Dear Family,
Hello from Williams Lake!! I'm at the city library where you can use the internet for free. Yeah, for Canada!
How can I describe the things we've seen in the past couple days! We've had gorgeous weather--clear blue skies with big white puffy clouds. The temp has been about 80. The scenery from Whistler to Lillicoot was awesome...slow, winding roads, snow-capped mountains, serene lakes, mountain wild flowers. Just wonderful. We stayed here 2 nights ago also before we went to Bella Coola yesterday. Now that is some trip! It's 7 hours one way through all kinds of terrain...mountain meadows, mountain deserts, and just plain high, rugged, snow-capped peaks. THE HILL...quite unbelievable. The road is narrow with no guard rails and with lots of switchbacks. In places it's one lane and you hope you're not meeting anyone around the corner! But as you descend into the Bella Coola Valley you experience sights that take your breath away. Bella Coola seems like it's at the end of the world....just a dumpy little city. But you are completely surrounded by mountains. Certainly you feel pretty small in this place. Today we came back the same way we went...there is no other way. We explored some lakes, took a gravel road side trip, and ate at a DUTCH restaurant in the middle of nowhere! We also had an encounter with two BIG bears, and Al will tell you that story when we get home. We've met some interesting people along the way, too. We are finding Canadians in this part of the country to be very friendly and helpful. We are having a most wonderful time! Gary and Rach, we miss you a lot! Every time we encounter another wonderful sight we say, "Gary and Rach, where are you?!!" We are taking a lot of pictures so you will see the sights, too. We are thankful that you are home and hope you are feeling better each day. You will need time to recover...Augmenten will take the stuffin's out of you, too.
Backing up a bit...Our flights went well. Because our GR flight was cancelled we were re-booked at slightly different times and as a result we got to fly first class from Minn to Seattle! We also had a nice but short visit with Steve and Marilyn. She is such a gracious hostess! We also saw Scott and Melissa's place...lovely!
Scott, I hope your thumb is healing well. I think you and Melissa are vacationing at your aunt and uncle this week in Minnesota. I hope you are having a good time! (You always do! :-)
Cheryl, maybe you could pass this on to Mom and tell her that we said hi to her, too. If any of you see the boys you can give them this info, too.
We trust that you are all well. We are heading north tomorrow to Quesnell and Barkerville. Gloria, we will be arriving on Saturday...hopefully around noonish. I hope your weather is warming.
Well, I think this library is ready to close. Al's next door at the Bean Counter getting a cup of coffee.
Take care. We love you.
Mom/Karen