ONLY 900 MILES TO PRINCE RUPERT
Five days of on-site airport parking for only $25.00! Ya gotta love these smaller community airports! I fired up the trusty blue Mazda and sped out onto the highway headed south towards Kelowna. Highway 97 is the main drag through town and tonight it seemed particularly busy. Add to this about two dozen stoplights between the airport and the bridge over the lake at the south end of Kelowna and you’ve got about a forty-five minute drive just to get out of town. And it was raining.
About 15 miles out of Kelowna, Highway 97C branches off from southbound 97 and begins a seventeen mile long climb up into the mountains. A flashing road sign warned that dense fog and snow were ahead, but the road was still open. Hmm…
As I continued climbing, the rain did indeed change to snow, though so far it wasn’t much of a problem. Then I got into the fog. Just like that it was suddenly there. Then the snow began to accumulate on the roadway. I’m not kidding when I say that you couldn’t see more than about thirty feet in front of you, but the sides of the road weren’t showing up all that clearly either. White on the road, white on the sides and lots of snow reflecting off the headlights in the front. The grade was about 6%, enough so that I really didn’t want to slow my speed and momentum down on a potentially slippery surface. It was pretty much a case of keep the pedal down and don’t screw up. I would best describe the remainder of my drive to the top of the pass as “harrowing”. And, just as I was contemplating a long, slow descent into Merritt, the intensity of the snowfall began to quickly diminish. Within three miles of the summit, I was out of the fog and breathing a big sigh of relief as conditions improved ever so rapidly. I continued on to 100 Mile House without further concern.
The next day I made it out to Smithers, situated at the foot of scenic Hudson Bay Mountain. Odd, I thought, to name the mountain not after Henry Hudson but rather after a geographical feature that’s already been named for him. There’s a
ski area on the mountain that’s not only popular with local Canadians but also with folks from Ketchikan, Alaska – 100 miles up the coast. They just hop on the Alaska Marine Highway for the five hour “drive” down to Prince Rupert, then continue on another three hours to Smithers.
Smithers has lots of motels and I set out to find one appropriate to my budget. It’s not always as simple as staying in the cheapest motel however. While many inexpensive motels can be quite good, some of them can also be quite rundown. Often, though not always, the quality of a motel can be discerned from its overall appearance outside. First and foremost, does it look inviting? Does the building appear to be well maintained? Do the grounds look clean? Next, I look at the amount of space between the doors to each room. It’s a good indicator of how spacious the rooms are. And what about those windows… I like a big window set waist high, not a small window mounted high up on the wall. Also, I much prefer single level ranch-style construction to multi-level buildings such as Motel 6s. It’s worth noting that many of the older motels are more solidly built than the newer multi-story buildings. This generally means better insulation between rooms and less noise. Whenever I check in, I always ask for a room with no adjoining room. The doors between rooms are great conduits for noise from next door.
I found what I was looking for in the Sorrento Motel. Located out at the far end of town, it was a single level place built along the lines of the old auto courts that housed many a traveler along Route 66 and other rural routes in the days before interstates. The owner was an elderly Italian gentleman named Rocco. He was only too happy to show me a room and introduce me to his Border Collie, Lucky. The room included a kitchenette along one wall, a large couch, a table and a 20” color cable television with remote. The bedroom was separate from the main sitting room and had a nice queen sized bed. The bathroom had a bath. Total cost: $45.00 CAD per night.
On the subject of amenities, I’ve always found it interesting that big corporate hotels like Hyatt’s and Sheratons often append a charge for local calls and only offer about a dozen channels on their televisions. Most motels I’ve stayed in offer free local calls and have cable or satellite television offering a multitude of channels. Some of the big corporate places even charge exorbitant fees for parking on top of room rates that are three to four times higher than most motels. Yes, but there is that hairdryer along with a higher level of ambience more in keeping with many of the guest’s stations in life. Plus, those $15.00 room service hamburgers are
really good!
