Sunshine! Wells and Barkerville

Sunshine is always
too good to miss - I made the
most of it today!

~carliewired

I woke up at 6 with sunshine peeking around the edge of the curtains. It took me completely by surprise. I scrambled into clothes and bolted out the door leaving my daughter asleep. 

My car windshield was frosty. It took some minutes to clear it and then I was off onto the Wells-Barkerville Highway to get some shots. I looked across the bog to the snowy mountains to the north. I looked back at the skyline of Wells across the bog. I turned back to Wells stopping by the bridge to get a view of the Willow River running brown and fast. I have a shot of the Sunset Theatre in Wells where we've enjoyed many events. I got back into my room at the hotel before breakfast was on offer at 7.

I got myself the all-important coffee and some yogurt. I let my daughter sleep until near 8 when I was to pick up a long-time friend I hadn't seen in almost 12 years. We zoomed off to Barkerville to have breakfast together. The infamous black bear was lurking beside the highway, but he took off like a scared rabbit when he saw my car. No photos of him today! 

It was glorious to be in Barkerville on such a beautiful, blue sky morning. The puddles were drying up and the air was fresh with some warmth in it. I got a great shot of the St. Saviour's Anglican Church against the snow-capped mountains in the distance. 

After breakfast we strolled up to China town. Luckily, we had the help of K who was with us today. She's worked in the Chinese store and other places in the townsite. (My first memories of her were of her playing a character Mrs. Neate, a seamstress.) Today, she helped me pick out a lovely Chinese jacket for myself. While waiting for the store to open we hiked up behind the buildings to see rhubarb and other plants growing on the sunny bank. I got a photo of what seemed to be an expanse of yellow violas.

We stopped for tea in the Wake-Up Jake's restaurant where we'd had breakfast.,  We worked our way back out of the park stopping to chat with people along the way. 

I caught two street actors coming down the street. The pair of horses hitched to the visitor's waggon waited patiently by the express office. I caught the blacksmith hard at work. The last stop was the bakery to pick lunch items to take away with us to Wells. 

We said our good-byes to K with hopes it won't be another 12 years before we do this again. 

We're dining with friends this evening, then we're off to home in the morning. 

It looks like we'll have a high of 15 C today with sun and just a few clouds. Tomorrow looks like it's back to rain.