Riding in the Cariboo

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We're actually in 108 Mile House, which is, you guessed it 8 miles along the road from 100 Mile House. 100 miles from where though? I think it is Lillooet which is mile 0 of the Cariboo gold rush trail. (Okay, I'm actually finishing this from Vancouver. I never got back to finish it during the trip.)

This is the first stop in a road trip around the province with my two daughters, ages 9 and 7 and my (adult) cousin. We'll also be stopping in the historic gold rush town of Barkerville and then heading to Prince Rupert to catch the ferry to Port Hardy. The ferry ride is 15 hours long and goes through part of the inside passage just like the expensive Alaska cruise ships. You supposedly need a reservation to catch the ferry, which we don't have. We are on a wait list and hopefully they'll find some room for us. Otherwise, we'll have a long drive back to Vancouver.

We are staying at a lovely guest ranch. The girls are off for a 2 hour trail ride, and I've got a massage booked for tomorrow. That's our idea of heaven. The ranch was obviously designed as a tourist resort. There is a block of hotel rooms, and several cabins. There's an indoor pool, but the girls say it is too cold - which is saying a lot as I don't think I've ever heard either of them think that any water was too cold for swimming. There are plenty of horses here and a handful of donkeys. They don't seem to do any work other than take tourists out on trail rides. I think it would be fun to stay at a real working ranch with all kinds of farm animals. If we ever come this way again, I think we'll try to find on of those.

We are staying in a 3 bedroom cabin which has lots of room for all of us to spread out and two TV's which is great for all us TV deprived folks who don't have cable at home. Candida has offered to cook, which is fine with me. It's a treat to not eat in restaurants all the time. Although, I am looking forward to my roadtrip treats of a clubhouse sandwich dipped in gravy, beef jerky and gas station pepperoni.

The drive up here reminded me of why I love the small towns in BC, and I think I have a new favourite. We stopped for a picnic lunch in Ashcroft. The plan was to visit the famous tea house there, but it was closed and the building is up for sale which made me sad as I've wanted to visit there for many years, but I was always way too grubby after days at the cabin. We ventured into the village instead and I have to say it was delightful - a bit like travelling back in time to the '50's or '60's. No chain restaurants or fast food, just lots of charm and character in a lazy, sleepy sort of way. Unfortunately everything was closed. I forgot how once you get out of the city things just shut down on Sundays and Mondays. I'm definately planning on coming back.

Day 3:
The girls and I went for a walk this morning to see the teepee. They have wagon rides and entertainment there on some evenings, but not during our stay. We almost missed our riding session as we took the route that the girls rode along the day before, but apparently it takes much longer to walk than to ride, or they were confused about where we were, because in the end I had to convince them to turn around and go back the way we came because I had no idea where we were and all the trails seemed to lead nowhere.

We'll be heading on to Barkerville next.

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