– Stewart, British Columbia to Prince George, British Columbia –

We’re really getting close to the end of our trip now. I think everyone is starting to feel it. We are taking fewer pictures and getting out of the car a little less. Today was another quiet day, and we didn’t even get to start it with a run. Because… bears.

We hopped out of bed at 6:30am and everyone showered and packed up. We had a coupon for breakfast at the restaurant attached to our hotel, so we headed over there to grab a bite to eat. The place is called ToastWorks, and it is also a toaster museum and a chocolatier. It only has maybe 6 tables, and it was hopping this morning.

Mom and I were a little disappointed with our breakfast. Mom didn’t like the sausage, and they didn’t have the croissant she ordered. She had to get toast. My only real issue was that they advertised biscuits with fresh fruit preserves in their menu and then all the biscuits they actually had were jalapeno cheddar. That doesn’t make sense at all.

Regardless, their fresh pressed apple juice was delicious, and the fruit and yogurt bowl I ended up with turned out to be pretty good too. I felt a pang of loss for the fluffy biscuits, but it wasn’t like I had to eat from a gas station this morning, so I am pretty sure I should be grateful.

When we left Stewart, we drove back down the road out of town with the intent of taking the photographs we couldn’t get the day before. It was still raining and the weather was unpleasant and cold. The most interesting thing on the road into and out of Stewart is Bear Glacier. We stopped yesterday, but our pictures weren’t great since the white ice was lit up like Christmas by the sun peeking through the clouds.

We took several pictures of the glacier, but they still weren’t great. It’s too bad, too. Stewart had some really pretty glaciers that I really feel like we missed almost entirely because of the poor weather. Mark and I had our picture taken in front of the glacier before I had to sprint back to the car. It was really cold. I even turned my seat heater on when I got back in.

We didn’t stop again until we needed gas in Kitwanga. We had a lot of fun saying the name as we approached the town. Kitwanga. I’m not 100% sure how to pronounce it correctly, but it is fun to try. As you can see, that was around 200km past Bear Glacier.

We got a little lost looking for the gas station. Well, not exactly lost. More like, we couldn’t find the gas station where we thought it would be, and we are partially crippled without Google Maps. It’s somewhat embarrassing.

A tour bus pulled up to the gas station just after we did, so everyone sprinted to the restrooms. We were just in time. I imagine the lines after we left we pretty long.

I spent most of the day reading again. Our book is getting good, so everyone is much more into it. It means they ask a lot more frequently for updates on when we’re going to start reading again. I think my voice’s endurance is getting better. I can read for hours before I have to stop for a while.

We stopped for lunch in Smithers, where we found a lot more restaurants than we’ve seen here recently. With more than one option, we weren’t even sure what to do with ourselves. We ended up picking an Indian place. Mom wasn’t hungry, so Mark, Dad, and I went in to eat.

Dad had never had Indian food before, and originally he was going to order from the Western menu (you know, a chicken sandwich or a hamburger or something). When we got in and looked at the menu, he picked a vegetable curry instead.

He really seemed to enjoy it, so maybe Mark and I will have a new family member to drag to Indian restaurants with us. Since we’ve had so much Western food lately, I was really excited to see the Indian place. If I have to look another grilled cheese in the face before winter rolls around, it will be too soon. I’ve also eaten more French fries in the last couple of weeks than I’ve had in the previous year.

Not much happened between Smithers and our hotel. We did quite a bit of reading and Mom wasn’t feeling great, so we pretty well booked it for the room. Prince George is a reasonably sized city, and we saw a whole bunch of places that we consider the markers of true civilization. There’s even a Walmart here, but I don’t expect we will need to visit this one. We don’t need any more groceries and the trip is almost over.

Our hotel is a Canada’s Best Value Inn, which might sound familiar under a slightly different name back in the States. I’ll let you guess what it is. The room is really big. We could seriously sleep like 8 more people on the floor if we really wanted to.

When we arrived, everyone sat around and played on the internet for a few minutes. We checked our email and looked at our drive for tomorrow. It wasn’t too late, around 6:30, so Mark and I checked the list of dog parks for Ripley.

Prince George does have a fenced dog park, and since Ripley didn’t get to run this morning, we figured we couldn’t pass up the chance to let her run around.

She was really excited when we got there, but she behaved in her usual blend of anxious and excited as she tore around the dog park, alternately hiding between our legs and chasing after dogs that had turned their backs on her. She’s been so many places and met so many dogs, I’m not sure what else we can do to help her get over her extreme awkwardness. I guess at this point we’re just hoping she’ll grow out of it. Maybe everyone assumes she’s a puppy.

She did make friends with a couple of rottweilers that were impervious to how weird she was, so we were pretty proud of that. She trotted around with them for a few minutes before she told us she was ready to leave. She usually only makes friends with puppies and other awkward dogs.

We weren’t hungry for dinner since we’d had a heavy lunch pretty late in the day, and Mom didn’t feel like eating anyway, so Mark and I went out for frozen yogurt. They didn’t have tart yogurt, which is my favorite, but it was pretty good, just the same. It isn’t too often that we get dessert for dinner, so that was fun, too.

We made it back to the hotel without any issue and settled in for the evening. Ripley seems tired, despite how short her dog park visit was. I guess riding in the car all day is pretty rough. Everyone else is tired too.

Tomorrow we drive on to Hope, British Columbia. It will be our last night in Canada, and our drive tomorrow will be relatively short. We’re heading out to run in the morning, and I think we’ll have our breakfast at Tim Hortons. I’ve been missing it, so I’m glad to be back to civilized parts where I can get my final fix before we have to head back into the States.

– Trip Total : 7,793 miles –