BC stuff to do

August 23, 2018 4:04 PM

We (adults and 9 year old) are camping in Northern Washington state next week. The weather might not cooperate for our planned water activities and now I'm looking for backup plans. Are there indoor or outdoor things of interest in this part of BC? It looks like Abbotsford or Chilliwack are less than an hour away.
posted by k8t to Travel & Transportation around British Columbia (4 answers total)

Just to check -- are you planning on staying in BC *instead* of camping? Or driving up to BC from your camping spot? Because those places are more aptly described as an hour away plus however many hours you spend in line at the border.
posted by jacquilynne at 4:45 PM on August 23, 2018 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: We will keep our camping stuff in Washington State, but a trip to BC would be a day trip, especially in case of rain.
We all have Global Entry, but not Nexus.
posted by k8t at 5:09 PM on August 23, 2018

So, in terms of tourism, those areas are mostly kinda ... outdoorsy. Which if you're going there because of rain is probably not ideal. Lots of farm tours, hiking trails -- Bridal Falls area is popular -- lakes with beaches -- Cultus Lake is popular -- waterslides, etc. I have not been, but I have heard that the Staves Falls Power Center is interesting and mostly indoors if you're into industrial tourism.

If you'd like to drive around see some pretty scenery, you could drive up the Fraser Valley and into the Canyon as far as Hell's Gate or Lytton, though, honestly, if you're willing to drive that far, then you've also got Vancouver. Which is Vancouver, and thus full of all the things that make Vancouver kinda amazing -- museums, aquarium, science center, Grouse Mountain, Stanley Park, etc, etc, etc, etc.
posted by jacquilynne at 7:38 PM on August 23, 2018

The community centers in BC tend to be awesome. We used to go ice skating and swimming at the rec centers. Super inexpensive fun for the family.
posted by jennstra at 1:56 PM on August 24, 2018 [1 favorite]