Last fall, someone tried to organize a group outing to the BC Mining Museum. We signed up but not enough other people did and the plans fell through. In January, I got the idea that I could organize this and with enough lead time we'd have enough people to get the group discount. Great Idea!
Fast forward several months during which we have 17 families sign up, 4 families cancel (with only a week to go), and the ensuing hassle of contacting people from the waitlist to confirm if they're still available. And past experience had taught me to collect money in advance so I had to get people to mail me cheques.
Then there were the people calling me to ask if they can bring their cousin from Ruritania as he's just arrived and also could he pay in gold florins because he hasn't been to the money exchange yet? What about bringing their child who is afraid of dark places, has a phobia about being underground and is terrified of loud noises - can the mining museum, which includes a trip to the underground tunnels and drilling demonstrations, make special accommodations?
OK. I'm making that up. Sort of.
Each time I do these things I inevitably wonder 'why the hell do I bother?' I'm not that broke, I could afford to pay the full price and just go by myself to the museum. And in fact, the vast majority of the time, that is exactly what I do, and we've had some great outings that way.
But I needed an additional incentive to go to the BC Mining Museum because it involves a drive on the Sea to Sky Highway and I hate that road. In fact, I have avoided going on that road for over 10 years. Left to my own devices, I would chicken out of an outing that involves driving on the Sea to Suicide, but it's kind of hard to bail out when you've organized the field trip and you're coming with the $ and there are a bunch of people depending on you.....Oh, and in case you're wondering, the only thing I hate more than driving on the Sea to Sky is being a passenger in a car on it. Yes, color me Crimson for Control freak.
You might hear about it in the future as this is the access highway from Vancouver to Whistler, home of the 2010 Winter Olympics.
It's narrow and twisty and on one side you have a vertical rockface,
and on the other you have a huge drop down to the sea.
(see those little trees? They're not little. They're huge and that's just their tops showing).
It's gorgeous but deadly and fatalities on the Sea to Sky are common. The road itself wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't for the other people on the road. It's a double yellow line almost all the way, with only a few places where there's a passing lane. There's construction all over the place as they are widening it for the Olympics, and the speed limit in construction zones is 50km/h, and as traffic fines are double in construction zones, I made an effort to go not more than 60 during those intervals. And I got passed - on a double yellow - by 2 different people. Bloody idiots. It just makes you a bit nervous because coming around the next blind corner, you don't know if there isn't going to be another idiot coming head-on in your lane because he needs to get by the people following the speed limits in the other direction.
Anyway, I took pictures on the way there - because a sensible thing to do while you're driving on a dangerous highway is to take photos with your digital out of the window. On the way home, Amelia took photos out of her window (the sea & mountains) and Hugo took shots of "mommy, what a beautiful cliff". And while we were actually at the museum, we had fun too.
It's the site of the old Brittania Mine, which by 1929 was the largest copper producer in the British Commonwealth.
The tunnel.
And yet more tunnel.
The drilling equipment.
Goldpanning.
Goldpanning.
They salted the kids' samples so everyone would find something. That's a garnet and some flakes of gold.
An open pit mining truck.
Dinosaur footprints.
Driving home. Amelia's side.
Hugo's side. Did I mention rockslides? Several times a year part of the freaking cliff gives way and tumbles onto the road. They put up all kinds of stuff to try and keep the cliffs from tumbling into the sea (& bopping innocent drivers on the way down)
Construction zone coming up. Note again the 'tiny' trees.
Well, I'm glad that wooden barricade is there. Just in case the concrete one gives way, there's one last chance to grab at something before you plunge down the cliff to Howe Sound.
Ooops. I'm being a bad Vancouver 2010 Ambassador. Really, the highway is fine and as I understand it, it will be at least 2 lanes each way the whole way. And all the stupid drivers will be temporarily rehoused to Alberta for the duration of the Olympics. So come on over in 2010!!
1 comment:
I love the mining museum, and I totally agree about the S2S highway. If it weren't for those amazing views, I would avoid it altogether. I'm jealous that you got to go on the little train ride at the museum, though - it was broken the day we went, so we had to walk (boooring).
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