\Today we took our time getting around. Before leaving the coach I made reservations for Fort Nelson for tomorrow night. I worry if we arrive late tomorrow we might not find a spot. There are a lot of RV’s now that we made it to the Alaska Highway. We hopped in the Jeep and headed out to the town Tumbler Ridge about a 1 ½ hour drive from the coach. While enroute we saw a juvenile Moose grazing along the road.
We arrived at Tumbler ridge about 11:30. I had read how this was a very special paleontology site and a UNESCO Global Geopark. Also not too far away is a spectacular waterfall. Once we arrived the reality fell far short of the hype. First we stopped in the Peace Region Paleontology Museum. Our first clue was the person at the desk asks us why we came all the way out here. She also asked how we knew the museum was even open. The musuem was shut down for 3 months renovation and today was the first day back open. I guess we were “lucky”. We paid $8 each to visit the one room museum. It was interesting, but the fossils they found weren’t great and many were just dinosaur tracks. It turns out that last year the funding for the paleontology efforts had fallen through. They no longer even work the area to uncover new fossils. We also discovered that the road to the park with the waterfall is largely washboard gravel and would take much longer than we expected. Ugh.
We ate lunch at the local hotel restaurant and the food was good. Lunch was at least better than yesterday. The drive to and from Tumbler Ridge was quite scenic and we saw a juvenile moose feeding next to the road. After getting back to Dawson Creek, we stopped by Walmart and then headed back to the coach. Tomorrow will be an extra long day for us with a drive between 5 and 6 hours.