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Adventures
in Publishing ...
from Canada's Great Northwest
to the Roof of Africa
Part
Two
 Editor's
Biography/
Jerry W. Bird: Mr. Bird's columns have appeared
in Latitudes Magazine (Montreal), Africa Travel
Magazine, Air Highway Journal of Open Skies,
Canadian Traveller Magazine, Maturity Magazine,
Roads to Canada's Great Drives, Seattle Prime
Times, WingSpan Magazine and others. Here are some
excerpts:
Adventure Islands and Inside Passage
I call them "The Adventure Islands," because
the North Pacific has long been a magnet for
adventurers and soldiers of fortune, including my
father, who left the family's Seattle home for a
post with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police at
Dawson City in the far Klondike. (continued)
Africa's Superstars of the
Serengeti
Like a cinemascope movie, Africa's Animal
Empire filled the scene, then fanned out in all
directions on the far horizon, to the Tanzania -
Kenya border, or to Lake Victoria and beyond. And
what performers these four legged actors were;
prancing about like tv wrestlers, snorting and
butting heads, as if they knew they were the star
performers of our show. On a rocky knoll nearby, a
pride of lions lolled lazily, like cruise
passengers on deck chairs, surveying the situation,
as they stood by for the evening dinner gong.
(continued)
Alaska's
Sawtooth Range by Train
My endless fascination with railways and
railroad memorabilia goes back to childhood days,
when the White Pass & Yukon Railway of Gold
Rush fame was linked via Skagway, Alaska, to a vast
transportation system of BC-Alaska Coastal
steamships and Yukon riverboats. (continued)
Asia's Peace Dividends-
Great Wall and Silk Road
While breaking bread and sharing ideas with
delegates from 18 Asia Pacific countries, I saw how
once sworn enemies are now building bridges,
opening roads and laying tracks for a post cold war
tourism bonanza. For example, we've often been
bedazzled by posters, brochures and videos of the
exotic Silk Road, made famous by Kublai Khan,
Atilla the Hun, Alexander the Great and Marco Polo.
(continued)
Copters Fight Forest
Fires
When he launched his career a few decades ago,
Bruce Campbell probably hadn't the faintest idea of
being in the helicopter business, or even in the
aviation industry. So how did he end up getting
totally involved with a helicopter fleet operation,
fighting forest fires across Canada?
(continued)
Footloose
in Vancouver's West End
Having been footloose in Vancouver since the
days of streetcars, interurban trams, White Lunch,
Woodwards Toyland and Union Steamships, I consider
the West End my special domain. Morning, noon or
night, it's always an inviting place for
rubber-neckers, casual strollers, browsers, grazers
and window shoppers. A sea of umbrellas one moment,
local denizens decked in everything from beachwear
to high fashion the next. It's a passing parade,
minus the 76 trombones-just waiting for you to
follow along. (continued)
Historic Street Cars, Street Scenes, Street
Smarts
"Just then, we heard the four o' clock interurban
tram approaching. Brick red, bound for glory and
the fertile fields of Chilliwack, it rounded
Venables Street, lurching onto Commercial Drive
like a drunken sailor. Noisy, menacing and top
heavy, the interurban trams were the ugly ducklings
of BC Electric's vast fleet. They were also its
workhorses, linking a network of towns and villages
with Vancouver's central core. The squeal of metal
on metal drowned out the doctor's reply."
(continued)
Klondike
Memories and Yukon Gold
While most travelers approach the fabled
'Inside Passage' from various points due south, my
first experience of this 1,200 mile Marine Highway,
was from Canada's Klondike, having plied the Yukon
River for four eventful days aboard the SS Casca, a
classic paddle-wheeler ; chugging and puffing our
way upstream from Dawson City to Whitehorse. After
an overnight at the Regina Hotel, with its ornate
lamps and Victorian furnishings, we boarded the
narrow-gauge White Pass & Yukon Railway for a
day trip, detraining on a wooden platform at
historic Skagway. (continued)
Peace
Through Tourism in Ghana
Prejudices about a country or its people can best
be removed by visiting the place. In the Kakum
National Forest near Ghana's famous Gold Coast, are
six rope bridges that are popular with tourists,
and a challenge to cross. While these bridges swing
and sway in the breeze, far above the forest floor,
all fears a visitor encounters are strictly mental.
