Alaska Bound: 17- The Finale - BC Canada & The Worst Border Crossing

Gotta love it driving down the road and there's a big old black bear on the side of the road He's back there. That's cool. It's a bear I know Another bear Just a scaredy cat Woke up ahead having our morning coffee and Singa looks out the window like what the heck I look out the window There's a bear Not a hundred feet from us and both kitties are very curious We're on the last couple kilometers of the Cassier Highway The mountains have turned from craggy peaks to more rolling hills and And to smithers. It's supposed to be a really cool town. So I'm kind of excited maybe a little coffee shop Trans Canada Highway, there you go next highway. What an awesome drive it has been we've seen What two three four bears? Four bears? We only captured a couple on camera. Yeah, but we've seen four bears beautiful drive lots of fantastic waterfall lined peaks glaciers Yeah, just all kinds of stuff. So I don't know. It's been a good drive. I can't say that it's probably been my All-time favorite, but it is definitely up there. It's a good one. Agreed. We went right to the municipal Municipal campground because we just assumed that it would be Least expensive and maybe a nicer campground but turns out it's actually one of the pricier ones or the same price as all of the private campgrounds and Some of the others offer free Wi-Fi and other amenities. So anyway, we're gonna go scope them out See what they look like This is a really cute little ski town, but it's off season. So there's not a whole lot going on right now We did find this fantastic little cafe though we were chatting up the barista asking her for a favorite hike and Well, that's where we're headed now Man, I can already feel the the temperature change getting up. It's a lot colder You see that? Three waterfalls. One there and one over there Oh yeah Look at that Now this is where we should have camped there's no fee station There's nothing that talks anything about fees or payments or where to put it or anything like that But there are one two three Four sites that are all right here and this particular site here would have definitely fit our 33-foot rig next time But now you know But I can't guarantee it won't be already taken It's a really fun town It's got a couple nice little stops and it's worth a visit for sure. Oh and the campgrounds we drove around did a little scouting and We didn't find one right in town that we liked any more than the municipal one that we stayed at The National Forest that we just came from that one That was the best I knew it was dirty But I didn't know it was that dirty Must have been like an inch thick of dirt The last time we really washed it was in Tok Been several thousand miles Fairbanks, Fairbanks. Oh, Fairbanks. Oh, yeah, we did a little wash in Fairbanks. But anyway, that's that's a lot of dirt a lot of dirt roads She's not clean by any means, but she's got the first couple inches of dirt off of her First rest area and a beer we were gonna go far but not anymore Interesting looks like they have a little table and it says the reserve sites and a deposit box Kind of crazy, but it works. They've at least got all the information here Well, we were gonna explore Prince George but as you can tell Nothing's open. I don't think things are like real bustling around here on the weekend Least not downtown. At least not downtown This place was crazy on Friday. I know so here I thought it was gonna be an awesome Saturday night and it's Crickets It's been raining and raining And now the Sun has finally popped out. So we've pulled over at this heritage site Sadly, it's too late for tour, but it's pet friendly and it's an excellent place to stretch our legs Welcome to the world famous Hell's Gate In case you're wondering, yes, it is a tourist destination Hell's Gate is apparently just a tram down to the narrowest and deepest section of the Fraser River And while that's neat enough, I was hoping that we would just be able to walk down and view it However, the tram is the only way down and I don't really feel like paying $22 to go down to a bridge So I'll take the overview The other downside is well the river is not really flowing that Crazy, it doesn't look that epic right now because it's at the end of season I bet in spring it's flowing like just mad with all the snow melt and and everything But right now it just looks like a river Our last stop was here and the visitor center said literally there's nothing to do so we come here and Well, we don't want to pay $44 for the two of us to go down and see that unfortunately and next stop is Hope And we know there's a cool coffee shop there. So can we get some coffee? Okay. Yeah, we just noticed a sign that said bridge trail which sounds like maybe there is actually a bridge Maintained by the park system that you can walk across and maybe see the river that way Let's earn that coffee Yeah Hell's Gate is a mile or two upriver and you can see The river is not rushing this time of year now leave her alone for a minute shoot a photo and Look at her You're crazy That was a great little stop Totally worth $0 I'm a hundred percent satisfied with my purchase Okay, I'm ready for the world now I can live under a tree like that He's got a mouse in his beard What an eyeball ring so detailed We are on our way towards Vancouver and we just passed through a town called Abbotsford And Abbotsford is it's a great town. We spent a lot of time there and they have a Wonderful farm-to-table community restaurants all this stuff It's a cool little town to visit if you have time you should and if you want to get the heck