June 4: Finding Terry

The advantage of staying at a place like The Bon Voyage Inn is that you have space to yourself and aren’t woken by other hostellers at odd hours of the morning. The disadvantage is that it’s far from the centre of town, so I had to work out the bus routes in detail. Once I’d figured out transfer stops and so on, I took two buses into the Downtown area of Prince George.

My first stop was nearby: the Terry Fox statue. Terry Fox was a Canadian athlete who lost a leg to cancer but kept running in long races using an artificial leg. One was a 27km road race to Prince George in 1979. He came last but ran the whole way, gaining applause from all the spectators as he crossed the line. Later, he began a run across Canada to raise money for cancer research, and got as far as Ontario before discovering his cancer had returned. He died a few months later, but the Terry Fox Run takes place every year in his memory.

Another reason for finding the statue is that my departure point on Saturday is nearby.

More Exploration

Walking onwards, I had to take shelter for several minutes while a shower went by.

My first idea was to check out the Central British Columbia Railway and Forestry Museum (CBCRFM). It’s on the other side of the large railyard and there’s no direct way through: to get there, you must take one of two long entries to River Road (no buses go there). I walked along First Avenue beside the railway line towards the east entrance.

On seeing the east entrance, which runs on an overbridge, I was a bit doubtful about how pedestrian-safe it would be and decided to leave this for another day.

Instead, I headed south, past Connaught Hill Park.

Another shower came on, so I took shelter at a local service station for about half an hour. When the rain had cleared, I continued on to Lheidli T’enneh Memorial Park.

It’s a public park built on lands belonging to the local Lheidli T’enneh, featuring aspects of Prince George’s past.

On site are an old railway station, and an original schoolhouse from when this part of town was Fort George, as well as a playground.

There’s also The Exploration Place, a museum dedicated to local history and palaeontology. Obviously, there are lots of replica dinosaur and ancient mammal skeletons.

There were displays about local ecology;

some interactive displays;

and those of local history.

Not So Distilled

One other attraction I’d hoped to see was the Crossroads Distillery, which offered tours. Checking the location on Apple Maps, I saw it was marked “Permanently Closed”, and, indeed, when I got to the spot, a gravelly carpark was all I found. But I noticed there was a Crossroads Tap and Kitchen further south. So, a couple of bus rides later, I found myself there.

Inside, I ordered a light meal and some local cider. When I asked the servers if they had any connection to the distillery, they said yes, they were the same group, but that the distillery had burnt down in an arson attack last September. Their restaurant kept them afloat, but they hadn’t re-established production yet.

June 5: Trains, Take Two

Taking another couple of buses this morning, I began walking to the CBCRFM from the west end. This was a longer route, where I kept to the cycle tracks on the sides of the road, but a not unpleasant walk, with railyards, building contractors and sawmills on one side of me, and the Nechako River and nature park on the other.

After half an hour with the rain holding off, I reached the museum.

First up on entering were a model railway and tools from old forestry days.

Stepping outside, I saw the displays of trains, machines and old huts.

One hut featured exhibits of early telecommunication.

Nearby was a station building. Originally it’d been built for the town of Lindup but was hardly used there. In 1947, the whole building was moved to Penny, several km east of Prince George. It served as the village’s station until 1988, when it was moved to the museum.

Another shower came by, so I waited in Penny Station until it had moved on, then checked out the other exhibits.

Empty City

After seeing so many trains and vehicles, I decided to head back to Downtown, this time over the east entry. As it turned out, it wasn’t too dangerous: I just kept to the cycleway and took the one footpath on the overbridge.

I walked around Downtown for a while, but, for a Friday afternoon, it seemed pretty empty: shops were open but hardly anyone about. From what I’ve seen, most of the social life in Prince George is in the suburbs south and west, especially in the shopping centres. I stopped at one on the way home, and it was far more lively and populated than the streets of Downtown.