Fort Vancouver take two

July 22, 2016

Daddy came to Grammy and Granpy's house last night after work and he wanted to see Fort Vancouver and since it wasn't open when we tried earlier in the week we thought we would try again!  This time the Fort was open and we got to explore it.  Fort Vancouver was a fur trading post set up by the Hudson Bay Company in the 1820's.

The blacksmith shop was open and there was a blacksmith in the shop today.  We were hoping that he would light up the coals and show us how it was done, but he just told us all about what the blacksmiths did in that day.

It was still cool to see the blacksmith shop and all the tools that they used and made.

We headed to check out the next building.  We went right in without evening knowing what the building was.  We found out that it was an outhouse. 

Next we headed to the bake house where they baked tons of hard tack.  They didn't have any samples, but from the sound of it that is okay we didn't get to try any.

Some more outhouses.  They sure had quite a few of them.  We weren't sure why they just didn't have bathrooms in the house!  

The kitchen wasn't open today, so, we just had to peek through the window to see the kitchen.  Grammy was very handy in helping me see the kitchen.

Of course I wanted Grammy to help me look too.

Next we headed into the Chief Factor's house.  This is the house that John McLoughlin and his family lived in while they were in charge of the fort.  Another family lived there also and they would use the house to entertain important guest.

You got to go in the house, but we wanted to see more of it from the windows.

Daddy and his girls out on the front porch of the house.

We headed across the field to another building, but thought we would get a photo with Grammy and the whole house in the background.  

Cannons were a very common weapon for defence at that time and there were a bunch at the fort.  The look on my face says it all.  McKenzie it is not a very good idea to put your face in front of a cannon barrel.  What if I was to light it?

In the bastion there were a lot of mini cannons.  I was sure that they were meant for kids to use and to fire.  I thought they were fantastic, since they were my size.

I climbed up the steps to see the view from the top.

Up top they had more mini cannons pointed out each of the window.

Not a single cannon was shot for defence at the fort in all the years it was in use.  I thought that maybe we should change that.

This is the bastion that we climbed up in and looked out of!

Next we headed to the carpenter shop to see how they made furniture and other stuff out of wood.  It would be a lot harder with out electricity and power tools.

The last building we went into they turned into a museum that told about what it was like to live in the 1820s and 1830's while on the fort and around the area.  I tried on a coat from that time.  It wasn't quite as snugly as I usually like.

Daddy and I found some chairs to rest in!  We had fun exploring the fort today!

After we were done we headed up to the visitor center to check it out and to get stamps in our national park passport books.  Then we wanted to show Dad the playground for a little bit.

We had fun on the zip line.

I had a great time finding all the ways to climb up onto the play structure. 

I kept going over to have dad help me at the zip line.  It was sure fun.

Granpy helped keep me safe while I climbed up the spiral pole.

I quick exit down the slide and to the car.  We sure had a fun day actually getting to see the fort today.  I guess the 2nd time is a charm on getting to see the fort.