The Journey Continues - Hinton to Hines Creek

On the morning we were leaving Hinton we took a drive through the town looking for a place to have breakfast. We stopped at a fast food place then  made our way back to the highway heading north. We passed by the mall you see in the photo above.  The morning was overcast and a bit crisp and rain was threatening.

We continued our drive through a secondary highway to Grande Prairie in Northern Alberta. You can click on any of the photos to enlarge them. You will often see smudges and smears on the car windshield. When you are driving fast in the north, many insects and bugs hit against the car and make marks all over the windshield when they splatter due to the impact.  My brother kept telling me that it would add character to my photos when I complained of the dirty windshield. There was no point to clean the windshield because there is no way it would stay clean!

This stretch of highway was very busy with work crews who are widening the road though I didn't take photos of the workers. There aren't a lot of towns or cities along this highway just one place called Grande Cache.

Grande Cache is the only real stop before you get to the City of Grande Prairie, Alberta which is where we planned to spend the night. So we stopped at this tourist information centre you see in the photo below and used the rest room.  I also picked up some maps and purchased a DVD entitled "Long Road Home" about the descendants of several Metis families who were evicted from the Athabasca Valley when the Canadian Government created the "Jasper Forest Park".

Then I took a few quick photos of these new looking wood plaque structures and teepees (tipis)  made of wood and canvas.  The tipis are the traditional homes of the Indian people in historical times.

Then it was back onto the highway north. You can see the highway stretching for miles and miles. If you look at the photo below, the highway goes up the mountain to the left.

The area in the next photo is quite beautiful and as we descend into the valley we can see the Smoky River down below. I was to discover that we passed this river several times throughout our journey north. It is a major tributary of the Peace River and was given the name by Cree Indians. The name Smoky River describes "smouldering beds of coal in the riverbank".

Now and then I came across these fields of hay for the livestock.  This sight is extremely typical of this area.

This signage was at the edge of the City of Grande Prairie.

You can see that Grande Prairie really is on the prairie. The land here is very flat. The city is located on the southern edge of the Peace River Country and has a population of approximately 50,000 people. This city is among the fastest growing cities in Canada and it's major industries include oil and gas, agriculture, forestry, and food services.

I didn't take many photos of the city itself just around the outlying approaches into the city.  The photo below is taken at the front entry to our hotel for the night, the Sandman Inn.  It was nice to be greeted by hanging baskets and there were colourful plants in planters on the ground also.

As soon as we checked into the hotel and had a short rest we set out again to the north to visit my uncle.

Along the way I saw that there is yet more road improvements being made.  In this case, culverts were being replaced at a bridge.

I wanted to be sure to take photos of the rolling fields and the crops as in the view below. This scene is very typical of the area.

I cannot remember the name of the town photographed in part below but as we zipped by I noticed the large tipe (teepee) and I wanted a photograph.  The tipi (teepee) is the tall, pointed structure to the right of the photo.  It is oversized so it is probably a tourist attraction rather than a dwelling.

I took a lot of photos of signage along the way.  In Alberta there are numerous highways and small towns everywhere.

Once again we descend into a valley and pass by the Smoky River.

The scene below is another scene which is quite typical of the area around Grande Prairie and surrounding environs.

We are getting close to the turn off for Hines Creek which is our destination.

I was amazed at the number of old wooden buildings in Alberta. A lot of them seem to have been used for grain and crop storage.

Another thing I noticed was a lot of swamps. There were an amazing number of swamps. We have nothing like this in British Columbia.  I mean the swamps were extremely plentiful. Not only that but water was seeping out of the earth along the sides of the highway in a number of places.

Now we enter the small town of Hines Creek where we visit an uncle.  He told us it had been raining a lot this summer.  That explained all the water in the swamps and along the highways.

This is the nice signage that welcomes us to town and which is where I think the town's museum is located.

After our visit to this town, we drove back to the main highway and north again to the small town of Fairview which I had never been to before. It is only 13 miles from the main highway.

Fairview is a small community located 124 km north of Grande Prairie, Alberta, on Highway 2.  It has a population of 3150 people.but seems to be well serviced with a college and a swimming pool. Most small towns in the north do not have swimming pools or a college.  We took a drive around town and they had a good selection of restaurants. Westernized Chinese food is especially popular in northern British Columbia and Alberta and there were 3 Chinese restaurants in this small town.

