The Barkerville trip was a nice return to a place I have had many experiences with.
As a child I often went to Barkerville with my family over the summertime but I had a wonderful time before even arriving at the location. Wells had gotten a walking path through their wetland since I had been at Barkerville last. The walk was wonderful and a small community space was past a bridge on the creek. The area was technically accessible before, but the walk was significantly longer or much moister.
At the historic site I had somehow ended up in the King house and sleeping in a historic building is unique in Canada (or so the advertisement said).
Talking with the people I remember at the different stores I was glad to have gone this summer since the wonderful person I experienced McMahon’s Confectionery with was retiring at the end of the summer. The only change to the confectionery was that the popcorn maker was incorporated by the till so the ground squirrels wouldn’t get to nibble on the floor kernels.
The Bakery had put more of a focus on artisan pastries beside the sour dough, though I mourn the passing of the Cornish Pasty, a wonderful lunch meal for the working stiff. They still had the Miner’s lunch at C. Strouss so not everything was ruinously different.
Going with the program felt like the midpoint between going with my family and working there. There was some things to do and it felt a bit more rushed, but only being ‘in’ for a day compared to at least 3 would make the difference there.
Going with a large group also felt different since like bumping into people you work with while on a lunch break you people you know are going by through all the different experiences.
The only thing I miss was the Waterwheel tour, though that would have made the return far later than would have been reasonable.
All in all it was wonderful to experience a place I have a lot of experience with new eyes. Some things were changed that I was not so fond of, but everything changes all the time, but it is nice to have some experiences where it builds up instead of reducing.
I suppose this ties in with teaching, since things will always fall apart we need to show people that building and supporting is a better form of preservation, because if you don’t raise up yourself as the landscape builds from various refuse you will sink underneath, like the meters it takes for you to dig to the historic Barkerville road.