6/9/2009 We Are In Stewart, British Columbia

Its our usual day after traveling and we pretty much stayed put today. We're going to be here for a few days so there is no rush to go out and see all there is today.

Bob fixed a few things around the house that he wanted to get done and I puttered inside. I looked into doing laundry today only to find out there are no laundry facilities here. We have to go in "town" to the King Edward Hotel. There's a new laundromat there. $2.75 per wash...$2.75 to dry. OK RV'ers... breathe,,,,in,,,,, out,,,,, OUTRAGEOUS! Isn't it?

Before I go any further I wanted to let you know that we have wonderful friends who are always looking out for our welfare. They email us, call us and sometimes leave comments on the blog. Barb from Missouri is such a friend. She left a message on yesterday's post telling us about the benefits of Bear Bells. Here's what she wrote:

Some stores up there sell "Bear Bells" (yes, the campground store where we are sells Bear Bells) which are worn by hikers - the bell display says the noise is supposed to scare off bears. The display also lets you know how to identify if bears are in the area - broken brush, tracks, and the presence of bear poop with Bear Bells in it!

We did in fact go to downtown Stewart today as we needed Pepsi's and beer. Oh yeah, bread and milk too.

A Little History

The first exploration of this area took place in the late 1800's. Founded by brothers John and Robert Stewart, by the early 1900's the population swelled to nearly 10,000, all due to gold mining. The area was prosperous and this boom town flourished. Until World War I. The population then plummeted to less than twenty. After the war three major mines were established and once again the population grew.

Today there are more opportunities for employment other than mining. Today's job market includes logging, transportation, hospitality and retail. The population isn't nearly what it used to be as there are approximately 500 people in this community today.

As I said earlier we took a ride "downtown". Here's Main Street, which in actuality is 5th Avenue.

A closer look....

I thought these decorations for this store were a little strange, appropriate but strange.

We didn't go into the market pictured above as that is a convenience type store I believe. We went to the regular grocery store. I don't know how the people here do it. I priced some things just for comparison. The big box of Tide Detergent, I think its like 120 loads of wash. In the states we would pay probably around $21.00. Here it is $32.95. Cereal, all kinds, all brands, $5.99 a box. Dish detergent, Dawn, Joy,,,good sized container but not the biggest one...$4.59. We would pay $2.89. Cookies, Chip -Ahoy, Oreos,,,six bucks a package. Candy bars: Snickers, 3 Musketeers, (Milky Way not available in Canada, or at least this part of Canada for some reason) anyway...candy bars - $1.29 These aren't even the giant bars that we can get now in the States for 99 cents. I can't wait to cross the border!

Next stop, the government run liquor store. It was closed. For lunch, 12:30 to 1:30.

To pass the time we went across and down the street to check out Stewart's Estuary Boardwalk.

It's a long boardwalk with viewing spaces with placards giving you information on wild life or birds that you may see in the area.

After taking the walk out on this we made our way back to the truck for the ride to the liquor store again. It was open this time. The lady working there gave us some ideas on things to see in the area. We just might be taking you to a TOASTER MUSEUM! I never knew there was such a thing but if its open, we're going.

I've been telling you how expensive things are here, well, here's proof.

The last 30 pack we bought we paid $18.99 on sale!

There were some pretty flowers for me to admire outside the liquor store.

Let's see what I can find in my file of goodies.

Two antennas met on a roof, fell in love and got married. The ceremony wasn't much, but the reception was excellent.

A woman has twins, and gives them up for adoption. One of them goes to a family in Egypt , and is named 'Ahmal.' The other goes to a family in Spain ; they name him 'Juan.' Years later, Juan sends a picture of himself to his birth mother. Upon receiving the picture, she tells her husband that she wishes she also had a picture of Ahmal. Her husband responds, "They're twins! If you've seen Juan, you've seen Ahmal."

Mahatma Gandhi, as you know, walked barefoot most of the time, which produced an impressive set of calluses on his feet. He also ate very little, which made him rather frail and with his odd diet, he suffered from bad breath. This made him (oh, man, this is so bad, it's good) .. a super-calloused fragile mystic hexed by halitosis.

And finally, the Question of the Day:

Does a clean house indicate that there is a broken computer?