Britannia Museum in Squamish

idearabbit-britiannamuseum9Yay! Trip to the mountains :)

We got our tickets for the noon tour. It was partly sunny, but the winds were bone-chilling. I knew from their website to dress warmly as the tour would be taking place inside the mine where it was going to be dark, cold and damp. I suggested to my friend to get his coat that he left in the car. I’m sure he was glad he did.

The actual tour seemed a bit short for $25 (compared to the Underground Tour in Seattle), though it was neat to see everything. The rest is self guided, and there is a gold panning area where kids and adults can try and pan out some gold. Sheepie got so into it that he spent so much time freezing his hands off to get some gems and gold looking stones while his friend and I went to the cafe to have some hot tea and coffee with chips. The cafe isn’t really a real cafe. Something you’d expect out in the middle of nowhere…with simple table and chairs set up, and a few snacks with coffee brewing in the coffee pot. Very simple and low key. But the tea is nice to warm up with! And for those that doesn’t want to freeze their hands off panning, you can buy the gems in the souvenir shop :P

idearabbit-britiannamuseum7Mockup Model

idearabbit-britiannamuseum8

The real thing idearabbit-britiannamuseum5

Our tour guideidearabbit-britiannamuseum4

Little train we ride to get deep into the mineidearabbit-britiannamuseum6

So, with the actual guided tour part, you ride on a small train into the mines. The guide will show how they use to mine with facts that made the Britianna Mine so special and important back then. The train may be fun, but for the rest, it may not be suitable for infants. The machines are super loud as the guide turns them on to demonstrate how they used to dig back then. The little ones on our tour got scared or were restless as they got bored.

Overall, it’s a nice half day trip to Squamish from Vancouver. It’s a nice museum, but $25 for admission is pretty expensive. Students get discount, so don’t forget to bring your student ID if you are one!