STARR TREKS TUESDAY 6/9/15 QUESNEL BC
We walked thru the little town of Clinton around 6:30 AM — no one was around and nothing was open— even internet coffee shops. There were still a few mosquitoes, but nothing like last night at the RV park which is very grassy. It cooled off from about 85 degrees to 40 degrees this morning! So I wore a heavier jacket and even my gloves!We walked passed the city visitor center —did not open till 10 am— but they had informational signs around— Clinton was a stopping off place in the mid 1800’s for the Cariboo Trail gold rush wagons. The visitor center museum was a red brick building that was a school, then a courthouse, now a museum.
After breakfast, we headed out of the RV park to drive on 97 North. Along the road we saw animal crossing signs — it looked like a picture of a beaver!! We saw many fat cows — they had a LOT of grass to graze on along the way. We passed 70 Mile House, 100 Mile House, then stopped at 108 Mile House rest area about 50 miles up. All these places are measured from a town on the Cariboo trail called Lillooet (we did not go thru that town). Larry is very cautious about turning in to any parking lot, making sure that we will be able to swing out of it again since we are very big! There was a lake with several historic buildings that you could peek in the windows and see the church, school, etc. This museum also did not open till 10, so we kept driving north. We passed Lac La Hache — the longest town in the area— 11 miles long — just houses on each side of the highway — name means lake of the axe. We got into Williams Lake around 11 am. Along the way we saw an ambulance with flashing lights on the roadside— they were giving someone a speeding ticket— guess the police disguise themselves!
This has to be the nicest visitor center that we have ever been to. It was built out of logs — 14,000 sq ft had a nice little museum area, had lots of tourist info about where we will be heading, had good free internet, and a big parking lot with RV spots!! It had a car loaded high with traveling gear— this is what our car would look like if we didn’t travel by RV!! (will attempt to send photo!) We really were having withdrawals from wifi, so we brought our laptops in, and loitered over an hour — email, Words with Friends!! We had nice leather couches to sit on and it was just lovely! We did not even go into the city— it is famous for rodeos— they have a Wms Lake Stampede around July 1st similar to the Calgary stampede. It is lovely coolish sunny weather here— not hot like last night going thru Cache Creek and Clinton. It is interesting that each little town has a Curling center— big sport in Canada.
The guy at our RV park highly recommended a trip to Barkerville — my Frommers book says it is “one of the premier tourist destinations in interior BC & one of the most intact ghost towns in Canada”. So we decided to spend the night in Quesnal & do Barkerville tomorrow— it is a 50 mile drive to Barkerville from there. First we decided to make RV reservations for 2 nights in Quesnal, then found on line (while at the tourist center wifi), that the Walmart allowed overnight parking— we had hoped to boondocks and dry camp a lot this trip, but had not had a chance. So we called them (we did purchase phone service for Canada for 2 months— not too expensive) and they said “sure”. So we pulled in about 2:15— there were other trucks and RV’s in the back of the lot with us.
It just surprises me to see Walmart, A&W, Subway, DQ here in Canada— we really have not gotten very far from civilization like we thought it would be on this road. We bought some stuff at Walmart, the drove downtown to the visitor center. We picked up some more tourist stuff and walked thru the museum — it was actually pretty interesting — a lot of First Nations and Asian stuff — Chinese workers were brought in during the gold rush to work. They had one display of bridge (card game!) paraphernalia — cards, tallies, a brochure on giving a bridge luncheon properly. They actually have duplicate bridge here, but not on Tuesday nights— darn!
Quesnal is a town where 2 rivers join— the Fraser and the Quesnel. It grew during the gold rush years in the 1850’s. Forestry, agriculture, mining and tourism are the economy. We sat on a couch at the visitor center (did a lot of loitering today), had complimentary coffee, and checked email and played Words with Friends again — I feel like I never know when I can get caught up on my electronic pastimes again!! I asked the young man at the desk if there was anything else that we would enjoy in Quesnel — he suggested the river walk. So we drove a little ways to park by the Fraser River— it is one fast moving river, for sure. We walked on the Old Fraser Bridge (only for pedestriabs, then just along the river walk. It was beautiful, shady, and cool. We walked back thru the downtown area and found a liquor store, so bought and extra box of wine and a pkg of lime-aritas. It is a very cute little town.
So tonight, after an exciting (not really! day), we plan to dine at the McDonalds at Walmart so we can use their internet to send this(!), and then will enjoy our RV site— the price is right!!
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| clinton bc |
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| rv park in clinton |
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| visitor center Wms Lake |
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| 108 Mile Ranch |
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| museum in quesnel |
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| the river walk |
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