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Where
to go in
BC and Washington State from YVR
Vancouver
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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)
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)
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Discover
North America Yearbook to feature
a variety of topics and
stories
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)
 The
Top 100 for USA and Canada
You're
never stuck for a place to go or things to see and do when
you check the ABA's 100
Top Attractions
plus our Activities
Guide
and the Events
Calendar
on this site. Watch for further details on this
page.
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)
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. As for the Inside Passage,
the Yukon's poet laureate, Robert Service, captured its
majesty in his 'Songs of a Sourdough', Jack London
immortalized it in Call of the Wild, and Pierre Berton
chronicled it in Klondike. (continued)
(map)
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)
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)
Footloose
in Vancouver's Historic
Gastown
Recently arrived
for a cruise or convention? Just steps from Canada Place,
where Alaska-bound cruise ships berth, Gastown begins.
Footloose
in Stanley Park, the Beaches and English
Bay
A sea
of umbrellas one moment, local denizens decked in everything
from beachwear to high fashion the next.
Footloose
on an Old Fashioned Streetcar
Street
Cars, Street Scenes, Street Smarts: Signs of Vancouver's
Rail Renaissance.
More Adventure
Topics
Adventure
Islands:
The North
Pacific has long been a magnet for adventurers and soldiers
of fortune.
Adventure
Rails:
My
fascination with railways and railroad memorabilia goes back
to childhood days in Northern Canada.
Adventure
Roads:
The Alaska Highway in peace and war.
Alaska
Cruises:
In the wake of Haida warriors, great explorers, Klondike
miners and soldiers of fortune.
Art,
Sculpture: Mansion, gardens
and impressive variety of BC art and sculpture add up to a
very unique display.
BC
Attractions:
Capsules featuring BC's most
notable attractions.
BC
Municipalities:
It's the place to be for
anyone who wants to do business with local
government.
BC
Vision Quest
by
Canoe:
A journey that
shares cultures, traditions and History.
Bellingham,
Wa:
Old Fairhaven,
Alaska Marine Highway Cruise Terminal, the Colophon
bookstore, and many quaint, turn of the century
buildings.
Canadian
Pacific:
Famous rails roll
again as you circle tour the Rockies from Calgary via
Kicking Horse and Crowsnest.
.
Chilcotin
Dreaming:
Where the icy
splendor of the Coast Range yields to the aridity of the
interior plateau.
Footloose
in Vancouver:
Morning, noon or
night, it's always an inviting place for rubber neckers,
casual strollers, browsers, grazers and window shoppers.
Helijet
Airways:
Follow the
Whirlybirds to Victoria?
Klondike
Memories:
My first
experience of this 1,200 mile Marine Highway, was from
Canada's Klondike.
Queen
Charlotte Islands:
Give Grant Paulson a stretch of ocean to land on any day,
even when the winds are blowing across the runway.
Seaplane
Travel:
This
archipelago's first European discoverers were the
Spaniards.
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