Dawson Creek History Museum

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The Dawson creek history museum is a place that is somewhat interesting to a little bit older kids because there is a room with a bunch of old things such as instruments, paintings, toys, and other household things. In the room before that, there is a lot of stuffed birds and animals (as in elk and that sort of thing, not toys). In the other end of the building there is models of the old train station and how it would have worked and the station masters house in the station.

Kids might like it but it depends on the things that the child likes, but bring them anyway.

Dawson Creek History Museum -- British Columbia

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The COOLEST thing: all the animals and birds that were there. They were in scenes. There were different owls. There were different water birds. There were big mammals. The mountain goat was cool. It's like a bighorn sheep. Bitty [unicorn stuffed animal] liked looking at the WOLF. The SAD thing: that all these animals got killed and stuffed.

There was also a HISTORY part of the museum. It was about people who traveled here. There was stuff like jewelry, a quilt, a OLD washing machine, other furniture, some clothes, and...a really cool model airplane. It really FLEW! Mom says that Grandpa Bob had one kinda like it and she had a little one.

Families should go here to see all the animals. The other stuff was kinda boring. Daddy liked it cuz it helped us figure out some of the animals we've seen.

Alaska Highway House -- Dawson Creek BC

Plans -- written 4/25/09

I'm excited to eventually visit this small museum about the construction of the Alaskan Highway. My paternal grandfather spent time in Watson Lake, Yukon Territories helping to build an airplane hangar while the road was being built. I like the idea that I have a family connection to the road we are about to follow all the way to Alaska!!

Here's a photo of part of the map of the highway from this museum, which talks about the significance of the air field in Watson Lake:





For more information: http://www.tourismdawsoncreek.com/alaska_highway_house.php




Review:

This was a small museum, but full of interesting detail. The combination of signage, quotes from journals or letters, and exhibits helped us better understand how big of an undertaking the construction of the highway really was.

It is absolutely amazing what was accomplished in just 9 months when put into the hands of the army---it would take years and years to do today, if it could even be done over the objection of environmentalists!


This photo shows a want ad put in various newspapers, looking for workers for the highway project. I'm not quite sure WHY anyone would have chosen to participate if not done involuntarily because of being in the Army!!


We also watched an hour long video here. Anna got bored, but the rest of us found it full of interesting information.

For now, this museum is donation based. I suggest a generous donation since it helps to fund future exhibits!

Alaska Highway House

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The Alaska Highway House is a place that all families should go to.

Inside there is a lot to learn about the building of the highway during world war II and other things about it. The highway covered a distance of approximately 1500 miles and was built in only nine months. It was really hard work. How the highway was built is one of the things you can learn there. you can go through the posters about it or you can just watch the movie that they have in the back corner of the museum...

I personally suggest that you read the posters and then watch the movie for a little more info.

Alaska Highway House -- Dawson Creek BC

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The BEST thing: the model of the Kiskitiwam wooden bridge being built. It was a really curved bridge and part of it looked like metal but it wasn’t. The next day we drove to see the actual bridge and walked on it!

The thing I wish we did NOT do: watch the movie. It was mostly people talking about the different people who were there and were building everything on the Alaska Highway.

Families should MAYBE come here…but do NOT watch the movie if you have kids!

Look at the pictures at the beginning---there is a jeep on a dirt road, an old car driving the road later, and an RV driving it like we are doing.

Banff (Canadian) National Park -- ALBERTA

4-25-09 -- We plan to make a day trip to Banff and to Lake Louis on May 5th. I have been told by many people over many years that this is some of the most beautiful scenery any where in the world! We will give you our own impressions after we see it for ourselves.

Unfortunately the Icefields Parkway running between Lake Louise and Jasper still have winter driving conditions as of April 30th, with full snow cover, so we are making this just a day trip instead of driving the full length of the park.

For more information: http://www.pc.gc.ca/pn-np/ab/banff/visit/index_e.asp



May 6th -- We took a day trip to visit Lake Louise and Banff in the National Park. The visitor's centre was excellent at Lake Louise---focused on the geology of the area, including a video that Jakob enjoyed. We also liked the animals posed on "cliffs" in the lobby area--including a mama bear who finally had to be killed because she kept returning to the area campgrounds, no matter how far they flew her away!

Lake Louise is indeed in a beautiful setting, a high lake surrounded by mountain peaks. Unfortunately it was still ice & snow covered so we enjoy mountains reflected in bright turquoise green water.

We oohed and aahed over the views along the drive back toward Banff. Then we walked along the falls just outside of the town of Banff. They were quite different than any other falls we have seen---with many, many narrow channels of water jumping and splashing between layers of rock. That was definitely worth taking the time to see!

I've heard from a number of friends how gorgeous this area is---and it is indeed beautiful. But...since then we have travelled to many other areas that are just as beautiful...plus have almost NO people. We enjoyed this day trip---but I suspect we would have hated it in full summer with a zillion people crowding around.

Calgary, ALBERTA

4/25/09 -- We plan to spend at least part of a day in Calgary. It looks like there are a number of outstanding things to see (such as Historic Park and the Canadian Olympic Center), however the most interesting parts of these places don't open until May 16th. We will let you know if we find any "don't miss" sites in Calgary while we are there!

5/5/09 -- We visited both the Canada Olympic Centre AND Fort Calgary. Both were excellent places to visit with families.



I was surprised to find that the Olympic Centre was free to wander as you wanted. (The Museum and Hall of Fame had a fee---so we didn't bother with that part.) Because our family enjoys watching "Cool Running" about the Jamaican Bob Sled Team which competed here in 1988, we especially enjoyed getting a close up view of the bob sleigh track.

Randy and Jakob explored much of the entire length of the track. After exploring the bottom portion including the finish line area, Jakob and Anna played on a fun playground. I stayed there longer with Anna while Jakob wandered off with Dad.





Fort Calgary was one of the better history museums we have been to---excellent hands-on activities for kids. We really needed more time---so the kids could have done more playing at various points, and so that Randy and I could have looked through the "scrapbooks" filled with photos and journal quotes in the many areas of this museum.




Calgary is definitely an interesting city, although we HATE the urban sprawl, and how close all the houses are to each other. There are enough things we didn't have time for (or were here at the wrong season) that we will have to plan a longer stay some other time.