain is in the forecast so that should knock down some of the smoke.

It did or at least it washed away most of the soot.  The smoke is still in the air this am but not as thick.  We are off to Kamloops today then in the US tomorrow. 

You know how the best laid plans and agendas can go astray, that was our 5 days at Ksan Campground in Hazelton BC.  The plan was to make this our base camp and explore the First Nations of the Gitxsan Territory.  Totem poles, lava beds, shopping, and hopefully a glimpse of a Kermode bear (Spirit Bear).  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kermode_bear  this links gives you a description of the bear maybe one day.

We arrived on the 8th and only saw a deer no pictures as he slipped into the trees. It seemed to be getting smoky, still holding on to some hope.  The 9th we were going to head to the lava fields, http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/bcparks/explore/parkpgs/nisgaa/ but we decided to do that on the 10.  If we ever get back here we will do this trip.

Staying around the area we decided to visit the totems in the area, along with a battlefield.  Gitanyow at one time had the most totems in BC.  Well worth the time to drive by these very old carved poles.  The amount of skill and desire along with attention to detail impressive.  http://www.stewartcassiarhighway.com/communities/kitwanga-kitwancool  

The morning of the 10th woke up to a valley filled with smoke no lava beds for us, so headedto Smithers for shopping.  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smithers,_British_Columbia Roy was able to go to a meat house to check on sausages.  Once back to the trailer we got the bad news the only way into Bella Coola is closed due to wildfires.  So we are offically winging  it.  

We will be checking the town of Barkerville BC, which is a historical landmark (thanks Karen), then from there we will work our way down to Seattle where we were able to get in 3 days early.  I will post when I get internet or Seattle whatever happens first. 

Last year when we were in Hyder we stopped at Caroline’s Boundry Gifts saw a cute t-shirt but I’m not a kid.  We got talking she said come back next year and I will have one for you.  I think she thought they won’t be back. Did we surprise her.  She still only had the shirt in a child’s large (I don’t remember the last time I saw that size).  I whined and tried to bargain to see what could be done.  I told her what if I brought in a shirt would she do it.  She thought about it and said she had some kids shirts she had to screen she’d be doing them on Sunday so if I helped she would screen mine for free.  I’m easy.  More on that in another post.

We did lunch at the only sit down normal restaurant in Stewart, then of course on to a little shopping but the place was closed for lunch.  I did get a few headbands at the farmers market hair is growing.

I am trying to work on using manual focus on the camera and not to get to jittery so we head off to see some glaciers and waterfalls on Hwy 37A.  I took some of the same pictures as I  did last year only we were two weeks earlier this year.  Being two weeks early makes a big difference, stronger waterfalls, more bears, and yes more mosquitos.  I promise I will post side by side pictures of the glaciers so you can see the changes in a year.

We stopped back out at the Fish Creek where the bear viewing is I got a few pictures of bears and a small taste of combat phototaking.  Headed home because I’m getting a shirt tomorrow Sunday at 7am