More about Barkerville

Going back a few days to the restored mining community of Barkerville.

As we drove up to the parking lot, I must admit that I was a bit skeptical of this adventure.  The lot was crowded with RV's from all over and as we walked to the entrance, I could hear barking dogs.  The sound was coming from a shaded kennel area for animals while their owners were touring the town.  Nice touch!  I am happy, however, that we decided to leave our little girl at home with Tom who is, I am sure, giving her a lot more attention than we could in our long days of driving.  Abbey is getting older and less adaptive to our traveling agenda.  She doesn't really care for riding and is always happy to get out and sniff everything around - not very possible so far on our trip.  Thanks, Tom, for taking good care of her while we're away!!

Back to Barkerville!  

If you know me at all, you know that I love to take pictures of old churches.  This is the quaintAnglican church in Barkerville which is still used for weekly Mass.  I love the light coming through the windows.

In a small house in town

 Guess who this is for!!!  Neecer - it's the library!!!

 Of course, I had to take a picture of Dean in front of the Post Office!!

There are actors all over the town portraying people of 'the day' - and the day could be the 1880's, the 1920's or the 1950's.  In this scene, the woman on the top left was introducing the music of her time with the assistance of the 2 gents on the ground and the children from the observers on the porch with her.

We took the tour of the China town from the gold rush days.  The Chinese laborers lived separately from the rest of the workers, but they were very well thought of for their herbalist talents - as they often are today!

Lots of driving!!!

Will we ever get there?

Seems like we've been doing a lot of driving and I'm having few opportunities to blog.  I don't know how the people who do this daily during trips manage, unless they stay every night in an RV park with internet - which we haven't.  In fact, we haven't been in an RV park since the first night in Canada at Clinton.  

This will be quick as we're in a visitor center in Fort Nelson and people are getting itchy to get on the road again.

Very nice historical stop - had an orange and licorice ice cream cone.  

loved this display at the visitor center in Williams Lake

As of this point, not bothered much by mosquitoes. Nice lake on our way to the historical town of Barkerville.

Chetwynd is, I believe, the chainsaw carving capitol of the world.  There are walking and driving tours all over town.  

Janet and Dean

Well, here we are at the beginning of the official Alaska highway at Dawson Creek.  As you can see, we continue to have good weather.

No more time for verbiage right now, but we're having a great time in spite of having to pay $6.11 a gallon for gas today!!

To be continued.............

1st overnite in Canada - Clinton, BC

2 very long days of driving and we're in Clinton, BC for the night.  Small, clean RV park with a bit of internet.  I had been thinking that Canada would be a good place to live - until I saw some prices.  Gas is something like $4.79 a gallon!  Beer?  $14 for a 6 pack!  And I thought $7.99 was high!!  

The weather is still pretty warm up here.  Cache Creek is known as the Arizona of BC.

Large dish and cluster of dishes near Monse, Wa.  They are part of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory Very Long Baseline Array.  It is 1 of 10 sites spread across the US to allow astronomers to make detailed studies of celestial objects.  Used simultaneously, the 10 sites function as a single antenna 5,000 miles wide.  They can measure image detail of better than a thousandth of a second of arc, which is equivalent to being able to see a football on the surface of the moon. 

 Not a lot of places to pull over for photos, so taking them out the window.....  Landscape keeps changing.  We took the more direct, but less traveled route yesterday and went through some really beautiful country.

Orchard country - lots and lots of fruit stands alongside the road.

Believe it or not, we're going down the steep Hamilton Hill into Merritt, BC.  Very similar to Cabbage Hill East of Pendleton.  I wanted to get a photo of the Hamilton Hill sign, but.....

Well, time to hit the road.  I may not have a chance to post again for a few days as we'll be boondocking.  Y'all take care now!

Rhubarb bounty and Dean's woodworking

 A lot of rhubarb left, so wanted to put up what I could - before it goes tough later in the season.  We have 4 plants that we got from Redmond Greenhouse several years ago.  They always produce well, thanks to Doug's recommendations.  2 different varieties - red and green.  And no, not like the TV show!  LOL



When all finished slicing and dicing, this was the bounty.  10 cups for the freezer, about 6 to make sauce, and 4 more that I used to make 2 loaves of bread.  Yum!!  Frozen things can get over the border - I've heard.
I hope!