  

I'm not sure but I think this is where the aquatic centre is as symbolized by the wavy blue lines painted on the building.

This is a view through one of the streets in town.

This is the approach back into Grande Prairie from the north.

What struck me about the city of Grande Prairie is just how many white buildings there were.  They stood out in the flatness of the prairies.

 Back in my room I was ready for a good sleep. The beds were very comfortable.

The coffee, tea and coffee maker were in the room as well as a microwave and a mini-fridge for storing drinks.  I took a few moments to go downstairs to the whirlpool before bed time but the whirlpool was not that great. It didn't have very strong bubbles or water movement.

This room was well priced at $79.95 Canadian per night plus about 9% tax. It was a good reduction from the usual price of $135.00 a night. The deal was obtained through on line booking.  Available hotels rooms in this city were very scarce so we felt fortunate to get one. However, my room was exceptionally hot even with the air conditioning on.  I even tried an open window but that didn't help either.

This concludes  my second post on my journey depicted by the map below. I hope you enjoyed it and that you will join me again soon for a continuation of the journey.

The next part of this series will show photos and describe the towns on the way to Chetwynd, British Columbia.

The Journey Begins - Vancouver to Hinton

Many of you will know that I recently went on a road trip to attend the funeral of my aunt. It was a very long road trip with my brother doing all the driving.  Along the way we visited an my mom, her elder brother and a sister; all of whom live in different towns and cities.  Part of my decision to go so far at this time was so that I could visit my uncle (mom's brother) since he hasn't been well for some time and he is getting on in age.

Funerals can be very sad occasions, but for me it is also a time I like because I get to see relatives I haven't seen for a very long time. In this case, my aunt had just celebrated her 81st birthday and while that is not too old, she had been unable to speak for about 20 years after having suffered multiple strokes. In the last months, cancer had taken over and she stopped eating 21 days before passing. We look upon her passing as helping her to now enjoy better health in heaven.

We kept good records of the length of our journey and we covered just over 5000 kilometres.  I'm going to be doing a series of posts about our journey so I hope you will come back and travel with me. I will try to post some factual information of the different places we pass as well.

The first photos are maps. On our way north, through the province of British Columbia we passed through the town of Kamloops and then carried on through Vavenby, Avola, Valemount and  the world famous, Rocky Mountains past Mount Robson.   We stopped at Hinton for the night.  You can click on any map or photo to enlarge.

 

Here is a map of Canada so you can situate British Columbia and Alberta. They are Canada's two most western provinces.

The first photos I took were about an hour out of Vancouver. The scenery is always spectacular with the luscious looking and plentiful trees.

There are lots of mountain tops as we pass through majestic mountains which are part of the North Cascades.  The Cascade Mountain Range spans the border between the Canadian Province of British Columbia and the U.S. state of Washington.  They are predominantly non-volcanic but there are certain parts which are volcanic like Mount Baker, Glacier Peak and Coquihalla Mountain. 
Officially these mountains are called the Cascade Mountains in Canada.

We are travelling northeast on on Highway 1.  This highway originates on Vancouver Island.  See the map at the top and you will see a large island to the west of the mainland of British Columbia. That is Vancouver Island.  We will pass by but not through many municipalities:  Port Coquitlam, New Westminister, Surrey, Langley, Cloverdale, Abbotsford, Chilliwack then Hope. I am not completely sure if I have these in order of location but they are more in order than not.

As we reach the town of Hope, the highway separates to take you to various points north and east.

North of Hope we are travelling on Highway 5 or the Coquihalla Highway, often referred to as the "Coq", pronounced "Coke".  I've captured a sign for you in the photo below so you can see one of the many warnings given to driver. I also wanted to capture the wild alpine flowers for you.

These mountain peaks always makes me catch my breath due to their sheer size and beauty.

The photo belows show an avalanche shelter. Fortunately I've never experienced any avalanche when passing through here in winter.  Currently there is a  lot of road widening and improvement work being done between Vancouver and along this stretch of highway. You can see some of the signage just to the right of the shot.

