Beautiful British Columbia, part 1

It is hard to believe that 17 days have passed since our last blog post. They have been days filled with kilometers, illnesses, overdue reunions, sweet friendships, much awe-inspiring beauty, and unexpected opportunities to bear witness to the fragility, resiliency and beauty of nature and the human spirit. It is too much to document here, but we wanted to share just a few highlights in pictures and stories, and start to catch up with you.

We headed south from Yukon along the Stewart-Cassiar highway. This drive alone is worth the trip in its beauty.

We pulled over for a brief look at Boya Lake Provincial Park

and not far from there, we arrived at Jade City. "City" is a bit generous for a place with 30 inhabitants and one main building. It's a fascinating place however, which produces 92% of the world's Nephrite Jade, as well being home to the Discovery Canada reality series entitled "Jade Fever." The girl in the shop told us they had just shipped a 23 ton (not a typo) piece of jade to Malaysia for a carving.

We continued south along the highway and were fortunate to see a grizzly bear ambling through the trees away from the highway before it passed out of sight. It was a highlight to see this beast in its natural habitat (and from within the safety of our bus).

As we continued to speak with helpful strangers along the way and to thumb through guide books we had picked up at various thrift stores, we determined that we had to go off the highway, along route 37A to Stewart, BC and Hyder Alaska. The scenery along this one hour route into these neighbouring small towns must be the inspiration for a fantasy film.

It felt as though we were driving into the backdrop of The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. We travelled through a narrow canyon with high mountain ridges closing in on either side of us. The lush green trees of this coastal rainforest region towered high and sat perched on rock faces, as water trickled down from the glaciers above. Bald eagles emerged from the low lying clouds to lead us further into the mystery; their presence creating an ambiance that left us quiet and looking, almost expectantly, for Frodo.

After a few minutes in Stewart, BC, which was basically "closed,"

we drove five minutes through town to cross the border into Hyder, Alaska "The Friendliest Ghost Town in Alaska"

We had hopes of seeing some bears feasting on the spawning salmon there. We were disappointed not to see any bears or salmon but, once again, we were surprised by the generosity of strangers.

Earlier that morning, we had made a random stop at a small church. The arrival of our crew brought their faithful gathering of six to a total of eleven. After the service they took out their humble crock pot meal and insisted we be their guests. I think it multiplied because we were all well fed in body and spirit. Later on, while we were off at the local boardwalk looking for bears, Jerry (from the church) came waving his hand excitedly out his pick up truck window. Victor met him in the parking lot and I saw him giving something to Victor before driving off. When we had returned to the bus I was in shock to find that Victor had accepted 42 king-sized chocolate bars, a bag of homemade salmon jerky, 6 cans of pop, and fresh baked bread. My surprise at Jerry's kind gesture was almost matched by my surprise at Victor accepting 42 king-sized chocolate bars! The kids could barely contain their glucose induced joy!

We crossed back over the border into Canada and were able to pay forward a few chocolate bars at the crossing.

Stay tuned to find out how Jerry's chocolate bars were able to bless another group of people down the road.