The next morning, following a plate of memorable banana nut pancakes in a downtown restaurant, I turned back on to the Yellowhead Highway and continued my westward journey. Prince Rupert was only another 215 miles away. Unfortunately, sleet and snow were my constant companions through the beautiful Skeena Canyon – one of my favorite places in all of British Columbia and one that I’ve been fortunate to experience twice under sunnier conditions.
Some of you may remember that I spent three days in Prince Rupert back in late March of this year. I’d just come up from the bottom of South America and was on my way – in a roundabout fashion – to the top of Australia. I had no vehicle with me then and so stayed in town at the Moby Dick Hotel. I was quite pleased then with the Moby Dick – the rooms were spacious and well appointed, and the location at the edge of the downtown district was most convenient. So – even though there were less expensive accommodations available in town, I found myself looking forward to a return visit to this hotel.
Alas, it was not to be. Yes, I had a reservation but unfortunately the only rooms available to me were both on the third and fourth floors, both of which were primarily assigned to a number of high school girl’s hockey teams in town for a weekend tournament. Now this might sound like fun at first, but we’re talking loud, giggly, gum chewing fifteen year old mall crawlers who punctuate their speech with words like “like” and “OhmyGod!” every other sentence. Sometimes more than once in the same sentence. Occasionally one of them would scream at some particularly erudite observation or comment by one of her peers. I know. My room was unfortunately right next to what appeared to be Party Central. The door was open and the room had about eight kids crowded onto the bed or the floor around the bed. Clothes were strewn all over the place and a steady stream of people seemed to be coming in and out constantly. Next door in my room, I could hear everything.
OhmyGod! Did you see that guy Suzie went out with last week?! OhmyGod! (Insert scream here) He was like, four feet tall! Tell me you’re not gonna wear that green thing to Megan’s party next weekend! OhmyGod! That thing is like, sooo grody! They were all screaming over the finer points of some classmate named Darren when I decided to head down to the front desk and see what my options were. For sure, there was like, no way I was going to be able to stay any longer in that room. OhmyGod! (Insert scream here) It was like, totally insane!
The only other rooms at the hotel were on the second floor and were nowhere near as nice as those on the top two floors. Since I’d not used anything in my original room, I decided to ask if I could just check out and come back another time. The front desk clerk was both understanding and accommodating. She said there’d be no charge and they’d look forward my next visit whenever that might be.
With the exception of my visit last March, I’ve always driven to Prince Rupert, so staying at a motel away from the downtown district was never a problem. My motel of choice has always been the Parkside Resort Motel, located just a mile out of town. I have yet to understand the “Resort” connotation of the name, though the property does offer a laundry room. I headed over to the Parkside now and was pleased to find that not only did they have plenty of space (I was only one of two guests in my building) but they’d added free wireless internet access since my last visit, some six years ago. My room was nice and quiet and I got a good night’s sleep.
The next morning, I whipped up a cup of my favorite coffee and walked over to a nearby McDonalds for an Egg McMuffin. Say what you will about McDonalds, but I think those Egg McMuffins are an excellent breakfast sandwich by anyone’s standards. Simple, tasty, and eminently affordable. Avoid the sausage ones though – they’ve got 29 grams of fat! Get the regular one and you’re down to 11 grams of fat, even less if you remove some or all of the cheese. I bought two and headed back to the motel for some football. It was Sunday and the Chiefs were playing the Bills. As a Bronco fan, I had to cheer on the Bills since a victory over the Chiefs coupled with a Denver win over the Raiders would put the Broncs up by two in the AFC West. Go Bills!
The Parkside offers a complimentary late checkout until 2:00pm for its many guests who are making connections onto either the Alaska Marine Highway or the BC Ferry. My boat wasn’t scheduled to depart until 5:30pm, so I was appreciative of the extra time available. After all, it had been raining all morning, even sleeting on occasion, so it was a good day to just hang out and enjoy the games. On a positive note, the Bills did indeed beat the Chiefs. Unfortunately however, the local CBS affiliate chose to broadcast a boring golf tournament over the vastly superior entertainment afforded via a key AFC West battle between the Raiders and the Broncos. I listened to the game via the Internet until checkout time, and then headed into town for a lunch. At 4:00pm, I drove out to the ferry terminal, located about three miles south of the city center.