July 4 +
The July 1st holiday was pretty low key here with me sleeping in (after staying up until 5 am reading The Kite Runner). As it was sunny and hot, Ella and I did go visit the nearest park with a lake (Murrin Provincial Park) about 7 km away. It is a small lake that is just off the 99 highway. People with dogs can’t use the main park and lake areas. It was packed. Cheaper for parking than the Gatineaus - a whole day pass cost $3. bucks. Ella and I just did a tour of the area where dogs were permitted, just next to Highway 99 (a very busy highway). Kind of like having the Queensway running next to Meech Lake.
I find being surrounded by mountains sometimes claustrophobic and long for a wide open vista. The nearest spot with an expansive ocean view is Britannia Beach - about 5 km. from Murrin Provincial Park. Britannia Beach was once the largest copper mining town in NA. Like many mining communities it has also had its disasters (see http://sea-to-sky.net/britanniabeach - it looks like you have to copy and paste the url) including an avalanche and floods. The Plight of Henry Wenzel (on the website) is particularly gruesome. The mine closed in the 70s and is now a mining museum.
LOTS in Britannia Beach are selling for 400K. (the price of land and property is incredible here). It is a small community with a population of 350 and is just in the process of being redeveloped. It is nice to enjoy the spot before it is transformed with monster homes. Right now most of the houses that exist in Britannia Beach are mobile homes.
The ocean at Britannia Beach is still contaminated because of the past mining activity. Also contributing to the area’s pollution was the Woodfibre plant across the bay. It was closed this past winter throwing alot of people out of work. Now the big industry seems to be real estate development: housing as well as a new Home Depot and Wal-Mart. Also work connected to the highway improvements for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Whistler.
