Skip to main content

July 26 K'san in New Hazelton

Our sunny skies have been traded in for clouds. I was surprised when I opened the tent to see clouds. It's rained on and off again today. All the locals told us that we were lucky to be in Fort St James on the best day of the season so far. I did say a prayer of thanks, especially since the temperature has dropped again today. We vacillated back and forth about staying in a hotel or cabin tonight since it's chilly, but in the end we decided to stick it out in the tent. Good old faithful Ms. Alps.  The greatest thing about staying in our reliable and dignified little tent is that you get to see something amazing. The scenery is unparalleled.  I'm amazed at how many beautiful things we've seen. I have barely spent anytime reading in the car because the scenery is stunning. Today the rolling hills covered in aspen and pines started to turn back into sharp peaks covered in snow as we are making our way closer to Prince Rupert to catch the ferry. We zoomed past lake after lake. Veggie stand after veggie stand. All the stands here usually say vegetable stand because there isn't much of a season for fruit except for berries.

Kid Day. The poor things have hiked two to three hikes per day for the entire trip. Some have been short and some have been long. Canada is celebrating 150 years and all national parks and historical sites are free. Another great reason to come now. Fort St James has a historical sight a preserved area that was used for the fur trade back in the 1800s and into the 1900s. The workers dress in period costumes and welcome you into the buildings and teach you all about the fur trade. The volatile relationship between the Carrier Indians and the fur traders from the Hudson Bay Company. Some of the local Indian woman were manipulated into being wives to the traders while they were in town when the trader left they simply left any children and their fur trader wife behind. I had never heard about that happening. The local preacher threatened the woman with damnation if they didn't comply with the fur trader wife idea of his. It amazes me the things that many women in the past have endured and some of the hardships they continue to live today simply for being woman.

How can you pass up an opportunity to dress in period attire??
Irresistible!!
Chloe's hat practically has an entire bird on the top. Chloe and Zelly had so much fun playing dress up

An original Canoe carved from a log. The wood for the canoe is so thin and beautifully carved
Maybe she could add some squirrel trim? Chloe sporting fox.
Fort St James on Stuart Lake. Some buildings are original with the exact same infrastructure
The room of the head guy complete with calendar pinups and the bear rug
Relaxing in the old fashioned recliner-who knew they even existed??
How they hung their baby beds. Brilliant.

 The kids got to pet all kinds of pelts ranging from skunk and muskrats to wolves and bears. Chloe sported a fox fur for the entire time we were inside the fur trading shop. They used to keep the head and feet on the fur and use the mouth of the fox as a kind of latch for the scarf. Oh heaven help me. Yuck. We learned that they use squirrel pelts for trim and most of the European royalty wore coats of vermin. The kids got a pelt in the fur trading store to barter at the grocery store for goods. They loved it. They all ended up trading their furs for buttons with their favorite animal on it. Isaak picked a wolverine. In my ignorance I had no idea that a wolverine actually existed, but I definitely fear them now and their razor sharp claws. Did you know that a pesky 45 lb wolverine can kill a bear? Did you know they are incredibly territorial? And vicious?
Trading their furs at the trading store. Chloe giggled when he asked if she caught hers then said, "no, silly."
Alas!! It's warm enough for ice cream-well barely
The views on the drive today. White flowers every where with lakes, rivers and beautiful small mountains

The library. We made it 45 minutes before it closed. 
The playground in Smithers. It was beautiful surrounded by trees and mountains and a glacier in the background
Hudson Bay Mountain in Smithers. We forgot to take a picture of Lake Kathryn Glacier. Oops.
The favorite of the kids were actually the chicken races though. We got to bet on chickens and earn money if our chicken won. Chloe and Zella both won a heat. We couldn't help but think about our four gals back at home. Chloe talked to everyone about our chickens. The rest of kids day consisted of no hiking whatsoever, but included ice cream, Lady and the Tramp and Peter Pan while we drove to Smithers. In Smithers, we checked out the library and took some time to read books and played at the park. Smithers is a ski town and incredibly cute, but I must say that I still prefer Whistler to Smithers. Whistler is pretty amazing and the library is definitely better. We picked a campsite with a sandbox, a playground and the kids are in heaven. They have been playing and giggling nonstop. I'm just glad we have an amazing view of the Skeena river flowing past our campsite and that the rain stopped. I thought we were going to be cooking in the rain tonight.
The Skeena River flowing by our campsite

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

July 29 Ward Lake & the Library Ketchikan

It's raining it's pouring the old man is snoring. He's really snoring. It's been down pouring since we got here last night and it poured all day long. We got up and headed out to Ward Lake to a BBQ with their church.  It's beautiful. The kids thought it was the best ever because they had donuts, chips, hot dogs, watermelon, cherries and cookies. Isaak of course immediately started playing with some kids his age. Chloe and Lydia frolicked around in the woods and played horseshoes. It stopped raining for maybe 10 minutes, but other than that it picked right back up. I was sure they were going to cancel the BBQ, but again the kids seemed indifferent to all the rain. Some of them were even kayaking. I was too busy freezing! The hike around the lake is 1.5 miles and we saw a beaver den sans beaver. We walked around the Lake and it was like being submerged in the rain forest. Well it's not like being submerged in a rain forest. We were in a rain forest called the Tong...

The Farthest North Point & Settlers Cove

The rain continues to come down. I've never seen it rain like this before. Teana and Derek told us that the rain is more consistent with weather in October than in the summer, but weather.com promises that a warm front is in store for tomorrow. We went to church in an amazing building. The ward house was completely built in Cedar. Apparently the church shipped a cedar kit and the members of the church in the area worked with general contractors to put it together. It's beautiful and it smells so good!!! Chloe didn't want to go to primary by herself. At first I was trying tough love, but she started weeping. Okay. So she was actually trully scared. I sat with her in primary and then someone in the sharing time chose to sing Gethsemane. Chloe immediately relaxed. I was again aware of how much Heavenly Father cares for his children. Gethsemane is Chloe's favorite song and she always sings it when she's sad or asks us to sing it for her. She then said it was okay if I...

From me to him

Dear Isaak, Happy Birthday my little guy! It feels like just yesterday that you were literally pulled out to come into this world. Yes literally with forceps around your little head because you accidentally faced the wrong direction or maybe you faced the direction you wanted to. You didn’t seem like you were quite ready to come out because you were just wailing--almost like you were saying, “You know--I was perfectly comfortable in there.” I’ve learned this year that you surely know what you want and you will not stop until you get it. For example when we tried to spend the weekend away from home and you didn't like sleeping in your playpen! You woke up every 1/2 hour to let us know you weren't comfortable. You finally fell asleep around 3am when we put you on the bouncer. Cory slept with his arm around you on the floor so you didn't roll off. You weren’t going to come easy, eh?? I remember pushing and pushing and pushing and thinking this isn’t going how I thought that i...