Way back in the day Fort Vancouver was a center of commerce in the wilds of the Northwest. Today it's a sweet National Historic Site run by the National Park Service. And because it's run by NPS there are Junior Ranger Badges to be earned!
The kids groaned a little when I labeled this as a Historic Site. They know the Junior Ranger tasks are a little more cerebral than in a National Park. However, they were won over by the opportunity to lock me in the jail and the letterboxes scattered around the large site.
We spent most of our time in the reconstructed fort itself. Many of the buildings are missing, but there's a bastion to climb, a storehouse to visit, and the bigwig's house to tour.
In addition to the fort the site includes the Vancouver Barracks and Pearson Air Field, both of which played important parts in the area's history in the early 20th century.
Unfortunately, we were pressed for time by the departure of my train home so we barely scraped through getting the kids around the fort and their badges.
On the upside, there's justification for a return trip some time in the future. Sorry kids, no second badge for that trip.
