Heading North

It will only be a few days before heading north into British Columbia to visit my cousins Christy and Susan along with some of their family. I look forward to seeing them and having a good time. Don’t have an exact time spending with them other than it will be about two weeks. I will have a lot to write about my travels that is for sure. By car it takes about thirteen and half hours to get Christy’s place at Rose Lake without a break that is. So I will take two days to drive. With the breaks I will drive about eight hours each day to arrive in the late afternoon.

It has been four years since the last time I was up there for Christy’s oldest son’s wedding. He and his wife just had their first baby a couple weeks ago. So you can imagine the stories we will here. Also Susan just became a grandmother once again. Christy now has two granddaughters as her youngest son has a daughter as well. I am not sure how many months but less than two years old. Lots of pictures to look forward to see that is for sure. Most likely not to see either of the new granddaughters since both live elsewhere unless they plan to come for a visit which would be nice that is for sure. Susan now has eight grandchildren with the oldest being the only girl. I believe she is nine since she was five the last time we saw her. The chances are pretty good that we will see her and her two brothers since they live near Susan and spend a lot of time at her place.

Along with my mother we will be heading out about 9 am on Wednesday July 12 and arrive the first night about 5 pm in Kamloops, British Columbia. Depending on traffic we will be in Seattle about 10 am and getting to the Canadian border about 12:30 pm. We will make a stop at the Smokey Mountain rest area for about a half hour. It is about an hour drive from Seattle. That area we will start to see a lot of green grass and farms. We can smell the cows as well. A lot of small towns in that area heading on Interstate 5 and I always enjoy the view. When we hit Bellingham which is less than a half an hour from the Canadian border we will get off the interstate and head east for about ten miles. We will than cross the US/Canadian border at Sumas, Washington. The census report from 2010 says the population is a little over 1300. Sumas has a little over 1400 square miles in the city so you see less than one person per square mile.

On the other side of the Canadian border is Abbottsford, British Columbia. My Aunt Judy lived in Abbottsford for a short period after she moved west from Montreal, Quebec. She then moved onto Vancouver Island near Victoria where she lived until she passed away about eight years ago.

At Abbottsford we will drive for only a few minutes heading east on TransCanada highway then north until Hope, British Columbia. We will probably stop in Hope for dinner before heading to Kamloops. Hope to Kamloops is about two and half hour drive.

The second day we will see a lot of wilderness. Enjoy that part of the country. At that point we will be out in the sticks that is for sure. We will be on highway BC 97. Not sure exactly where we will take our breaks however we will likely have lunch at 100 mile house. We will head east when we make it to 150 mile house. We will be close at that point to our destination of Rose Lake.

Today I will be getting my car serviced. Of course have to be sure it is in good condition.  Until next time enjoy your wonderful weekend.