Cross Canada Trekking - Part 7 [Going to Golden 🏅]

Alas, it was time to move further West. We saw signs saying that the highway was closed before Golden. But somehow, we didn't pay heed to this. We took the highway assuming that we could just get close enough, but then there would be some sort of detour allowing us to get into the province of British Columbia. Golden of course, being right on the other side. I kinda of had a bad feeling about the plan, ignoring the information we were presented with. Well, not a bad feeling but somehow I felt I should have spoken up. I was still so tired I was in a bit of a state of apathy and just wanting to sleep I didn't say anything. We drove the hour and about ten minutes away from Alberta-BC border, we pulled up to a big ass gate on the highway with some lady in a high-vis vest there flagging us down. "Highways closed! You're going to have to go back the way you came!" Basically there was no detour that we were just assuming was going to be there. The "detour" was an entirely different highway into British Columbia. My dad said okay to the lady in the high-vis and then turned around. Mumbling some profanities about how they could have explained things better on their sign. I felt pretty to blame, not having said anything but at that point it was too late. The busy bee has no time for sorrow. We had to go back to Banff and take a different road entirely. It lead us through a town called Radium Hot Springs on a more Southerly route before we made our way back up to Golden.
It was my second time in Golden, and being back in BC for the first time in such a long time brought back memories. It was all amazing. I'm not sure what the plant was but everywhere we stopped smelled like an expensive, votive beeswax candle. It was an amazing smell that I don't seem to find here in Ontario and like I said it was all over the place. Golden is a small town, but I quickly fell in love with it. We stayed only for one evening and left the next day as the lady in the RV park reminded us that 11AM was checkout time and we were like yea we're going!!! Meanwhile, there was nobody else around the whole place was empty but I guess rules are rules.
I had wandered around the town of Golden in the early evening, snapping some pictures, the results of which you can see here. One thing that stood out to me was the Freemason Lodge, which you seem to find some of those in every little place. I always wondered what goes on with those things, not so much at the lower echelons but at the very highest of the high. Who were the members, what did they contribute to the history, the infrastructure, what were the stories behind those walls and beyond. Also the rotary club among other such things. I've always had a fascination with such clubs, while never having had joined one. Maybe one day. 😉
Looking back at the trip, looking at maps brings back a lot of fondness, even for the ghetto little towns I didn't get to visit again, the little places: 70 Mile House, 100 Mile House, Quesnel Christina Lake, Peachland, Rossland, Salmo, Ymir, Lumby. The feel of the open road, the sense of adventure.

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