Lynda and I were still high fiving one another all day today as we continued to giggle about our good fortune with yesterday's helicopter adventures. That memory will resonate with both of us for years to come! Thanks again to Mitch, Viri, and Lars for making it happen.
This morning we woke to what could be described as torrential downpour and nothing changed on the weather front until 6:00 tonight. Since they've had pretty much nothing but rain here for the past few weeks, we couldn't let a little bad weather stop us from exploring so Lynda and I were up and out this morning to check out the town. Our first stop was the bakery where the sticky cinnamon buns are the size of a small city! One of those and a cup of coffee (with sugar and coffee mate just like the good old days) sure hit the spot and we decided that before we leave here we will have to come back for a hot dog or a smokie. They have the old fashioned rotisserie thingy that heats the wieners under a bulb. You know the kind that take at least an hour and that seem to make the best hot dogs. Since its a bakery...they have nice fresh buns and of course all the fixings so....you can see why we are thinking a hot dog might be in order.
Speaking of food, Stewart might be small but it is not lacking for tasty grub. Last night we had dinner at The Dash which is just a simple food truck that has been attached to a large structure that is covered by clear plastic walls and a roof. Remember where we are....having a roof and walls is important when there are more rainy days than sunny ones in the open season. They make fresh bread (and buns) daily and the meals we all had were outstanding! Pulled pork sandwiches dripping with BBQ goodness, mountainous double patty bacon burgers, cheesy pulled pork pizza (also on a fresh homemade crust), and handcut fries done to crispy perfection...Yep....it was one of those meals you'd return for.
Exploring the townsite of Stewart didn't take long and since there was time and the sunshine was still liquid, I decided to do a little P3 promotion since no one here carries that product. I began at the
Quickie Mart (one of the two grocery stores in town-there are no drugstores). It wasn't the Quickie Mart where I met the owners, Godie and Eva Appenzeller. I commented that I had gone to high school with a girl named Regula Appenzeller in Mission and that is when Eva got an odd look on her face and the world got a whole lot smaller! It turns out that Regula is Godie's sister and she now lives in Vernon...just two hours from where I am. Yep....small world! In the end we had a great visit and Eva set up an account to retail P3, we placed her initial order, and it will be just a matter of days until P3 will be flying off the shelves here just as it does at its other locations.
While I was catching up on old times with Godie, Lynda had been shopping for dinner. Jeez, I'm lucky again...I just visit and magically the next thing I know there are delicious aromas of spaghetti sauce bubbling out of the kitchen back at Mitch and Viri's!
It tasted as good as it smelled and as we finished the dishes after dinner the skies began to clear, the rain slowed to a stop and the sun began to shine. We've already learned that you can't afford to waste a minute of dry skies in this part of the world so we were out the door and off to Hyder Alaska in search of bear.
Just a couple miles down the road we crossed into Hyder. There is no US customs going into Hyder...just the Canadian customs coming back into Stewart. If I thought Stewart is small, Hyder is TINY! Not sure what the population is but if Stewart is 450 then I'm guessing Hyder might be 45! Really the only thing to do in Hyder is to visit the interpretive centre/bear viewing area along the Fish Creek where the salmon are now spawning. We only saw one lone black bear but we did see a lot of tourists from all over the world. I spoke to people from Texas, from Oregon, from Germany, and from Canada...oh just a minute...that was us that we're from Canada! LOL... Seriously, there were quite a number of tourists. I really did talk to all those people, and the license plates on the approximately 20 vehicles in the parking lots were from all over. We purchased 3 day passes so will
go back a couple mor times while we are here. Today there was just too much rain so the river was
swollen and overflowing to the degree that no fish were visible and soooo....the grizzly bears just don't bother coming round. They're described as being a bit lazy so they'll wait till the water is clear, the fish are visible, and the fishing is easy.
From the bear viewing area we stopped at the end of the Hyder pier. What a view! Mist and low cloud hanging out over the tidal flats, sunshine kissing the tops of the snow capped mountains, blue skies peeking through white fluffy clouds...it was nature posing for a picture in her best finery. We snapped a few shots knowing full well that the pictures would never do justice to the natural beauty we were experiencing in that moment. The camera would never be able to pick up the crispness of the air, the call of the birds overhead, the smell of the seawater, the dancing of the sunlight as it flickered through the moving misty clouds...yes...truly a magical land we live in!
Crossing back into Canada was just like any other border crossing (only a whole lot smaller and less busy) so her we are back at the house. It is currently 10:10 and it is still light enough out for me to think that it might be only about 8:00 at home! Amazing the difference a little latitude can make!
Till tomorrow friends....who knows what adventures will present themselves to us then.
Lynda and Lorrie
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