For those of us who grew up in the northern part of British Columbia, travelling to and from Vancouver is easy. For some reason, it takes longer for people from the Lower Mainland to travel up to Prince George than it does for the Northern folk to scoot on down to the coast. After eight days away from home, four tanks of gas and many kilometers on the ol' minivan, our family is happy to be back at home.
In my life, I have driven south on Highway 97 too many times to count. It is a long drive but fun and as much as I try to tell our southern friends, it really doesn't take too much time or effort.
I readily admit that there are parts of the highway that are exceptionally painful but on the whole, the trip goes fairly quickly going to Vancouver and very slowly on the way back home.
This is for three reasons: 1) there is a reverse time warp when you get to Williams Lake that makes time go more slowly on the drive home 2) there are not as many little strange towns between Williams Lake and Prince George to break up the drive and 3) boreal forests are nice forests to explore but exceptionally boring to drive through.
On the morning of a road trip south, you all clamor inside your vehicle excited about leaving town and going to the big city. There are piles of travel food in your vehicle and perhaps you stop to fill up your tank at the gas station just south of town. You still have energy and you are pumping yourself full of caffeine in anticipation of the big trip.
Whoosh. Red Rock. Stoner. Hixon. Now you're in Quesnel.
Quesnel is so cute with it's little downtown and the hordes of teenagers standing outside the 7/11.
You drive out of town still excited and by the time you're on the blue bridge out of town, you realize that you should have stopped for a bathroom break and now you have to go the 7/11 at the top of the hill.
Now you are behind schedule.
Southwards traveler, next stop is the Tim Hortons at Williams Lake (who doesn't stop here?) and Lac Le Hache, the Longest Town in the Cariboo, where any traveler knows the highway patrol are waiting to give you a speeding ticket so you slow down.
Next is 108 Mile House, 100 Mile House, Chasm, Clinton and on to Cache Creek for lunch if you didn't eat at the Timmies in Willie's Puddle. If you like a greasy burger, you stop at Hungry Herbie's but this time, we ate at Subway as a feeble attempt at counteracting the week's worth of chocolate I inhaled.
Really you are almost in Vancouver by the time you hit Cache Creek because next it's the Canyon, the tunnels and Boston Bar (you will get a speeding ticket here too) and more little, tiny gold rush towns.
"Really this trip is going so fast, we're making excellent time," you say to your partner and then you breeze past Hope to find yourself stuck in traffic in Abbotsford. But, you made it and now it's just city driving. And by driving, I mean idling and inching forward.
It's a trip that I could do with my eyes closed but why would you want to? We are blessed to live in a province in which the scenery changes every few hundred kilometers.
Take a trip and explore, just make sure to watch your speed.
