Cabin Fever Road Trip

Snow.  Snow.  More Snow.  We have sunny days but there's still three feet of snow (lots more in some places) on the ground.  The cabin fever has set in because it's really that time of year when we should be able to get outside and muck around in the mud.

We decided a drive to Creston, B.C. would help get us out of our funk and yes, we remembered to take our passports.  Fortunately, they haven't expired yet.

We didn't look like criminals so the border patrol agent at Canadian Customs allowed us entry.

Creston is only about 8 miles from the Porthill entry so it didn't take long to get there.  Almost all of the city of Creston is above the highway on the hillside.  We just enjoyed driving around the area looking at the houses and eventually found main street.

You will notice from the photos that there's not much snow left here.  How can that be?

We found the Columbia Brewing Company (Kokanee Beer).  No tours on Sunday.   Darn.

We did stop at a gas station and we bought some snacks to keep us going on the return route.   U.S. Customs thought we looked innocent and they let us back across the border.  Whew!

Next, we made an immediate right turn and headed to the town of Porthill.   In 1967 Retired Mountain Man lived right across the river near Porthill with Kermit Kiebert Sr. and Kermit Jr.   They lived at the ferry landing on the other side of the river in a large white farm house, which is no longer there.  They were logging until August of that year when they were pulled off the job to go on the Sundance Fire.  The ferry landing on the other side of the river is in the middle of the photo.  If you look on the mountains above the river, you can see a small east-west strip of snow which is the cleared Canada/U.S. border. 

Back in 1967 all the Canadians from Creston used to go to the Porthill Tavern (pictured below) because that was the only place open to get a beer on Sunday. The beer was served in quarts because it was cheaper for the Canadians because of the exchange rate.  The placed would be packed with people.  At a quarter to midnight the bartender would ring a bell to let the Canadians know they had 15 minutes before the border crossing would close for the night.  The bar would empty and the only people left were the three loggers and some very tired barmaids who had been carrying trays with quarts of beer on them all night.

The Porthill Mercantile.  There was only one other building in the town.  It is not a booming location.

Down below the town were huge fields of hops.  We think they are owned by Anheuser-Busch, but not certain.

I've included a closer shot of the place where the Porthill Ferry used to be.

It was a nice 4-5 hour trip and got us out of the house.  Today it's even warmer than yesterday, maybe 55 degrees.  We hope that spring is on the way.