Happy Anniversary Trip #1

A year ago this happened:

The year really did fly by and to celebrate 379 days of being together, Arron encouraged me to plan a trip for the two of us anywhere I wanted that we could easily go to, and return from, in 4 days or less.

Stop One: Double date in Quesnel with my Barkerville Bestie Hayley, and her significant other Chris where we enjoyed one of our favourite Cariboo-Redneck events. The Quesnel Crash-to-Pass. The rules are simple. If you want to pas another car, you have to hit it first. Last car still alive wins. It was a great time. Especially when 'my' car - Blue Horny as Hayley and I called him - went crazily off the track and into a stand of cottonwood trees, which he knocked down ontop of himself. With is giant moose horns on the top of his car he was stuck. For about five minutes. Then he made his way back onto the track carrying no less than 5 25 foot cottonwood trees on his roof, slowly littering them around the track as he continued to dominate the event. He got second place over all. But first place for perseverance .

 Stop Two: A shifty hotel in Vanderhoof with a surprisingly beautiful room, and an equally surprising train two feet away that loved honking his horn constantly.

Stop Three: Gas, groceries, Tim Hortons, nothing picture worthy.

Stop Four: Sawechea Provincial Park on the shores of the beautiful Stuart Lake in Fort St. James. It was gorgeous.

Camping isn't camping unless you eat brown beans straight from the can. 

I was super proud that "my" chicken won the chicken race. I even won a button. 

 Stop Five: Fort St. James National Historic Site.
I kid you not, I have been wanting to go here for almost ten years! I love historical villages and I read about this one when I taught about the Fur Trade when I first moved to BC. It was a pretty good historic site as far as they go. Original buildings, excellent and knowledgeable interpreters, sunshine, chicken races, you know... all the good things a historical site should have.  We even learned something new! Fun fact: There were no moose in BC until the early 1900's. In fact the first moose sighting in the Cariboo region wasn't until 1914. This seemed incredibly strange to us, especially considering how popular moose is in our area. We learned that prior to the Canadian Pacific Railway being built, moose were simply too large to get through the dense forest and underbrush of the Rocky Mountains. When the railroad was built it opened a path from Alberta for moose and large animals like white tailed deer and elk. And following their prey, came the cougars.

After visiting the Fort, we got some ice cream, and then sat by the lake and relaxed. We did some kayaking, swimming, walking along the beach, reading, eating, napping, talking, and a lot of silence just enjoying the quietness and the view.