Prince George: The armpit of British Columbia or British Columbia’s best kept secret?!

I’ve heard both those descriptions thrown about to describe the city we’re currently calling home. You might say that Prince George is one of those industrial cities which divides opinion. Remember the airport customs official in this post who laughed at the idea of us moving there and then admitted he’d never visited?!

Rather than weigh in on the ‘armpit vs. best kept secret debate’. I’m going to explore whether Prince George lived up to my expectations. During the long, frustrating summer of 2020 and our two weeks in quarantine I shared a few posts (find them here) imagining what life in Prince George might be like. After rereading these posts recently I felt they needed an answer: did the the wildlife, city life and weather turn out as I expected?

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1. Small adventures within the city

Art amongst the trees

Cottonwood Island deserves it’s place at #2 on TripAdvisor’s top things to do in Prince George. The island is right in the city centre where the Nechako river meets the Fraser and is named for the Black Cottonwood trees which cover it.

But it is the stunning tree carvings which make this island park an attraction. Carved directly into the trees by local artist Elmer Gundersonare are faces, houses and a dragon. Many of them honour First Nation peoples in respect of the fact that the park is on the Lheidli T’enneh territory. It is a magical place which makes grown adults into small children, as each time you spot a carving you cannot help running up to look at it more closely.

Where to start the day

In a post I shared a few weeks ago I described our encounter with Bald Eagles on the North Nechako cutbacks. But it is the beautiful view of the sunrise which makes locals treasure this short walk. One morning we were particularly lucky with a golden sunrise which filled the sky above the trees with an orange glow.

Where to end the day

The L.C Gunn trail lies just above the city, on a steep bank directly overlooking the river and the railway tracks. After hearing it was the best place in the city to see the sun set, we walked this trail on a few evening but were greeted with a cloudy sky. Finally, after work one Friday, we caught the end of a sunset and our patience was rewarded. The reflection made the river look like it was on fire and, when we stopped to look, we found we were not the only ones admiring the view: there was a Bald Eagle on a branch below us, watching the light fade over Prince George.

2. City life

The perfect café

The Makerie has two menus: one for choosing your beverage and one for choosing a craft. There is a craft station where they keep all the supplies, a letter writing station complete with a typewriter and large tables with individual lamps. To be able to sit in an inspirational maker space, order a latte and a cookie AND A CRAFT is without a doubt my idea of café perfection.

A Down town boutique

Canadians seem to have a real love of, and talent for, celebrating the great outdoors in their designs. Nowhere is this more evident than among the on-site, screen-printed clothing available at the Back Forty Lifestyle Co’s shop in the downtown. There are many stunning designs with trees, mountains or phases such as ‘live wildly’, but it was the t-shirt with the list of local rivers (can you spot the two I’ve already mentioned in this blog?) that I decided on for Jacob’s Christmas present.

A hidden hipster restaurant

I know what you’re thinking, aren’t all hipster businesses ironically disguised as something else – a cafe in a launderette etc. But trust me, the façade of this place – including a weather-beaten red canopy with ‘Nancy O’s’ written in dated front – gives little indication of what you will find inside. But a peak at the menu online gives you a hint of the vibe though: no restaurant has such good plant based offerings without having a touch of the millennial/hipster spirit we all secretly love. In addition to the cool, lounge vibes they offer a tempting cocktail menu and, unsurprisingly, this is Canada after all, a beer menu so long you’d need more than one lifetime to finish sampling it.

3. Wildlife

Near miss with Mrs Moose

It took almost four months before I had my first Moose encounter. Jacob had his during the short lived period that he was here without me before Covid hit. It was a cold, clear night in December when I saw my first moose. The Northern Lights had been seen the night before and so we decided to drive out of the city to a dark spot encase the spectacle made a return. We drove north on the highway, further and further away from the city lights and into the darkness when suddenly a large animal ran out in front of our car. It was a female moose who gave use a disgusted look before trotting away. Thankfully, moose, humans and car all came away unharmed. We kept our eyes peeled as we drove back, discussing how the Northern Lights might have eluded us but at least we had seen a moose. Not far outside the city a spectacular, fully-grown male moose was grazing on the side of the road. We slowed down, marveling at his gigantic antlers and unfathomable stature.

4. The weather

It would be remiss of me not to comment on the element of life in Prince George that I was most worried about: the cold. Turns out that the ‘dry cold’ here is very bearable. On a -15C day here when the sun shines and the snow glistens I moan far less than I did on a +3C day in the UK when the wind drives the rain into your face and clouds have covered the sun for weeks! I’ll be honest, the week we endured -30C was a different matter. But, it only lasted a week and I came out the other side with all my fingers.

5. The perfect Prince George afternoon

I remember the very first time we had a fire pit at Shane lake on a Saturday afternoon, I was buzzing for days afterwards. Totally in awe of the fact that just a five minute drive from our house was a spectacular ice-covered lake where we could have a fire using a pit and wood supplied by the city, next to a large communal shelter in a magnificent forest. We have returned to do the same so many times I’ve lost count. Each time we cook PB hot dogs over the fire on sticks we’ve gathered and whittled, we laugh as someone loses a marshmallow and everyone drives in with sticks to rescue it and drink beers that have begun turning to slushies from being buried in the snow to keep them cold.

Often the afternoon has more magic than just the fire: on the Winter Solstice binoculars were thrust into our hands by strangers who insisted we saw the conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter and on New Years Eve we shared the space with a First Nation family who were drumming and singing.

. . .

So we’ve established that Prince George definitely is not the armpit of BC. But I am willing to acknowledge that Jacob and I are perhaps particularly well suited to living here. We grew up and went to school in a small, rural English town. If your formative experiences matter most, then Prince George will always feel relatively big to us. We also love being outdoors and have thrown ourselves into experiencing everything the Canadian wilderness has to offer, if you do that, Prince George will reward you endlessly.

No matter whether we are enjoying life here because Prince George is British Columbia’s best kept secret or because Jacob and I fit well with the Prince George lifestyle We feel immensely lucky to have the opportunity to live in this beautiful place with endless opportunities for adventures, great places to eat and always the knowledge that at the end of a weeks work Shane Lake and the fire pit will be waiting.

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Read more about Prince George…

9 things I’m excited about seeing and doing in Canada and Prince George

First impressions of life in Northern BC, Canada, in 3 photos

First Nation, Fur Trade and a Train Station: How Prince George became a city.

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