My Favourite Place in British Columbia

Since today is BC Day, I thought that I would share some photos from last month's annual trip to Burnaby Village Museum, which is one of those working outdoor village museums recreating the 1920s. I've been going there every year since I was six and it's my favourite place.
The farm house has cool tin ceilings which makes the house deliciously cool without the unnaturalness of air conditioning. I love tin ceilings.


That's Old Curly, a former CPR locomotive and the oldest locomotive in Western Canada.

Since last year, you can ride a restored Model T on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. It has wooden floors, can run on moonshine and really zips along the road. I wonder why people stopped driving them, since they can run on anything. That's me and my friend Edina and my younger brother Scott.
The Dry Goods store is my favourite one, mostly because it's never open so I have to stare at all of the lovely hats and shoes with my nose pressed against the window.
The Seaforth School looks a lot like my classroom in elementary school, since they were built about the same time, except mine wasn't a one room school house. I went here once on a field trip and I got all of the questions right, including identifying George V and Mary of Teck which is more then I can say for the volunteer guide who was there, who thought that Canada was still a colony and that the Union Jack was the flag until "sometime in the Fifties", when the official flag was the Red Ensign until 1965.

Pink Pills and Nerve Food anyone?

Since this is the West Coast, there's also a Chinese Herbalist, which sold the same things you still buy in Chinatown, but today's shops don't look as cool.

And if no one is looking, you can unlock the gate and go behind the counter.

The theatre was showing Neighbours with Buster Keaton and his father playing his father.
The printers is definitely the coolest place and they have a small foot powered press that prints off free bookmarks.

A few years ago they finally raised the money to restore the street tram that had been sitting out in the elements for fifty years. We sat in the smoking sections and the guide called us whores for not sitting in the non smoking section like respectable young ladies would. But the smoking section is better, it has brass strikers for your matches.
That's the Elworth House, which is the only building that wasn't moved there or recreated. But you aren't allowed to go upstairs because of Health and Safety regulations.

"The Greatest Moments of a Girl's Life"
My Dad said that stroking the wallpaper was creepy, but it's the only thing your allowed to touch. Thoughts?
And at the end, you can ride the restored 1912 C.W. Parker carousel for only a toonie. But you aren't allowed to ride side saddle, so circle skirts are advised. And try not to think of Strangers on a Train while the Wurlitzer is playing.

The Museum is open from the beginning of May until Labour Day and for a few days in December. Tuesdays are half price.