out of Dodge This is the place to do it There's a border crossing just south of Abbotsford that Almost never has a wait the billboard even said like a five-minute wait at the border, which is nothing But us of course, we always do what's difficult. We're heading straight into Vancouver And we're gonna cross at the busiest crossing in BC We have so many things to do in Vancouver beer coffee things we want to see So we're gonna you know head that way and do it the hard way But if you want to get out of Dodge you want to get out of Canada ASAP get back into the lower 48 Definitely Abbotsford is the spot to do it Hi, I made reservations We've always wanted to come to Vancouver Island and We couldn't be so close and not just bite the bullet and do it however, when we checked pricing to bring the RV over it was a small fortune and For just a short Day or two trip didn't seem worth it, which is why I've just brought the car over. We're gonna stay in a hotel gasp And have some fun to explore the island It's not our home, but it'll do. This city has a great nightlife and Well, we had an awesome time, but completely forgot to capture it. So just have to take our word for it That actually turned out to be pretty fantastic food was really good, but It's more the service that made it so Lovely everybody was just incredibly nice For some reason I expected Victoria to be a small quaint little town, but it's full of life. It's a bustling little city It's a college town. I can't believe how awesome this place is We don't have a reservation or anything Well, I'll tell you what it was Not enough time 24 hours is not enough time to explore the whole island But we got a taste which was nice Better than nothing at all. If we would have had more time definitely bringing the RV over would have been good but tomorrow we're heading to downtown Vancouver for a couple of our favorite stops before Crossing back into the lower 48 Whoo, it's been a whirlwind You're wondering why we stayed here. It's because it's only like a mile from the ferry system. So it was very convenient No, not a very pretty park Not at all Today it was kind of rainy and ugly. So we postpone our Vancouver day into a Vancouver evening. We're heading in for coffee now and the weather looks like It's gotten a little bit better They do not mess around here Bob is one crazy SLB when you ask for hot he gives it to you May not have spent very much time here, but you can't leave Stop picking up a souvenir and who needs a smashed penny when you've got craft beer and coffee my two favorite things super spicy leftover Thai food Let's go Less than a mile away from the US border There's a sign that we just passed and said it's only a 10-minute delay, which isn't bad. It's Sunday morning So apparently Sunday morning is a good time to cross back in the States At least today It's a little sad that it's over But it's just one adventure ending so that another can begin Trying not to be too sad about it, but it's been kind of an epic Trip an epic summer. We've done so much. We've seen so much we've experienced so much It's hard to say Goodbye the end to that little adventure emotions of excitement sadness and sheer exhaustion Are definitely overwhelming as we're crossing under peace arch or by peace arch. Goodbye, Alaska Goodbye, Canada, we'll see you next time Hey Here we are at another border crossing and the nerves are coming on Although this one has a little bit of a reason every time we cross back into the States at a bigger crossing like this It's the only time we've ever been Like stopped and searched not that they're really looking for much of anything It's usually agricultural stuff And of course have like a bunch of citrus and avocados and everything else in the refrigerator not, you know in the end What's that nothing, but I hate wasting food So I'm hoping they don't take it next up. Oh Baby, oh, here we go. My turn to go ten minutes was exactly correct It didn't take us any longer than that. So that's not bad at all Morning good. How are you? As suspected because we didn't lie about the fact we had food on board that would be silly They want to come in and inspect our fruits and vegetables Make sure that we don't have anything on board that they don't want coming across the border and that's about it So I don't think it should be a big deal hopefully But we'll see I'll let you know Well, that was a bummer They took quite a bit of our food. Sadly all the potatoes tomatoes avocados every bit of citrus Garlic Had to ditch my plants Yeah, anyway bunch of stuff it changes so frequently that there's really no way to tell Even she agreed that the websites are pretty much useless. So she gave us phone numbers, which we'll list That you can call To ask what's okay, and what's not okay, but general rule of thumb Pretty much don't cross with anything just clear out your fridge of any fresh fruits and vegetables Yeah, so that's that there went about probably oh, I would say 30 or 40 bucks worth of groceries So that's a bummer that will just get tossed in the trash Okay, so Ross are all Welcome home It's real bummer That you never really know what you're gonna get we've crossed The border on this trip what four or five times we've crossed the border the Canadian border multiple times over the years and they've never Given us much of a hard time and they put us in like this super duper narrow Super duper narrow Spot You're grinding on this side is what you're yeah, I know I'm hitting the curb cuz I'm like right up against this orange thing Okay Okay, where the hell we go on to Seattle, I guess this is where we leave you what a crazy way to end Everything