Bill & Jim's Alaska Trip

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Still heading south on the Cassiar Highway, we turned southwest on B.C. Hwy 99 - the Cariboo Trail (yes, it is really spelled that way). This is the route of the original wagon road that went to the goldfields in the interior of British Columbia. We stayed the night in Lillooet, the start of the Cariboo Trail. This is another narrow, twisty road that runs through beautiful scenery.

The next day, we passed through Whistler. We didn't stop in the town because the traffic was too heavy. The highway is pretty inadequate for all the traffic it gets (it is the only road connecting Whistler and Vancouver). Still, the scenery is quite beautiful. After Whistler, we stopped in Squamish and bought some spectacular carvings done by Coast Salish native people.

In Vancouver, we took a 3 hour bus tour of the city. We got to see the totem poles in Stanley Park, the Anniversary Gardens in Queen Elizabeth Park and Canada Place, part of the site for Expo '86. The oldest part of Vancouver is called Gastown. One of the most popular attractions there is the steam clock. This is a grandfather clock that has a tiny steam engine that raises the weights that drive the clock. On top of the clock case are a set of steam calliope whistles. These 'ring' Westminster Chimes and toll the hours.

We didn't spend enough time in Vancouver to do it justice. We will have to come back for a few days when we have more time to spend. It is a beautiful city, clean and cosmopolitan. The morning that we were there, we heard about the catastrophic flash flood in Fort Collins, Colorado, our home town. Our home was not in the affected part of town, but there was extensive damage to the Colorado State University campus.
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