Tuesday 21 December

Hi everyone!

Once again, it has been about a week since we have written. Time does seem to go really fast! :-) At the moment we are in sunny (not) Prince Rupert. This place isn't called the city of rainbows for nothing!

Since we last wrote in here, we have spent a few more days on Vancouver Island. We were staying with friends, and they took us for short local trips. We went to a couple of Provincial Parks and saw some impressive falls. We could not get over the amount of moss on the trees and the cliff faces. The mossy trees look like creatures out of a cartoon! We also went to see Cathedral Grove. This is a section of old-growth forest with trees that are over 800 years old. In 1997 there was a big wind-storm that uprooted alot of these trees. They have left the blown over trees where they lay and they are interesting to observe.

On Saturday we took a bus up to the Northern tip of the island, to Port Hardy. This trip took a little over 5 hours and we went through some amazing scenery. Up north there isn't much civilization, mostly firs, lakes and lots of mountains. At Port Hardy we caught the ferry that would take us to Prince Rupert. This trip was something like 24 hours. The first part we were sleeping in our lovely little cabin. It was really noisy due to vibrations in the ceiling and walls. It was quite choppy on the water and El was not feeling the best, to put it nicely. The next day the waters got calmer as we entered the inside passage that would take us to Prince Rupert. This boat trip is apparently very popular in the summer, with all the wildlife around. We managed to spot some porpoises and some whales playing around in the water. :-) The scenery was spectacular as well.

So now we are in Prince Rupert and have been for two days. Yesterday was quite bleak and rainy. We went to the Museum and saw an impressive display of first-nation people artifacts. One thing we really both love is the argillite (heat treated stone) carvings that these people do. Very expensive though - and heavy. Might get some yet. :-)

Tomorrow we are leaving early and catching the Skeena Train to Jasper. We have an overnight stop in Prince George where we are going to be staying with some friends, before we head off again the next morning. Once we hit Jasper, we are going to be there for 5 nights. Will be awesome to have a white Christmas.

Anyway, time to sign off.
Love El and Geoff