1st Canadian Stop - Hope, BC

Tuesday, 5/10, was our travel day from Blaine, WA.to Hope, BC.  The weather finally cleared up and the sun was shining

It was only an 80 mile trip, but we planned it that way in case the border crossing took longer.  Most of the time they ask a few questions and let you pass, but sometimes they want the trailer unloaded.

In our case, we arrived at the border crossing and no one was ahead of us. 

The questions were as follows:

Where are you from?   Dallas, TX

Where are you headed?   Up thru British Coumbia and the Yukon to Alaska

Where are you staying?   Hope Valley RV Park

What is your next stop?   Couldn’t remember so I just said that we don’t make them in advance.

Do you have any fresh fruits/vegetables on board?   Only prepackaged items from the grocery store.

Do you have any liquor?  Yes

How much?   12 pack of beer.  A couple of liters of whiskey.

Any weapons?  No

Any ammunition?  No

Do you have any bear spray?   No

Do you own this truck?   Yes

Do you own this 5^th wheel?  Yes

Are they insured?  Yes

And, with that, he said have a nice trip.  So off we went.

We traveled thru the mountains most of the 50 or so miles to Hope.  Check out the snow capped mountains in the  clouds:

And, as Judy would say, "Yes, there is a God!"

As we got closer to the mountains, we could see water cascading down:

Signage in Canada is somewhat different than in the US - one said "Slippery When Frosty."  We didn't get a picture of it, but we did get this one:

Could the directions be any clearer??

After getting set up in the CG, we went into town to the visitor center to get information about the area.  Then we drove down main street,

parked and walked around.  Hope is the ‘Chain Saw Capital of the World(?).’  There were 50+ carvings and I think we got a lot of them.

I am going to show a couple of them here.  This one is right next to our camp site:

This is one in town:

There are more in shutterfly

 (http://severancetravels.shutterfly.com/pictures/8

Since it was the middle of the afternoon, we were hungry and there was a DQ close by.  We had one mini and one small blizzard – cost $6.88 Canadian (I think).  We sat on a bench by the Fraser River (very popular river during the Gold Rush here).  This carving overlooks the river:

I went to a local bank and converted $60 (US) for Canadian currency.  I got back $55.60 or about .93 cents on the dollar.  The current conversion rate is actually about .95 so I guess the bank took their cut as well!!

Later we drove up into the mountains to see the Hope Slide which was the largest landslide in BC.

We took more pictures - they are in shutterfly.

Today I got gas – another SHOCK – it was $1.289 per litre and I paid $58.03 (credit card).  Now for the calculation into price per gallon = $5.86!!!!

Today we are staying put since the rain has come back again.  Tomorrow we are off to Cache Creek, BC for a few days - only about 200 kilometers (120 miles) up the road!  Which reminds me, we need be aware of new measurements while in Canada:

We have to be careful of bridges as our 5th wheel is 13 feet high in the US, but in Canada it is 3.96 meters.
Good thing the speedometer shows miles per hour as well as kilometers per hour!!