There’s Darth Vader playing the violin – Day 9: Prince Rupert – Smithers

[wickesy]

We were up today at 7:30 and after getting washed and dressed we went across the road to Tim Horton’s for a toasted wheat and honey bagel with strawberry cream cheese and a hot chocolate.

We were on the coach and away by 9:00 and the first stop was in the little town of Terrace where we went into the local Safeway to get some stuff for a picnic for later in the day. I don’t think the poor girls behind the deli counter knew what had hit them when a coach load of British tourists suddenly turned up asking for fresh sandwiches.

Back on the coach we made our way down the main highway before stopping off at a rest area at the edge of the forest to have our picnic. Suitably refreshed we carried on to Hazelton where we stopped off at the Ksan Historical Village. This is another reconstructed village owned and operated by a Native tribe in order to pass on their heritage to visitors. It consists of a number of ‘long houses’ constructed in genuine First Nation style and again we were given a guided tour and audio presentation explaining the customs and feasts that the clans would have. Apparently some of these feasts would last for a month!

After the tour we were back on the coach and had a quick drive around Old Hazelton before making our way down to Smithers and the Hudson Bay Lodge.

Once our bags had been delivered to our room we made our way down to the bar where we had a pint of honey brown lager each, I had Pepper Jack melt and Dad had Chicken Alfredo.

After dinner we went back up to the room where, once again we were both in bed by 9:30.

Tomorrow: A day on the road