Thursday, August 25, 2005
Lumber, Lumber, Everywhere
Today was our chance to tour Prince George. We headed downtown to see what was there — not much except for roads that make no sense. I could not believe that a downtown area is laid out as badly as Prince George is. The person who designed it must has had a sick sense of humor or two people designed it and they didn’t speak to each other. Since Zaph was in the truck with us and Prince George is very proud of the 120 + parks they have, we headed to the river front where there is a network of trails. Zaph got to join the other dogs and people who were enjoying the river. At one point it appeared that Zaph was in a swim spa — he was swimming (and he’s a pretty strong swimmer) but not going any where. We didn’t realize the current was that strong. After that we encouraged him to swim much closer to shore out of the current.
The Prince George Railway and Forestry Museum was our next stop. A notice on the door of the museum stated they were “Dog Friendly” — it’s not often that you are invited to bring your dog along, so in we went. When we were paying admission, Zaph was offered a cookie .....mmmmm good, there were water dishes in several locations around the park and they even had “doggie bags” just in case. The museum was a collection of train cars, forestry machinery (i.e. huge bands saws etc.) with the odd fire truck, car and tractor thrown in.
The young woman at the information center had told me that there was a great view of the city from the university. As it was a beautiful day we headed there next. The university is the newest university in BC and is still under construction. It’s going to be a really nice campus when it’s completed. Well the view may have been great but you couldn’t see too much because of the trees. There are a lot of trees in and around Prince George. That was evident by the huge lumber facilities around the city. One area we drove around had stacks of trees at one end of the yard and skids of lumber ready to ship at the other end. The BC Lumber industry is currently experiencing a problem with a pine beetle that is kill a very high percentage of the prime lumber trees. While the beetle is native to the area, the normally cold winters keep them in check, however it has been warm for the last few winters, and the beetles are very hungry.
Penny Station at the Prince George Railway and Forestry Museum.
Zaph was really into this museum --- even he was reading the plaques!
Can I ride inside next time?
They don't make trains like this anymore.
The Prince George Railway and Forestry Museum was our next stop. A notice on the door of the museum stated they were “Dog Friendly” — it’s not often that you are invited to bring your dog along, so in we went. When we were paying admission, Zaph was offered a cookie .....mmmmm good, there were water dishes in several locations around the park and they even had “doggie bags” just in case. The museum was a collection of train cars, forestry machinery (i.e. huge bands saws etc.) with the odd fire truck, car and tractor thrown in.
The young woman at the information center had told me that there was a great view of the city from the university. As it was a beautiful day we headed there next. The university is the newest university in BC and is still under construction. It’s going to be a really nice campus when it’s completed. Well the view may have been great but you couldn’t see too much because of the trees. There are a lot of trees in and around Prince George. That was evident by the huge lumber facilities around the city. One area we drove around had stacks of trees at one end of the yard and skids of lumber ready to ship at the other end. The BC Lumber industry is currently experiencing a problem with a pine beetle that is kill a very high percentage of the prime lumber trees. While the beetle is native to the area, the normally cold winters keep them in check, however it has been warm for the last few winters, and the beetles are very hungry.
Penny Station at the Prince George Railway and Forestry Museum.
Zaph was really into this museum --- even he was reading the plaques!
Can I ride inside next time?
They don't make trains like this anymore.
If you wish you can sign our guest book
We have added a web page with a map of our current location and route to date