Canada road trip day 16

 Vancouver to Hope

Up a bit later today as we were tired. The balcony of our b and b started us off with 2 new species. House finch and chickadee . Humming bird also in the driveway.

We then dro e through Vancouver downtown to get to Stanley Park. Great place, but way too many people.

Then it was  over to Reifle bird reserve. Lots of new species and a great walk.

It was then time to pick up an ice cream and head to Hope, just under the Rockies for our Motel.

Canada road trip day 15

 Day 15 Port Hardy to Vancouver

The view from our room was amazing. What a b and b the Inn at St Stephens bay is.

The breakfast was also the best EVER.

A stack of croutons, avocado, tomato' spinach, poached egg, hollandaise, and ham and crab for Rob with melon and strawberry. Also a little bowl of blueberries yoghurt and oat. Delicious.

The weather was really gloomy so Jill had a quick walk but photography was hard in the rain. Lots of birds but all sheltering and hidden up. Humming birds were a nice bonus but distant.

Then the drive down the island with a few stops along the way. The weather didn't I.prove til we arrived at the harbour. Then brilliant sunshine.

The ferry took 2.5 hours and got us into Vancouver in the dark. Never nice driving in a strange city in the dark!

 Nice b and b in the suburbs.

Canada road trip days 12, 13 and 14

 Blog

Sorry about the missing blog over the last few days but one of the issues of being hundreds of miles from anywhere is no Internet. Not a bad thing , but no substitute when you need to blog!
Day 12
Tombstone To Izkut - Red Goat Lodge
A good start with Smiths Longspur calling near the car, but we couldn't see them.
Good views of American Tree Sparrow Rob also got American Dipper. We popped into the interpretive centre to let them know what we had seen and where for their records. It was only then 69km to the end of the Dempster Highway. Jill was quite glad to be off the gravel and on to road!
Back onto the Alaskan Highway doing a different route back - going past Watson Lake, stopping at Nugget City for souvenirs and drinks  and then turning onto Highway 37. This is a really lovely route. We had a close pair of Loons and watched two beavers interacting for  45 minutes.

Arrived at the Lodge quite late and found it was delightful with super hosts. What a location. Even had amazing ice-creams.

Day 13
Izcut to Terrace
Another great start to the day, Izcut is a sweet village. The Red Goat Lodge didn't disappoint. A short stroll down to the lake turned up 4 loons interacting, lots of Red Squirrels, a Rufous Hummingbird, gorgeous Violet Green Swallows and stunning views.

 Quick trip added to the tip to see lots of Ravens and a Bald Eagle.

 We then took a drive down the beautiful Highway 37 making a few stops. Not much wildlife as it was too hot at 33 degrees but incredible scenery.  

A change of plan took us to Stewart past a huge glacier to grab a meal and  to look for grizzlies. No bears but a good  Mexican meal at a pretty little town. We did cross the bridge briefly into Hyder, Alaska and spotted an Arctic Tern to add to the list.
On our way again we had Moose and Black Bear on the roadside. 

We parked up just before Terrace for some sleep.

Day 14
Terrace to Vancouver Island
Very early start to drive, in grey dreary weather, the 180km to Prince Rupert for the ferry to Vancouver Island. Not much about but the ferry left on time in the rain. It stayed grey all day but the inside package is beautiful.
2 Humpback Whales, Seals, Sealions, Bald Eagles.

and Orcas in the dark. Arrival at midnight so will upload blog tomorrow with WiFi access. (Don't know if we said but EE wanted to charge £70 for 900mb per week so have managed without!)