{"id":7613,"date":"2019-09-19T17:00:48","date_gmt":"2019-09-20T00:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cowlesmountain.com\/Travels\/?p=7613"},"modified":"2019-09-19T12:51:26","modified_gmt":"2019-09-19T19:51:26","slug":"driving-from-meziadin-lake-to-smithers-and-prince-george-and-to-the-us-border","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cowlesmountain.com\/Travels\/2019\/09\/19\/driving-from-meziadin-lake-to-smithers-and-prince-george-and-to-the-us-border\/","title":{"rendered":"Driving from Meziadin Lake to Smithers and Prince George and to the US border."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>We left Meziadin around 10:30 for the drive to Smithers, BC.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Around lunchtime we stopped at a roadside historical site.\u00a0\u00a0 It was Battle Hill, and we read the signs \"\"<\/a>and checked out the view.\u00a0 There was a large staircase built onto the side of the hill we were standing on and it went all the way over the Battle Hill, which looked like it was a man-made hill in the middle of a small field below us.\u00a0 It appeared to be a great place for a battle if you occupied the top of that hill.\u00a0 Battle Hill Wiki<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>After lunch we started down the road toward Highway 16 but \"\"<\/a>made a left turn to check out the historic Totem Poles. \u00a0 We read that they were over 100 years old, so Kathy got out and snapped a few pictures as Sue and Larry got their wires crossed and didn’t follow us. \u00a0 All around that area were ramshackle houses.\u00a0 Lots of them looked lived in, and the odd part was just about all of them \"\"<\/a>had a large window in the front broken, a big gaping hole in the windows.\u00a0 Hopefully they get fixed prior to winter setting in.<\/p>\n

We wound our way out of that area and back onto the main road.\u00a0\u00a0 Then we drove the few hundred meters to the turn onto the main \"\"<\/a>highway.\u00a0\u00a0 As soon as we made the left, we entered a dusty gravel section of highway that was being worked on.\u00a0\u00a0 There was a huge line of cars and trucks kicking up an incredible amount of dust for us to drive thru.\u00a0\u00a0 We backed off as far as we could so most of the dust had blown off the highway before we had to drive thru it.\u00a0 This situation lasted for over a half hour, slowly crawling for miles and miles.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Later that afternoon we made it to our campground, registered and then set up for a couple of days a few miles west of Smithers, BC.\u00a0\u00a0 Our plan was to go to get \"\"<\/a>pizza at Boston Pizza.\u00a0\u00a0 We arrived there later in the evening.\u00a0 We ordered cocktails and the only person to get them was Kathy as she ordered wine.\u00a0 Turns out the CO2 system was broken and there was no draft beer \"\"<\/a>available.\u00a0 Pizza without a beer, ugh.\u00a0\u00a0 But after about 15 minutes the waitress came back and said they had gotten one tap to work so she could bring us a particular beer.\u00a0 I cannot remember what it was, but it must have been good as the glasses were empty when we left.<\/p>\n

While we were there, an RCMP officer sat down next to us with folks that were probably her family.\u00a0\u00a0 They left prior to us finishing, but as we walked out to Larry’s car, she was sitting in her RCMP SUV and we had to walk right in front of her.\u00a0\u00a0 As we got in the car, we were all mumbling about her knowing our driver had just drank a large beer.\u00a0\u00a0 But before we drove off, she pulled out of the parking lot and drove up the road till we couldn’t see her anymore.<\/p>\n

While we were in Smithers, we had to go to Canadian Tire for RV “stuff”.\u00a0\u00a0 It appears Canadian Tire is a department store that also has a small section of tires for sale.\u00a0 Who would have known..<\/p>\n

Our second night in Smithers we ate at the Trackside Mexican Cantina and had many Cadillac Margaritas.\u00a0\u00a0 Those were good as was the food.\u00a0 I especially liked the prawn tacos!\u00a0\u00a0 The Trackside is literally track side residing in about 1\/2 of the Smithers Train Depot.\u00a0\u00a0 While we were there a fairly fast moving freight train went by very close.\u00a0\u00a0 It was pretty long and seemed to go by forever.\u00a0\u00a0 Then we heard an engine getting closer, so we assumed it was the end of the train, but it wasn’t.\u00a0 This was the first time any of us had seen a freight train with another engine in the middle!\u00a0 All other times while on the roads the trains would have engines pushing from the rear also, but never an engine in the middle of the cars.\u00a0 And this train didn’t have an engine in the rear.\u00a0\u00a0 If you are ever in Smithers, BC, I highly recommend Trackside Mexican Cantina for dinner!!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The next morning we started on the 250 mile drive to Prince George, BC.\u00a0\u00a0 From there Larry & Sue would head east toward Jasper then down to Banff and we would head south toward the US border, north of Seattle.<\/p>\n

Somewhere\u00a0 along our journey, Sue mentioned she really liked a movie about King Arthur. \u00a0 So when Kathy was reading thru the Milepost to find a rest stop along our route, she found one in Tintagle, BC. \u00a0 That rest stop had a monument that had a stone donated to the city from Tintagel Castle in Cornwall, England, the supposed birthplace of King Arthur.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>A few hours down the road we arrived at Sintich RV just south of Prince George, BC.\u00a0\u00a0 That night we dined at the Canadian Brewery.\u00a0 It was a fairly nice sports bar where the CO2 system was working!<\/p>\n

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We wanted to watch the Chargers season opener, but our satellite dome couldn’t lock on to a satellite, being so far north and having a line of trees in the direction the dish needed to be pointed.\u00a0\u00a0 At the last minute I signed up for a Hulu live streaming trial account and we were able to watch the last three quarters using Kathy’s Cricket phone as a hotspot for the internet data stream.<\/p>\n

On our last evening in Prince George, we headed over to Cimo Mediterranean Grill <\/a>\u00a0 and had a wonderful dinner.\u00a0 I think we all were completely surprised by how good the food was.\u00a0 I know I was amazed!<\/p>\n

The next morning we were sad as we were parting with our traveling companions.\u00a0 We had met up with them again in Valdez, AK, and traveled together all the way to Prince George, BC, taking close to 6 weeks to get there. We hope to meet up with them again in our future travels!<\/p>\n

We headed south, Larry and Sue headed east to Jasper and then on to Banff.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>We took highway 97 south to the town of Clinton, BC, where we stayed overnight at a small campground. \u00a0 The next morning we took 97 further south\u00a0 till it joined up with the Trans Canada highway, which we then \"\"<\/a>headed west (south) toward the US border.\u00a0\u00a0 Along the way we entered the Fraser Valley \"\"<\/a>and gorge.\u00a0\u00a0 What a wonderful drive thru Boston Bar and Hell’s Gate.\u00a0\u00a0 What a beautiful area.\u00a0 I would like to come back and explore it sometime as we were in a hurry to keep up with some reservations we made so we would be able to be in San Francisco on a particular weekend.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We got to the border around 2pm and breezed thru it in a couple minutes.\u00a0\u00a0 Unfortunately the border crossing we used dropped us into a rural area with very small roads.\u00a0 I was happy once we found a larger roadway about 45 minutes later.\u00a0 \u00a0We proceeded to drive Interstate 5 to the off ramp leading over to Fidalgo Island.<\/p>\n

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We left Meziadin around 10:30 for the drive to Smithers, BC.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Around lunchtime we stopped at a roadside historical site.\u00a0\u00a0 It was Battle Hill, and we read the signs and checked out the view.\u00a0 There was a large staircase built onto the side of the hill we were standing on and it went all the … <\/p>\n

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