Prince Rupert is accessible by land, air and sea. Although we came in on the Alaska Ferry, many people choose to either drive in via the Yellowhead Highway 16 or by the Canadian Rail.
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| Skeena River and Yellowhead Highway |
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| Welcome to Prince Rupert |
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The downtown area is still showing signs of the recent recession, but businesses appear to be coming back. The waterfront area is very nice, especially in Cow Bay.
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| Waterfront park |
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| complete with eagles catching fish |
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Cow Bay is especially popular for yachts and tourists. We watch the crew of the Evviva (registered in the Grand Caymans - of course) prepare for departure and then pull away from the dock. The Evviva was built by (and for) Orin Edson, the billionnaire founder of
Bayliner.
Although the Evviva isn't as fancy as the Luna (it only has one helicopter on board), we'd take it in a pinch. Later during lunch at the
Breakers Pub, our waitress tells us it's pretty cushy on board. She has a friend who works as a crew member and was able to come on board to check it out. As soon as she arrived, she was given soft booties to wear and was wrapped in a warm robe. {Sigh} people who own or can lease a yacht of this caliber are certainly surrounded by luxurious pampering.
Besides being an artsy town, Cow Bay residents and business take full advantage of their name. Cow themes can be seen everywhere.
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| Cow painted van |
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Happy bear in
gift shop |
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| A Cowuppcino Coffee shop |
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The Visitors' Center is located in the
Museum of Northern British Columbia in the waterfront area. Although it's a small museum, the exhibits are very well chosen and represent the best of Northwestern art and culture.
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| Museum of Northern British Columbia |
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Wow - that's a
big old growth cedar |
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| Main gallery of the Museum Northern British Columbia |
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The art work and artifacts are indeed top quality as well as the way they are displayed.
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| Stone carved bowls |
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| Etched glass warrior |
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| Wolf funerary statue |
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Since our
BC Ferry leaves at 7:30am and we expected to line up by 5:30am (boy that's early - I thought we were on vacation), we ask if we can spend the night in the parking area. The Ferry staff direct us to a parking area where we can spend the night. Although this is only the second night we've ever spent in a parking lot, we are happy to be so close to the ferry, beside it's free. Apparently, the free RV camping at the ferry terminal must be in a German guide book. We scored one of the last parking spots and shortly after all were filled, several campers and RVs driven by Germans circled around looking for a place to stay.
Our neighbors in a rented
Fraser RV camper are from
Bavaria Germany and I introduce myself as my Grandfather was from Bavaria as well. The husband is busy trying to tie some small weights on a fly for fishing. He's having a hard time as he doesn't have fly tying equipment and is getting frustrated working with just his fingers. He asks me if my husband is a fisher man. I laugh and say no... Peter's a fish eating man. The Bavarian doesn't quite catch my English, but his wife quickly translates and he laughs as well. Nodding he agrees, it's much easier to be a fish eating man than a fish catching man.
Later in talking with friends about all the Germans we met in both the Yukon and Alaska, we learn that not only do they find expansive wilderness areas not available in Europe, but also, they can easily get fishing and hunting licenses which are not only extremely expensive, but also very rare and hard to obtain in Germany.
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| Our campsite @ the BC Ferry |
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| Watching a long train of containers go by |
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Later that evening, we see our ferry, the
Northern Expedition, arrive and dock. It's the newest of the fleet and looks much like a small cruise ship. We look forward to boarding it EARLY in the morning.
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