a roadtrip to Lillooet, BC

Chasing the last licks of summer, we cruised down the sea to sky, stopping by Joffre Lakes, and settled in for an afternoon cat nap in the Mile 0 Inn. The charmingly bright blue painted wall faced the window overlooking the mountains towering Seton River below.

This sleepy town has seen better days, the pandemic claiming restaurants, bakeries, and museums in its wake.

What we experienced the next morning, the Best Breakfast Ever, should not have been a surprise as we were so promised PARADISE from the local tourism guide.

PARADISE: a loving cat who graced us with his presence and snuggles on the hillside

PARADISE: a turkey vulture peered down as it lazily soared overhead, its shiny pink headskin stark against the calm blue sky

PARADISE: a group of crows angrily ran out an innocent hawk whose only crime was eating babies

The Lillooet Village Museum and Visitor Centre is set up in a church, staffed by birding enthusiasts, and adorned with trophies of the surrounding mammals in case you don’t have a chance to catch a glimpse of them around town.

While we may not have seen any mountain goats, the local deer had clearly made a home here.

And so had the black bears.

Bear scat was found all over town, in parking lots and by the river, peppered with partially digested berry remains. Though we didn’t have any close encounters, we were grateful for our bear spray.

Soft, quiet spots were easy to find. The chilly air of September was probably a welcome respite from the hellscape of summer, though evidence of the desert-like climate remained at our feet.

A surprise highlight was hitting up the spawning grounds for an early morning stroll before heading out of town. The well-groomed creek channels reminded us of a golf course, but full of life and dew and motion. Charming bridges, stairways, and hides for birdwatching dotted the trail. Breaks in the treeline allowed a glimpse of the Seton River below.

We took the long way out of town, passing through the burnt-out town of Lytton on the way back into Vancouver. Fences erected up to the roadside separated the highway from hollowed-out ashen homes. The surrounding forests stood blackened and scarred.

It had started storming by the time we were pulling up into town. We veered off to a detour in Chillawack, I dragged my buds into my Starbucks. During the pandemic I had dumped some CERB money into crowd-owning a piece of property through AddyInvest. I don’t expect to see returns for a while, but in the meantime it’s fun to visit to oggle the half brick of backsplash I’ve claimed as my own, and patron the joint with a lemoncake purchase.