Peace River

So Chizzle my co-worker and soon-to-be grade 4 teacher needed to go up to Peace River to get her materials for next September. She needed company for her road-trip and because I had the same days off we packed up and left earlyish Monday morning.

The drive up was about 4.5 hours and fairly uneventful. We stopped in Whitecourt, but other than that we saw nothing but farmland like around home and lots of highway. Oh, and we saw 2 dead deer, a dead moose calf and a dead coyote. ; ; Sucks to have forest virtually right beside the highway.

Finally at about the 4 hr mark the terrain started to change and we were treated to a beautiful view of the Peace River in its valley. :) The scene reminded me of my trip last summer to the Okanagan in BC AND it was even hotter in Peace River that day. (Up around 35 Celcius.)

While Chizzle had her meeting at the school I thought I'd go for a walk around the city and see what was to be seen. Nearly three hours later I had seen the local arena (being painted,) pool, Redi Mart, Arboretum and walking paths along the river. I'd also seen three hours of merciless sun beating down on my (unprotected >.<) skin and the last of the water in my bottle.

Finally Chizzle and I rendezvoused and decided to get some supplies and head out to a campground recommended to her by the teacher she is replacing. We stopped at the Co-0p for food and at the Travelodge liquor store for refreshment and hit the road (24 more km) for the campground. AWESOME! To get to Tangent Park we had to take a tug/ferry combination across the river. After a long, hot (and by now getting a little painful) day the river crossing was a welcome delight. The campground was our next pleasant surprise. It was clean and well-kept and the sites were great! Wood was free, I started a kick-ass fire that only took 1 match and YES! you CAN cook pizza over a campfire. We took a bunch of photos for posterity (hopefully I'll get at least ONE good one to post) and ended up crashing about 11pm.

Um... except for the bear, that is.

Yea. While we had been out and about taking photos, walking down by the river and playing at the playground we'd noticed a funny sound somewhere OUT there. As we were settling down to sleep that sound got closer... and sounded quite alarming. In fact it sounded quite a bit like a bear grunting. O.O We took a drive around the campground but didn't see anything. We left the car doors open..... just in case. We left the hatchet right outside the tent and kept our lights with us in case of emergency. Then we decided that we had been terrified by some bird... and fell asleep. Eventually.

Looking back, I'm sure it WAS a bird of some sort, but like nothing I'd ever heard.

The next morning arrived and Chizzle drove back into town while I made myself some breakfast pizza and Swiss Mocha. It was so beautiful and peaceful. I tidied up the site, did the dishes and packed my stuff to go. When Chizzle came back she had some lunch and we headed out for home. :) Felt great to get back in the city, but I am already looking forward to my next trip to Peace River and Tangent Park. I had a great time, although I was kinda crabby for like 65% of the time (sorry Chizzle :-/) and can't wait to go back. It's closer to me than Banff and honestly, at 10$ a night for a really nice, uncrowded site, I'd rather be up north than in the mountains. Also, I really want to see "12 Foot Davis"' grave, which was on the list but was forgotten. lol

12 Foot Davis makes me think funny things. :-D

Anyhow... I really hope the photos come out well. Maybe Chizzle will have had success with her digital. I just hope my film didn't melt entirely. :X