Fort Langley Field Trip

I'm lucky that my work is fairly flexible as it allows me to attend most of the kids field trips. In June Carter and I went to Fort Langley. Callie and I went three years ago and her favorite memory is of me taking a nap at lunch time. That wasn't an option on this trip because it was raining and rather than having lunch at the fort the kids had lunch at school and we left a bit later than normal. Fort Langley is one of only a few original historical locations in BC. We aren't a very old province and most of our historic locations were poorly built and didn't last. The fort is not all original save for one building that is a display for the fur trade.

There are about a dozen staff on hand in traditional clothes and they are quite well organized. There is a main person at the gate that sends everyone out to the various buildings on a treasure hunt. The kids get points for walking in a straight line, listening intently and for generally being good. This certainly helps my job as a chaperone. The buildings I like the best are the fur trade, cooperage (barrel making) and the blacksmith. We got to seem them light the coal forge which was much more technical than I was anticipating. The 'side draft' fire place looked like it was very efficient at heating coal to heat metal.

The last building we went to was the big house which was built for an anniversary in 1958. The kids got to re-enact the creation of British Columbia as a province. Carter got to be the judge and was very animated in his acting. Even the people who worked at the fort were impressed with how passionately he read his lines. The only thing we didn't get a chance to do was to pan for gold. Maybe we'll go back on our own to take in the full experience.