British Columbia and Yukon Territory

It sure seems good to be back in some sort of civilization again after nearly a full week of limited communication.  We left Seattle in the rain and wondered, as we drove, if we'd ever see dry weather again.  The first three days into British Columbia it rained most of the time as we drove through mostly forestland with no spectacular scenery.  As we drovee toward Terrace, the weather improved enough to allow for some decent pictures of the Bear Glacier and other beautiful scenery along the way.  While in Terrace, we took a day trip to Prince Rupert, an important seaport on the Pacific Ocean.  We enjoyed seeing several large freighters in port as well as an Alaskan Ferry and a huge BC Ferry.  Also fascinating was the seaplane port.  We happened to be there to see one plane land and  two others take off.  It was interesting to learn the planes at Prince Rupert only fly to areas within British Columbia.  A disturbing fact we learned was the unemployment rate in Prince Rupert is 22% due to the decline of industry related to timber.
  
From Terrace we headed up the Cassiar-Stewart Highway with our next stop in the border towns of Stewart, BC and Hyder, AK.  After hearing about Hyder for many years, we were shocked when we saw the town.  I guess we were expecting a modern tourist town, but found an old fashioned, rather decrepit community.  While less than 100 people call Hyder home, it is still host to thousands of visitors every summer, with the prime draw being bear watching during the salmon run.  Hyder is also a start of a driving tour to Salmon Glacier.  Salmon Glacier has the distinction of being the only glacier accessible by road.  It's also interesting to note that Stewart, BC is the northernmost ice-free seaport.

Between Stewart and Whitehorse, Yukon, there was more marvelous scenery to include a couple of Black Bears, Grizzlies and a Moose.  We were pleasantly surprised that the Cassiar Highway was mostly good.

As is our custom, we have checked out a few local eating places.  It's been an interesting experience with cuisine ranging from Caribou Stew to Musk Ox Stroganoff, Halibut, "Toad in the Hole" (Yorkshire Pudding) and even BBQ Ribs.  The only thing not to our liking are the prices.  We find the restaurants very expensive.

We will be exploring Whitehorse and Skagway, AK in the next couple of days and will tell you about that next time.