road trip 2022 - day 5 and 6 to Edmonton

 I left Barkerville in the morning, saying goodbye to the lovely hosts at the hotel. I was thinking that I hadn't done any drawing yet on this trip, but on the way out I caught a view of the church worth trying. I sat down on the step of a building across the way, and started the pencil sketch. However, I had to finish the initial sketch quite quickly and get up and leave, as I was being eaten alive by mosquitos. I finished with the ink and the watercolour pencil later in the day.

The weather was nice. I stopped in Quesnel for a coffee, and a walk along the river for a bit, before continuing to Prince George. It was a short drive today, and I arrived early. I used the time to stock up on groceries. I then found a craft beer place downtown, Crossroads Brewing, and had a beer while I finished my drawing. 

I had spent a summer here in Prince George as an undergrad, but that was almost 40 years ago, so not surprisingly I really didn't recognize anything.

The next day I got up early for a very long day of driving. The first couple of hours of Highway 16 east of Prince George is a long stretch of nothing but rolling hills and forest, with after a while mountains rising up on either side. Kind of eerie, really. This is a long, flat valley of the Fraser River - almost hard to believe it's that same river that empties in Vancouver. I then reached the very friendly little town of McBride, which was founded as a stop for the railway. There is still a train station, and the tourist information center is in the same building.

Continuing east, the mountains rise higher and soon you arrive at Mt. Robson Park. As the lady in the McBride tourist information center said when I asked about seeing Mt. Robson from the road: "you can't miss it". Incredible view.

I stopped at the Mt. Robson Visitor Center and walked around for a bit.

Back on the road and soon crossed the border into Alberta and Jasper National Park. I had planned to stop at the information center in Jasper, but being Canada Day the town was packed with people, so I just drove straight through. The scenery of the Rocky Mountains in Jasper National Park is amazing. I will spend some time here after Edmonton, so I'll talk more about it then. In the meantime, a drive through a National Park like Banff or Jasper is not complete without traffic having to stop for wildlife.

From Jasper it is still another three hours or so to Edmonton, making it a very long day. Almost 9 hours on the road including stops. I eventually made it to my hotel on Whyte Ave, which a busy area with restaurants and bars. Things were in full swing with Canada Day celebrations. Despite the long day, I didn't feel like going to bed early. I found a craft beer place, Situation Brewing, and had a beer and read for a bit before calling it a night.