On the Road Again

I guess it’s time for an update, as this blog is about living in Alaska and I am currently en route up north. I left two days ago from Salt Lake City to drive up to Prince Rupert, BC where I will board the ferry to Juneau. The drive was tiringly predictable. It was dark for most of Utah, Montana was mostly flat, and the border crossing was crowded.

To top it all off I was coming down with a wicked head and chest cold and said a tearful good bye to Duane since he won’t be able to join me up north until the beginning of May. Not the best conditions to start a long drive. C’est la vive!

I did make the best of it though and explore some new places on the way north. Previous journeys have found me staying in and enjoying Jasper, AB. I’ve spent enough time now in that town to have a favorite restaurant and bakery, but it was just too far for this trip north, so I stopped in Canmore instead. Canmore is just shy of Banff, AB and sadly all I really saw of it was the main drag that reminded me of well, every other ski town in America (ahem, Canada). Still, it was quaint and welcoming and served up a great cup of tea before starting off on the second leg of the drive.

Day 2 started off fairly familiar with the “Ice Fields Parkway” between Lake Louise and Jasper. Only this time it came with new challenges: darkness and snow. It was a slow drive over the mountains, but it yielded a fantastic sunrise. From Jasper I changed course and headed due west instead of my usual northward drive. All new roads from here on out into Prince George and on to Prince Rupert, and they were great, at least what I can remember of them. I think I lost most of the day to the daze of cold medicine and just staring at the road. Oops.

Staying in Prince Rupert, BC tonight. Honestly this town is more run down than I was expecting. The outside of my hotel looks like something out of a gloomy horror movie but inside was very bright and cheery. There was also a very large burned down building right on main street that had not yet been cleared. I wondered why this town was so run down, but then I guess the only reason that anyone would drive all the way out here would be to jump on the ferry. Prince Rupert is a port town, with only one road in and out and the next biggest city, Prince George, is some 650km away. As for the gloom, I’m going to blame the Tylenol PM and the misting Northwestern rain for that impression, and not Prince Rupert itself.