Do you remember the episode of Little House on The Prairie where Pa and Almonzo are both taking a load of goods to Sleepy Eye (or maybe it was Mankato) and they decide to make a race out of it. They both think they have a short cut or new way to go – and of course it backfires on both of them. Well, that’s how our day went Friday.
After a lovely morning at Fort St. James (a restored Hudson’s Bay Company trading post), we were headed to Prince George, BC and Ness Lake Bible Camp. We had stopped there on our way north and were planning to stop there for a couple of days on our way south. Since we were coming from a totally different direction Gary was busy checking for any shortcuts that might work. His GPS showed a road that looked like it would cut about an hour off the drive and even my map showed the same road. The problem I saw was that it was a dirt road. Now we’ve done a lot of dirt roads over the last couple of weeks so that didn’t really concern Gary, but I was definitely leaning towards staying on paved roads. When we came to the intersection we saw three big tractor trailers coming out. “See – I knew it would be a good road!” “Hmmm, maybe it’s just paved back to the factory.” say I. “We’ll be fine, “ the driver said, and turn we did. It was paved for a good part of the way (until the giant lumber mill), but then even the dirt road was in good shape. We got a little nervous when there was a “road narrows” sign, but still, it was better that some of the Alaskan roads we had traveled. It wasn’t until we were headed down a little hill toward the river that we began to get worried. This would have been a great short-cut except for one thing.

No Bridge.
And it didn’t look like there would be a bridge down this way either.

🙂
So much for the shortcut!
We did eventually make it to Ness Lake Bible Camp. We were warmly welcomed and even invited to join them for dinner. These are really good folks! Camp is in full swing here and we are planning to stick around to help out for a day or two.

Saturday was Barkerville Day for us! Since our whole trip south has had a Gold Rush flavor to it, it just seemed right to spend the day at this restored Gold Rush community. It was kind of like a small scale Williamsburg, but with a must more rustic feel. These were the lives of folks making their living out of finding gold in the gravel and banks of the nearby streams.

This picture has a deserted look to it, but it really was quite a bustling place, with stage coach rides and costumed town folk and lots of activities going on. We thoroughly enjoyed our day there!

OK – if you’d like to catch up on some of the pictures of our recent travels, I’ve finally had a chance to get them uploaded –
Day 9 – Saturday – Finishing up the Top of the World Highway – chores in Whitehorse – and part of the way to Carcross.

Day 10 – Our day in Skagway and Dyea. A beautiful drive down to Skagway and then an interesting day in town.
Day 11 – Our Drive All Day Day. We covered over 400 miles – and loved the abundant wildflowers along the way!
Day 12 – Our detour to Stewart and Hyder. No bears at the Fish Creek Bear Viewing area, but we saw glaciers, salmon and a toaster museum and took a lovely walk out the boardwalk over the tital flats that used to be the harbor in Stewart!

Day 14 – Day 14 – A real change in the scenery! And a giant Fly Fishing Pole!

Day 15 – Fort Saint James, and the rest of the way (short cut included) to Prince George and Lake Ness Bible Camp.

Saturday, Day 16 – Fun in Barkerville (and fun with the sepia setting on my camera!)

And that brings us to Day 17 – Today! Sunday, August 9, 2009. Worship. Rest. Visit. No pictures. Phew!

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