This was just a one night stay in Kamloops, to help break up the drive.
Today was a long drive to Whistler, but we are going to have a couple of stops along the way. First, is a former Indian Residential School. Our interpreter Jackie was one of the children that did not have to attend the school due to her age. She was one of the younger of 14 children and watched her brothers and sisters “disappear” to the school. 
The Kamloops Indian Residental School was part of the Canadian residential school system and one of the 130 schools for First Nations children that operated in Canada between 1874 and 1996. The Kamloops School was opened in 1893, initially as the Kamloops Industrial School, and continued operation until 1977. It is located on the traditional territory of the Secwepemc. Hundreds of Secwepemc children attended the school, often forcibly removed from their homes once attendance became mandatory by law. Children were not allowed to speak their native Secwepemctsin language, fed not their normal food, or practice their own spirituality. The boys and girls were kept on different sides of the school and were not allowed to see their brothers and/or sisters. The children were isolated and some were grossly mistreated and a number of broken bones or deaths occurred. High fences were used to keep the children in and the parents out. If you tried to escape and were caught, you received 50 lashes with a cat-o-nine tails for the first attempt. The second attempt, you received 50 lashes and had your head shaved. The third attempt, you received the lashes, shaved head and you were taken to a school far away to make it harder for you to return to your family. The children were allowed home to their families in the summer. But the breakdown of the family was started as some of the children thought their parents sent them to this awful place on purpose.
After the schools were closed, many were taken down – demolished due to the bad feelings of the place, but the one in Kamloops was kept and now repurposed into a museum and a place to never forget. The fences are gone and they do classes in the school to help the First Nations people today.
There is so much more that Jackie talked about which is just too long and disturbing to write in travel blog. Canada as well as the USA, followed a horrible path in their similar treatment of the Native peoples. But we should not forget our countries past and try to help our nations to be better.
OK, that was heavy, now on to more fun stuff.
We left Kamloops and our next stop was to Cache Creek along the Caribou Wagon Road that is still accessible today. Hat Creek heritage museum and visitor center provides tourists with the opportunity to explore original buildings frequented by travelers during the Gold Rush in the 1860s. 
Arriving by stagecoach, with her “wild west” attire, including chaps and gun, Chris stunned us with a rendition of a song from Anne get your gun as a starter.
She immediately got our group involved –
Now that she had our attention, we found out that Chris was here to give us a very unexpected “tour” of women’s dress during that time period.
First off with the chaps and a discussion of bloomers versus drawers. 
Now was a very detailed explanation of the corset, including types and how they were worn. 
Next was the bustle and she talked about the hoop and the different types of bustles. This included how certain types were removed and folded up to sit at events. 
And the “dress” which was really a top and bottom, so they could be put on, and also they could be mixed and matched as the women of the day did not have many dresses.
Finally the hat and gloves.
Now I have left out some of the pieces and steps but you get the drift. This was definitely not what we expected after her wild arrival. It was so much fun.
And what show isn’t complete with the flirt with the customer – 
We had a nice lunch there and walked around a little. There was a working blacksmith shop and other things to see. 
I couldn’t find Georgia for the Bear shot, so Carol had to do stand in (haha) 
Our next stop was in the town of Lillooet, the Jade Monument Capital of the world. There was a little museum and a small park for us to walk around. 
The First Nations people used the jade to make tools. Then when the Chinese placer miners were digging for gold they found the jade right next to the gold. It was worth more to them than the gold. They shipped tons of the jade to China making Canada the primary source for Nephrite Jade. Jade is the official gemstone of British Columbia.
We drove on and had our bear encounter, well some of us (those on the left or driver side of the bus didn’t all get a chance to take photos) 
We drove by some spectacular scenery. Poor Andy, our driver, did a fantastic job as this was a very windy road and it rained off and on during this next part of the drive. 
We made one more stop, where Chan got someone to take another “family photo” and we got to see a rainbow.
Our next stop – Whistler –
Postcards from Sue and friends 