Another hour or so of driving and you can see the geography has changed quite dramatically.  We are now approaching the town of Merritt, British Columbia.  The town of Merritt is nestled in the Nicola Valley and has a population of about 7000 people. Glacial lakes are nestled amongst the grasslands where cattle also graze uninterrupted. This is pure cattle country and quite beautiful too if you like the semi-arid type of landscape.

I tried to capture a photo of the town as we passed by but we were going too fast.  Merritt is always our last stop before we get to Kamloops. Here we take a short break stopping at an outlying place to grab a drink of coffee, water or soda for the final hour's drive to Kamloops.

We are now in our final approach into Kamloops.

I always love arriving for it means a good portion of the journey is behind us!  We are making the approach into Kamloops from the northwest and we are at the top of the valley.  Kamloops is located at the confluence of the two branches of the Thompson River (north and south).  The population of Kamloops is about 87,000 people. I've noticed a tremendous amount of building going on over the past decade or more and one would think the economy was booming in the city. However doing some research I've read that the population actually declined in 2010, along with population declines in the town of Merritt. The reason is that people have had to migrate to larger cities to find work. Nonetheless Kamloops is a much bigger city than when my family first settled there.

The scene below is one of my favourite scenes of the city as it gives a panoramic view of the two rivers and the main part of the city. At night, the sparkling lights make this a very pretty approach.   Here we stopped and visited with my mom for an hour or so before heading north on the Trans-Canada Highway.

We pass a few very small places like Rayleigh as we head north. The first real small town is called Barriere. I took a photo of the surrounding hills.  There was a huge wildfire a few years ago now which almost wiped out the town .  You can see from the photo that the forest is still recovering.

Barriere, British Columbia is located 66 kilometres north of Kamloops on Highway 5 which winds along the North Thompson River.  The community is 375 meters above sea level.

Legend has it that 
"during the early days of the Cariboo gold rush, an old trapper named MacDonald, hailing from Scotland, was plying his trade in the central North Thompson Valley. Each winter he would stockpile his pelts at Little Fort. In the spring of each year, he would load up his pelt on his old mare, and with the help of a young Chu Chua Indian, he would set out on the old highway for Kamloops.
On one of his annual trips, the old man and his young companion stopped for lunch at the site of what is today: Barriere. Following lunch, the old mare refused to start up again. The old Scot gave her the buggy whip and she suddenly keeled over and died. His Indian companion said to MacDonald: "What  are you going to do now?" to which the old man replied: "Bury her". From which Barriere got it's name.
from a story re-told by local authority: David Baines

A photo of the North Thompson River.

The beautiful and majestic Mount Robson rises before us as we approach the border to the Province of Alberta.  The air was quite cold but there were still a lot of mosquitoes.

I took a lot of photos of this lake you see below.  It is called Moose Lake. I think it is very beautiful. The lake went on for miles and miles.

We saw some cars parked along the way and stopped to see what was going on. People had stopped to look at this huge mammal, the spectacular elk. The light was fading and most of my photos did not turn out but I think you can make it out due to the lighter skinned coat and it's big rack of antlers.   The photo doesn't do justice to the size of this creature.

A fabulous moon guided our way.

We stop off at the Howard Johnson Motel in Hinton, Alberta for a room. It was difficult to get a room in the city. This place was the only one with rooms available. It turned out to be quite comfortable.

The beds were super comfortable. The weight of the duvet was perfect. Not too light and not too heavy. There was air conditioning in the room also to keep it nice and cool.

In most Canadian hotels and motels you will find a coffee maker, complimentary tea and coffee, an ice holder for getting ice from the ice machine, a soda pop machine, a desk for working at and often a mini fridge but not always.  The cost of the room for the night was $109.00 Canadian dollars plus 10% tax.

Well that concludes the first part of my journey. Please join in again for the next part of the trip through Alberta.

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Spectacular Colours

I really like this photo taken through the side mirror.

Once the colours changed we really had to stop and take a photo or two.

These photos are all taken on the highway between Grande Prairie and Edmonton, Alberta. My next post will feature maps and more photos of my recent journey.

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I'm also submitting this as my first submission to Weekend Reflections.