Barkerville and Lots of Wild Animals

Today we dropped Parker off at the Pooch Palace and had our first completely alone day since Casa Grande when our friend Mary dogsat while we went to the Canucks game.

So off to Barkersville we go.  Along the way (and on the way back) we saw seven moose, six deer, one black bear (twice) and a cat.  We did not realize that a moose could have two calves, but there they were.

The bear was probably a yearling and seem quite unperturbed with our presence.  I threw him a granola bar which scared him away but on the way back, same bear, no granola bar. 

We were not able to get pictures of the other wild animals we saw.  The big, big moose in the ditch on the side of the road took off immediately.  The mother moose trying to get her calf over the farmer's fence moved to somewhere we couldn't watch.

So on to Barkersville.  Barkerville is about 60 miles from Quesnel.  We left our rig in Quesnel because we were told the road wasn't suitable for big rigs.  Not so, but we were happy to have a day off yesterday to clean, do laundry and shop.

Barkerville has an admission fee of $14.00.  Now I would not go as far as to say "We loved it" because that would be a lie.  We found it very interesting and the buildings are very well kept but we visited Goldfield in Arizona and it was free and had a live gun fight.  The characters in the street and the buildings in Barkerville were a little annoying and would not come out of character to answer present day questions.  Of course, it's a man's thing so Doug enjoyed it more than I did.  Here are a few of the 120 photos we took today.

This is the Anglican Church.  We couldn't stay long, they were having an actual wedding today.  We wondered if the guests we saw arriving had to pay the entrance fee!

Main street looking up the hill toward the Chinese district.  There were over 300 Chinese from Canton working the mines in Barkerville's hey day.  The Chinese worked for a lot less than the other miners.

I love laundramats.  I knew there would be one but I am not sure I'd get much done here.  Too hard.

We post pictures of food because Escapees love food.  This food was just okay and quite expensive.  I suspect my cream of chicken soup was made by Mr. Campbell.

Now this is interesting.  This was in one of the many boarding houses.  This was the only one with "indoor plumbing".  Check it out.  To the left is the washing machine.  In the center is the bathtub!! with actual dents for the bum cheeks and the out house was not out but in.  Such luxury!

This was located just south of Barkerville out in the middle of nowhere in the bush.  I didn't stay long.  I heard a noise in the bush behind us!









Okay we did Barkerville.  Would we recommend it, definitely.  Would we go back, nah!

Tomorrow we are off to Lac La Hache Provincial Park which translates as Lake of Ground Meat.  This was one of the campsites my family camped at when I was a child.  See if I remember anything.  This park is not out in the toulies so we should have cell phone and internet on the aircard but if you don't hear from me for a while, understand.  We are thinking we will stay a week.