With 3 people now living in the house, we sometimes wash clean dishes again.  So, frugal me, I made a sign hoping the guys would pay attention.







BUT - Deans didn't think it was fancy enough, so he took some scroll saw therapy yesterday and made a 'C' and a 'D' with magnets on the back.  Problem solved?  Hopefully!

Garden Update

Peas from the garden!

Went out to pick peas yesterday and had so many I had to fill my pockets, too! Let the shelling commence,

One of my favorite childhood memories is picking and shelling peas with my paternal grandmother.  She had a large garden - at least I thought so at the time, since as a kid, everything seemed huge.  Going back to some of those places as an adult, they weren't so big after all.
After I shelled the peas, I blanched them, drained them well, put them on a cookie sheet to freeze, then into a zip-lok.  Looking forward to some pea and cheese salad like my aunt used to make.  Comfort food!

We're getting ready for the big trip - so much to do.  Looking forward to being on the road so my mind isn't constantly trying to remember all the things that need to be done.  Canada is a foreign country and has a lot of rules and regulations for crossing the border.  The dog food, for instance, must be in an unopened bag.  No fresh veggies or meat (hence freezing the peas...).  Limit of 40 total oz of wine or liquor OR 24 bottles of beer.  Then, crossing the border into Alaska will be another set of rules.  Luckily, Canada has grocery stores.

I'm going to miss seeing my lilies in bloom since they're just starting. 










OK - a bit of weird-ness to end this post.  These moths spent the day in this plant - mating.  All day?

Kayaking in the rain!!

But first, a bit of gardening.............

 The cactus is beginning to bloom. 

 The birds seem to think my Swiss Chard is their dinner.  Now that I've controlled the earwigs, the birds are the ones doing damage.  I don't care so much about the beet greens, though they would be yummy, the chard is one of my favorites!!  Boo birds!

 We were planning a nice weekend of camping with Jason and Mindy to introduce them to kayaking and Hosmer Lake, but the weather didn't appear to be cooperating, so we decided to stay here and do some day trips.  Friday, we went out to Lake Billy Chinook and put in at the Upper Deschutes boat ramp.  It was sprinkling a little, but  relatively warm, so it really wasn't that bothersome.  Until it started pouring, and pouring.  By then, we were maybe a mile upstream.  And soaked to the bone!  I must say, though, that it was one of those "if you don't try, you won't know if you can do it" moments.  I did it.  And had fun!
You can't tell in the photo, but I was wet!  But smiling.  We let the kids use the hard shells and Dean and I used the inflatables.  All of the boats were full of water.





  Jason and Mindy coming in

 Wet, but happy kids!!!

Yes, the sun did come out - the next day.  When we got home, we left everything in - and on - the car.  Good thing our car is an Element - with seats that won't be ruined by wet clothes because it took until today for the inside of the car to finally dry out.  We put the inflatables on the back deck to dry - had to take them apart, which is a real pain to put back together, but they need to be dry to put away.

All in all, it's been a great weekend.  It's always a joy to have them visit.  We laugh a lot.

I'm Baaack!

The garden is happy that, hopefully, the weather has stabilized.  

And I am happy, too.  I'm going to TRY to update this blog more often - which could be anything since it hasn't been done for 'a while'.........

I'll post mainly about my gardening and cooking activities, but you never know what might end up here.  We'll be taking a road trip to Alaska next month and I will try to post from that if I get this new blogger system figured out.  Meanwhile, bear with me, please.

There is cilantro where none was planted.  

 

Lots and lots of potatoes beginning to bloom.

Peas are fattening.

Strawberries are looking good.

Now for the mystery plants.  I planted this one, but sure can't remember what it is.  It dies back in the fall, but comes back with a beautiful vengeance. 












This, I believe, is a volunteer - is it a weed?  Anyone? 

 Also this one.  I have 2 of them - one is on the North side of the house, gets little sun and only water when it rains.  The one pictured here is on the East side - gets some sun and some water.  The leaves are sticky.