Since moving from Chicago out here (to Seattle) in 1994, my wife and I - and later our kids - have explored the Great Northwest as often as time and budget have allowed. Some of our favorite spots are in British Columbia: Vancouver; Vancouver Island (especially Tofino, on the West Coast); and the Gulf Islands (here's my Seattle Times piece on one Gulf Island, Hornby, free reg. req.)

While contributing a regular guest op-ed column to The Seattle Times from April of 2001 to May of 2004, I met and wrote about another BC lover, Charlie Hoff, although my focus was on his strong advocacy of greater rigor and focus in Washington's public schools. In addition to exploring North America, Charlie serves as school board vice-president in Federal Way (a booming south suburb of Seattle, and the state's seventh-largest city). He has also worked as a public school assistant superintendent, and assistant headmaster at a private school.

As it happens, Charlie and his wife Marilyn just came back from a great trip to BC, and Charlie sent this e-mail, which sure gets me juiced to go where they've just been. See what you think. (FYI, I've just worked in a few basic, get-you-started links about the highlights).

By Charlie Hoff

The past ten days have been a very wonderful experience for Marilyn and I as we have discovered the "Cariboo-Chilcotin" of British Columbia. I suspect that few of you have been there.

We started our trip with a ferry crossing to Vancouver Island and then a drive to the northern most tip of the island at Port Hardy. The scenery in the northern part of the Island is quite different than what you experience near Victoria.

The next morning we boarded the BC Ferries "Queen of Chilliwack" for a 13 hour, non stop, ferry ride to Bella Coola which is deep in a fjord of the west coast of British Columbia. This was a ferry ride unlike any I have ever been on. The Captain had no specific schedule for arrival in Bella Coola so we were off on a Killer Whale hunt, and were successful in seeing an entire pod, after a major diversion to find them. The Captain had been in conversation with a cruise liner and got the location of these whales.

After that the bridge was open for the rest of the trip and any who wanted to know how the ship was operated were encouraged to be on the bridge. This boat has no rudders!

The Captain then left the bridge to run the Bingo game!

Mid-afternoon we stopped the boat in mid-waters to let off some kayakers! All were invited to the car deck to see how they are able to launch kayaks from the car deck. The procedure was interesting, as the car deck is about 8 feet above sea level.

About supper time the Captain indicated to us that "at great personal expense" he had retained a humpback whale to do a performance for us and this he did! Breaching, tail flapping, side-flipper work were all part of the show.

We got into Bella Coola about 10:30 p.m. and went to the B&B that we had reserved.

Bella Coola was the closest town to the end of Alexander MacKenzie's epic trip across North America. 12 years prior to Lewis and Clark! The town is a great place to observe bears, both kind, and to learn of the history of the Norwegian settlers that came to the valley in 1895 and "recreated" a portion of Norway. They were actually from Minnesota.

We floated down about 20 miles of the Bella Coola River just as MacKenzie would have done in 1793. Great wildlife observations (bears).

This deep "U" shaped glacial valley had no road out of it until the middle 50s. The province wouldn't fund a road up a wall and so the town folks did it themselves! There's community spirit! The road up the "hill" is still gravel and gives your car a good test of its cooling system. Thirty-four miles of uphill, mostly 14% (grade) or better.

Once on top we stayed at a German guest ranch with some spectacular views of the Coast Range's mountains and glaciers.

Our final days were spent in Barkerville, once the second largest city west of the Mississippi. Only San Francisco was larger. The Gold Rush of 1862 brought many Californians to the Cariboo and Barkerville was the hub of this.

The downtown has never become a ghost town but has now been "restored" to what it was like during the Rush and staffed with actors that portray life in the times of the Rush.

For those of you with a history interest this is a place you have to see. Takes two days to do it right.

Just some thoughts for those looking for something that isn't in every travel book!

Charlie closes his e-mail with this quote, which I cannot resist including.

"Education is hard work, not play, and its rewards are a seriously informed, wide-ranging attitude towards real life, and the beginning of a great adventure." - Robertson Davies.

Posted by Matt Rosenberg at July 17, 2004 09:08 PM

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