Each interlocking bridge is safe and secure, and
each relates to a goal we want to achieve with our
agenda for Peace Through Tourism. (continued)
Pride
of the Royal Canadian Airforce
There she stands, the sleek Avro CF-100, pride of
the Royal Canadian Air Force, proud and sassy as
ever, her body gleaming in the sunshine of another
spring. At RCAF Base Trenton, north of Toronto,
when I first saw her 'dance the skies on
laughter-silvered wings,' she was Canada's
debutante, a grand new star in the theater of the
air. (continued)
SkyTrain:
A Supermall 15 miles long..
Remember the grand old department stores of
yesteryear - where a pert, petite, uniformed
elevator operator sang out the stops as you rose at
a stomach- churning rate? So, it was only
Woodwards, but it felt like you were heading for
the top floor of the Empire State Building. "Third
floor - lingerie - perfumes - toiletries ..." Now,
imagine a shopping area with 19 stops, offering a
world of choice ... (continued)
Underground
Adventure at Britannia Beach
On theSea-to-Sky Highway from Vancouver to
Whistler-Blackcomb, is a unique tourist attraction,
the museum at Britannia Beach. It's a salute to
British Columbia's Mining industry and those who
made their living underground.. Leaving Vancouver's
North Shore via the "Upper Levels" you round the
bend at Horseshoe Bay, where the BC ferry fleet
departs for Nanaimo, the Adventure Islands and
Sunshine Coast, then weave northward along the
aptly-named Sea-to-Sky highway, to Whistler and
points beyond. (continued)
Vision
Quest's Canoe Journey into History
First Nations people from the Prince Rupert
Hazelton area and points along the Inside Passage,
joined Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers in
Vision Quest. The 1,000 mile canoe journey,
followed the Skeena River to the Pacific, then
headed south in a month long event.
(continued)
Follow the Whirlybirds to
Victoria? During the Burma Shave road sign era
, the advertising slogan one would see for decades
on billboards leading into BC from its neighbouring
provinces and states was " Follow the Birds to
Victoria." It conjured up all sorts of images to
lure the vacation bound traveller. Today, after
receiving requests about Helijet Airways from
readers in Southern California and as far away as
Africa, I would change the slogan ...
(continued)
Canada's Great Drives:
Yellowhead Highway
Imagine your car is a time-capsule; cruising
down a broad ribbon of Canadiana, in the wake of
nomadic hunters, voyageurs, missionaries, traders,
sodbusters, fortune-seekers and railroad builders.
From Lake Manitoba to the Haida Gwa'ii (BC's Queen
Charlotte Islands) , it's a 2600 km journey into
history, with Indian encampments older than Egypt's
great pyramids, national parks, ancient shrines and
battle sites. Ethnic dances and pageants salute
every facet of our heritage. " (continued)
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On
conservation
“With the escalating cost of
paper, a valuable forest resource,
publishers should strive to expand their
reach and serve more readers with every
copy. A good magazine should be a keeper,
with an extended life span, like National
Geographic, which never seem to go out of
date."
Jerry W. Bird
Speaking
of the Internet, he feels the real
challenge is to cut through the clutter
and bombardment of asinine pitches and
empty promises. He is producing a book on
that topic.
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Jerry W.
Bird:
Editor, Travel Writer, A/V Producer. Mr. Bird's
columns have appeared in Latitudes Magazine
(Montreal), Africa Travel Magazine, Air Highway
Journal of Open Skies, Canadian Traveller Magazine,
Maturity Magazine, Roads to Canada's Great Drives,
Seattle Prime Times, Wing Span Magazine and
others
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