Summer In Prince George

We took our annual trip up to Prince George this year. The timing was a bit tighter than normal. We usually like to go up for three full days with a day of travel on either side. This year we had to squeeze between Callie's driving lessons and Carter's sport camp which meant we had to leave late on Wednesday and take two days to get up. We left around 3:00p and got into William's Lake around 10:00p and stayed in a hotel. We then got up and drove the rest of the way in the morning getting into Prince George around 10:00a. This year the whole family was able to make it including Jordan and Karla who have recently moved to Quesnel.

Our first destination for the weekend was West Lake where my family has property. This year my first job was to drive some stakes marking out that property. With my Grandmother passing away a few years ago the family is looking to build a cabin so we had the property surveyed so we knew exactly where the property lines were. I was quite surprised at the size. I knew we had about 2.5 acres but it was bigger than I expected. The rear of the property goes all the way back to a secondary access road. The lake frontage was about where I expected it to be and there are a few oddly shaped portions that went farther than I was expecting as well.

The Friday was Canada day so Callie, Carter and I headed to Fort George Park (Recently renamed to something I can't easily recall) The rest of the family wasn't interested in going but we like to go for the food. Each kid got $20 and despite runaway inflation, the prices were not too bad. They each got a food item, a drink and a dessert. The weather was perfect for it and we got there just in time. By the time we got our food, the lineups for all the stalls were quite long. They had a good mix of cultural performers. The only downside is they are quite strict about no dogs in the park. Animal Control was very prominent.

Carter and I went out to the lake one last time on the Saturday. It's been an annual job for me to take the canoe around the bend and pick rocks from the shore line. Eric has been putting in steel baskets to manage the shoreline and it needs big rocks to work well. I took Jackson for a trip and then on our last trip Carter followed us in the canoe and we decided we would head to the public beach. Another item that Carter had no recollection of. I got into a bit of trouble because we didn't bring a hat for Jackson but I was slightly overcast so I think he'll live. We picked up some nice flat rocks on our way back.

We came home on the Sunday and traffic wasn't bad considering it was the end of the long weekend. We stopped off at Horsting's farm for some fudge and bread. Cache Creek was the greenest I've ever seen it. A pleasant change from last year where the fires were so bad and the heat dome brought the hottest temperatures on record. We also stopped off at Hungary Herbies for lunch. The food there is always great. It was a quick trip overall and I still enjoy heading up to Prince George especially when the weather is nice enough to spend most of it at the lake. 

 

Father's Day

Taking a lesson from Mother's Day where the family had to guess what Kerry wanted, I decided to be very clear with my Father's Day wishes this year. My specific instructions were "I'd like Dick Prenoke's book on building a cabin and I'd like to go to Granville Island by boat." The family was able to take care of some of my gift request however Father's Day landed on the last weekend before the end of school so they requested that they postpone a portion of Father's Day to the following weekend. They got me the book I wanted but we had to go to Whiterock for dinner.

The weather has remained cool this year but it was nice enough to go to the beach. We ordered fish and chips and had many seagulls join us for a meal. They seem quite polite until they sense weakness and then they swoop in. There was definitely a hierarchy of birds with the bigger ones getting a bit too close for comfort. We managed to eat our meals but we had to sacrifice a few fries. We then came home for dinner where Carter had made me a red velvet cake with cream cheese icing. It was quite delicious and he was quite proud of his diabetes inspired decorations. 

The following weekend we made it to Granville Island. We didn't get to go by boat but we were still busy so that was okay. The weather was much nicer so it was good thing we did go the following weekend. It was our first nice day this year. One surprise was that we realized Carter had no real memory of ever being at Granville Island. It had been a few years before Covid that we had gone and I guess he was too young to remember. He actually thought we were taking a ferry to an island. I think he enjoyed himself. We even went to the kids market and had him go through the kids door. He's a bit tall now. Father's Day spread over two weekends was great!