We went to Prince George for our annual vacation to visit family and this year I decided that the kids were old enough for us to spend a day in Barkerville. It's about two hours outside of Prince George and a bit out of the way but I had been several times in elementary school and always enjoyed it. It's definitely one of the nicest historic sites on the West coast. BC isn't very old and most old things burned down at one time or another, including Barkerville, but it seems it burned down at the right time because they rebuilt it immediately and many of the buildings remain today.
Callie's favourite part of course was the animals. There were several horses attached to wagons that you could take rides on and every time we saw one she would stop to pet it. I think we should nick name her the horse whisperer. There was one horse that looked like it was going to fall asleep when she was petting him. When she stopped he lifted his head up and someone else tried and failed miserably. She seemed to have an excellent touch.
When I told Carter where we were going his first thought was that we would have a chance to go gold panning. Not sure how he picked up on the fact that it was an option but I think he had heard that Callie got to do it in Fort Langley and figured he wanted to try as well. They each got a pan of dirt and with some very helpful assistance by a local minor each managed to find some gold. I feel they had someone unrealistic expectations about what they could do with their find but they had fun none the less. Carter had 4 flakes and Callie found 7. (Carter was a bit ambitious early on and may have lost a few.)
After gold panning we continued on exploring the town. A few years ago I had heard that Barkerville had their funding cut but it didn't show. Most of the buildings are still in excellent shape and it looks like they continue to restore them. My favourite building as a kid was the Dentist's office. This was a memorable spot for Carter as well since he has at least three loose teeth and the sign indicated they would pull teeth for only $5.00. Unfortunately we couldn't get him to take their offer.
Of course my favourite spot now is the carpenters shop. They had a great set up and lot's of tools to check out from various eras. They even had an excellent steam bending set up outside which would still work great today. Carter and Callie both enjoyed checking out the General Store. I was impressed by the variety of things for sale as well as the quality. It would actually be a great place to go for unique Christmas gifts. Carter used his 'gold' money to pick up a fun top game. Spin the top and score points based on where it landed.
At one point we were playing at lunch and there were three boys his age all absolutely enthralled with the game. Simple but fun.
As we left we came across a hill full of marmots. Not unusual however as I walked by one of them made a point of running in front of me trying to look cute. Reminded me of those movies with the talking animals that think they are smarter than humans. Unfortunately I had no food to offer and he left empty handed.
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