Quesnel: First impressions

Over the last few weeks many of my friends have asked me to describe or illustrate the city of Quesnel, British Columbia, where I’m now living. I use the word “city” very loosely as Quesnel itself apparently only has around 10 000 inhabitants (with the surrounding areas adding anything between 8 000 and 14 000 inhabitants to the “official population”). {Note to the editor. The period was placed outside the closing parenthesis as the statement inside was not a full sentence. Now I shall write a full sentence and will then place it inside the closing parenthesis.} 

This town, at the confluence of the Fraser and Quesnel rivers, is built on the foundations of the timber industry – with several saw mills and pulp mills dotted on its outskirts. Its people are real, and down-to-earth – many of them shift-workers. Children cycle to school and to each other’s homes, they hang out in the local parks and go to the single movie theatre downtown together. By 10pm Quesnel’s streets are pretty-much deserted …

This is small-town living. And I love it.

(P.S. And now for something completely different: I dislike several things intensely. One: I hate bad, out-of-focus, bland and blah photos. Two: I can’t stand mosquitoes. This evening both were very much present. The mosquitoes – as I may have mentioned before – are like giant, tenacious blood-sucking raptors. I understand why they are jokingly referred to as Canuckistan’s national bird. Then, the photos. I’m not entirely happy with the pics I took tonight, but I’ve decided to share them anyway – so that friends and family back home can begin to imagine a bit more accurately where I live. I would hate them to see me in their mind’s eye as living on the plains of Saskatchewan, or in some hippie suburb of Vancouver … And that’s all I have to say about that!)

Click on photos for bigger versions.

Quesnel panorama from Willow Street in Red Bluff

View of the Quesnel River from Red Bluff.

The mills from Red Bluff.

Bus in Johnston.

The water spray park in LeBourdais Park, the city’s main public park.

Skateboarders in LeBourdais Park.

Texting friends, LeBourdais Park.

We’re nowhere near the sea, but there are plenty of gulls.

Teenager’s gravestone in Quesnel’s Old Cemetery.

Every fire hydrant downtown represents a different historical figure dear to the city. This one represents cyclist A.J. Elliot, who was riding from Ashcroft to Barkerville (a total of 400km) but was thwarted by heavy snow at Cottonwood.

Two mills (from Pinnacles Provincial Park). The city is to the right.

Downtown Quesnel from Pinnacles Provincial Park.

View up the Quesnel River from the railway bridge.

The railway bridge over the Quesnel River.

Sunset over the Quesnel River.

“Quesnel Downtown” sign from the Cariboo Highway #97.

Looking down St. Laurent Avenue from Reid Street. 10 p.m.

Flowers on Reid Street. 10:05 p.m.