Another beautiful drive today. We had some road construction on the way which made for a slow go, but other than that, it was great. Today was the first day that I thought about the road. Every other day has been just fine. There were some loose gravel areas and the construction, but overall, the roads are still on great shape. We saw lots of animals today, too. Lots of bears, fifteen(!) in fact, a herd of buffalo, and some caribou. The only animal left to see that I am excited about is a moose. We also went to Liard River hit springs. It was is much fun, but I still haven’t cooled down yet!
<iframe src=”//player.vimeo.com/video/101390903″ width=”500″ height=”281″ frameborder=”0″ webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen></iframe> <p><a href=”http://vimeo.com/101390903″>Day 9 – Fort Nelson to Watson Lake</a> from <a href=”http://vimeo.com/user1080821″>Jethro Jones</a> on <a href=”https://vimeo.com”>Vimeo</a>.</p>
When we were preparing to leave on this trip, we discussed how to to best do this trip within our budget. We decided that camping for 3-4 day at a time , preparing breakfast and dinner at camp, and packing our lunch everyday was the most budget conscious decision.
Now that we are officially halfway through with our trip, let’s do a bit of a recap of expenditures so far.
Gas- We fill up once a day, except for the first day driving to Spokane. $713.39
Lodging- We stayed at the lake for 2 nights and also stayed in a motel in Cache Creek because of our late start and not getting there until midnight. We have camped for 4 nights and will staying in a motel tonight also. $192.40
Restaurants- We ate lunch out on our way to Spokane, dinner out last Wednesday (late night due to fire), dinner in Whistler (late start and customs), pizza in Prince George (reAlly late and water wouldn’t boil), and breakfast this morning (wanted to get out early). 148.86
Grocery store- These expenditures are for food, treats for the kids (got to have the Kinder Eggs and other yummy Canadian chocolate), and other things needed for camping or driving. $245.01
Misc.- Souvenirs- $60. Telus- prepaid SIM card for Jethro’s iPad so we can blog and use for directions. $72.40 Speeding ticket- $138 Just a heads up, when driving through Canada, pay very close attention to construction zones and the quick change in speed limits. They don’t give much leeway on slowing down to that speed. Do it quick or they will catch you.
Total: $1,570.06. Overall, we feel like we are on track with our budget.
Closer campsites with a nice spaced out feeling. Close bathrooms. Good trees. Close to the ocean. Paid $38.50 with online reservation. Fire ring. Picnic table.
No designated sites for camping, just a big grassy field. Wasn’t crowded when we were there so there was plenty of space. Soft grass. Some pic in tables, some fire pits, but not enough for every campsite. 1 set of bathrooms kind of far away. Spotty wi-fi at best. Nice un-metered showers and nice bathrooms with electrical outlet. Sink to wash dishes in.
Cost: $20
Clean campsite. Campsites were a bit close together. Only one set of bathrooms at the front of the campground with tent sites all at the back. Camp on grass. Nice laundry facilities. Wi-if. Rocky ground, hard for tent stakes- bent 3 stakes and dulled the tip of a heavy duty stake.
Cost: $25
Campsites at the back and each has a picnic table and fire ring. Wi-fi, but we could never get it to work. Campsites really close together- get there early to get one of the bigger ones. No one camped next to us so we had plenty of extra room. The ground was full of holes, hidden by the long grass so lots of tripping. The ground and grass were soft so we didn’t’t have to hammer in the stakes. (That might have had to do with lots of rain.) The bathrooms were okay- looked clean, but looked like they were falling apart.
Cost: $24.15
We got in about midnight to Cache Creek and checked out the campsite we were going to stay at- Brookside campsite. The tent sites backed right up to a hill and we’re small and super close together with very little parking space. There was no way we were going to fit our 8 person (10×16 ft) tent in the spot with the picnic table and fire pit. We headed back into town and found the Tumbleweed.
The Tumbleweed Motel was open late and the rooms were clean. We had a twin and a double bed with a couple kids on our air mattress on the floor. It was a little outdated, but they had a tv and wifi. Not a bad place to stay, especially at the last minute.
Cost: $84.75
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