Maria's Travels

Maria's musings and photos from her wanderings – for her virtual buddies

The Great Canadian 3 X 4 Road Trip – away we go (Vancouver to Wells)

—

by

auntbeast99
in ,
Jump to Text Journal
All packed up and away we go!
First stop on the all Canada Road Trip… Coquitlam!
Away We go
Aurora considers the view on the way
En route from Kamloops to Highway 1
Beckers Lodge at the Bowron Lakes, had a lovely lunch and watched the rain
Bowron Lakes
Aurora gets her mud on in anticipation of the Dempster later this month. Practice run at the Bowron Lakes
… send the kid up to do the part on the tippy bench.
Dominion Day Parade @ Barkerville 2024
Mike and Cheryl, the Indigenous interpreters in the parade
The Quesnel Pipe and Drum band in the parade.
Two members of the pipe band. they looked like they were having so much fun I had to take their picture.
The ladies nail hammering competition. Miss Wilson took something like 145 hits, making many other competitors feel better about their scores.
The egg and spoon race.
The egg toss competition. Each team was an adult and a child. The winning team threw their without breaking it farther than I could have tossed it at all!
The greased pole climbing competition. This fellow made it the furthest, past the greased part, but be did not get to ring the bell, so no bottle of booze prize. Apparently it has not been won for several years.
The giant tug O war. The team pulling up hill won this year.
Possible contender for a photo show entitled “mother nature wins in the end”
Another “Mother Nature wins in the end photo. This grave is one tree old.
One last shot for the “mother nature wins in the end” show.
Recharging the colour of the bog in Wells.
The pot of gold at the end of the rainbow… The Sunset Theatre.
Wells is so awesome it gets two rainbows.
Rainbow over Wells BC
The opposite of “cat trapped”… “cat evicted”
This is a frog after my own heart… coffee and ice cream, the essentials.
Sam very effectively “cat trapping” MIchelle at the Wells Hotel
The zero to 6 long jump competition… more like a random run in any direction competition
St. Saviour’s Anglican Church, Barkerville BC
My “Dram of Fortune” at the Wells Hotel.

VIDEOS

Some of the teeny tiny long jumpers needed a little directional assistance, and they all won sweets.

THE PLAY BY PLAY

Greetings from Wells/Barkerville!  As most of you know I am working on a web page for my trip but it is still under development so I thought I would get some posts up here on FB, and then I can move them to my blog when it is ready.  I will post as I get time to write things.  They will likely be posted a few days after I leave the places, so if you want me to stop in on you, let me know ahead of time.  I don’t want to miss anyone.

I set off on the “Great Canadian 3 X 4 Adventure” as soon as I had done my two weeks of recovery from my gallbladder surgery.  As many of you know I have been fighting with my gallbladder for some time now and opted not to bring it along on my trip.  Fortunately the surgery went well and I pretty much felt back to myself in the two weeks but I am giving myself a full month before I start slugging around my camping totes and things.  So, bonus, I get to stay in hotels for the first 2 weeks of my trip. After that I will camp or motel based on the predictions of the “weather guessers”. 

The first leg of the trip was up to Wells Barkerville for Dominion Day and to see my friends there.   I opted to take a soft start to the trip so I left mid day on a Saturday and made my first port of call Maillardville, for lunch with my family.  It was a lovely send off and nice to say farewell at the last possible moment as I won’t see them until October, unless of course one or more of them decide they want to fly out and meet me somewhere along the way.

After an overnight in Kamloops (thanks Nic for an exceptional dinner and comfy bed) it was on to Wells/Barkerville.  I come up at least every couple of years and I think that everyone in BC should visit Barkerville for a couple of days at least once.  It is a world class heritage site with award winning historical interpretation and brings to life a key piece of the history of BC and how the North was opened up for settlers and colonization.   It is always fun to arrive in time for the Dominion Day celebrations.   There is a parade, all the traditional late 1800’s games, and decorations from one end of Chinatown to the gates.  Interestingly, Mike and Cheryl, the Aboriginal Interpreters walked in the parade, which I am not sure would have happened at the time. 

Barkerville over the last while has worked very hard on increasing the amount and quality of their Indigenous and Chinese interpretations.  Barkerville was once the largest Chinese community North of San Francisco and there were several Indigenous communities who lived and traded on the land where Barkerville stands. Barkerville has also been making a concerted effort to engage with the reconciliation work between Canada and the Indigenous people of the area.  There is also an Anglican Church in Barkerville, St. Saviours.  For many years the Diocese has had a curate in the parish in the summer who served as the historical interpreter for the church.  They have not had one for some years now and I have had this little thought niggling at the edge of my brain,  “What might it look like to use the church to create an educational opportunity for the guests at Barkerville to learn some more about the impact of the gold rush and how it laid the groundwork for much of the colonization in the North?  I have talked to some of my friends there and continue to think on how there might be some kind of partnership to develop a program between the local Indigenous people the Anglican Diocese, and Barkerville… I will keep it percolating in my head, who knows what might become of it.

Not to be outdone by Barkerville, Wells came to the table with some impressive shows too.  The day after I arrived it poured rain, like it can in the Cariboo.  However, the basic rule of weather in the Cariboo is “if you don’t like the weather, wait 10 minutes”.  True to form, the sun came blazing out under the clouds and created a full double rainbow which, depending on where you looked from, came down in the bog beside town, or on the Sunset Theatre.  The next night was another sparkling night at the Sunset with a concert by Simon Kempston, a Scottish singer/songwriter who was on tour.  I so enjoyed the concert I bought a CD, and was then pleasantly surprised to realize my car had a CD player, so I can listen to it on my trip and not have to wait until I get home to digitise it.

My last point of call in the Cariboo was the Bowron Lakes.  It had rained so I thought it was a great chance to try Aurora out on some muddy gravel in case there is rain when I get to the Dempster.  She handled really well and it was  nice drive out.  I stopped and had a fantastic sandwich at Becker’s Lodge, a campground/cabins/lodge at the start/end of the Bowron Lake chain, and then went out to the provincial park and walked down to the water.  I ran into two fellows who had just come off the chain, one of whom had not done it in 40 years (which make him my age or older and I stand in awe of the fact he had just finished it and looked like he was still ready to go another round.  I decided that the 5 minute walk to the water and back was enough for me!).  I got a few photos and then headed back to town for the concert at the Sunset.  Aurora now looks like a real overlanding car, covered in mud with her rotopax all covered in bugs.  Ready for the run North next.

It was a great first stop for the trip.  Thanks Michelle, Jules, and Dirk for a great visit, as always!