on
line and in print
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Hotels
and |
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Canada's
Famous Doors
Harrison Hot Springs Resort, near Vancouver also 'springs' to mind. It recalls a legend of CPR's glory days, when high rollers, from movie stars to royalty rode the Canadian Pacific Railway, staying at hotels and resorts at or near the main line. I am touched by that same spirit with each visit to The Harrison. And its always a happy return. We launched Air Highways Magazine there, when the BC Aviation Council selected me to speak at its 1996 Conference. Our publishing group is working on a history of that great resort and others for our Suite 2001 Program. New
Year's Eve 2001 Win New Year's Eve Dinner & Dance
Package Hotels along the Yukon One winter, while finishing high school in Dawson City on my own, I earned my 'meal ticket' working at Curly Salois' Westminster Hotel, one of the more sturdy remnants of Gold Rush Days. For some reason Curly's place stood on its foundation, despite the heaving permafrost that left most older buildings lurching to the right or left at some crazy angles. Yes Virginia, they really did have meal tickets, and there really was a hotel named The Pearl Harbour, after Pearl Carswell, a family friend. Then there's the original Whitehorse Inn, which my grandfather, Ernie J. Somerton, almost won in a poker game with owner T.C. Richards, a legend in his time. As a curious youngster, I had a great fascination for abandoned road houses, such as the Hollenbeck on the Klondike's North Fork. The Arlington near the Bonanza gold fields was still operating at the time. Each roadhouse was a nugget , in a chain of coach stops from Dawson City, via Stewart, Minto, Carmacks and Lac Le Berge to Whitehorse, head of rail and steamboat transportation. Apple Jimmy had the only fruit store in the Yukon , at a time when the only fresh fruit came by Paddle wheeler. We plan to name a computer column in his honor. While attending Klondike Night at the 1997 British Columbia & Yukon Hotels' Association Convention, an old high school friend, Kip Fisher of Mayo mentioned that today's Yukon hotels are as modern as any on the outside. As guests at two Westmark Inns, while producing the Alaska Highway's 50th Anniversary video, I can vouch for this. Going to the Yukon this year? Perhaps you may relive some of the history I spoke of, and I can assure you the accommodation will be to your liking. The "Mile Houses" along the Fraser River during BC's Cariboo Gold Rush are another story we will enjoy telling soon. At our Air &
Marine Tourism Conference in Vancouver , Victoria's
Kevin
Walker,
President of the BC-Yukon
Hotels' Association at
the time, spoke of how today's hoteliers can meet the
challenge by creative tour packaging. Fotomation-
series of souvenir posters available |
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Further
east, there's Winnipeg's Fort Garry, Toronto's Royal York,
Quebec's Chateau Frontenac, Montreal's Queen Elizabeth and
Ottawa's Chateau Laurier. How can one forget the Algonquin,
a tudor style resort on the Bay of Fundy at St. Andrews by
the Sea, a pleasant bus ride from St. John, NB. We enjoyed
the Mother of all Lobster Feasts on the grounds of that
historic property during a convention I helped stage for
CGA-Canada. We have participated in many such events, worked
on projects or enjoyed memorable stays at most of these
superb hotels, the Banff Springs in particular. For several
months, a suite in Edmonton's Macdonald Hotel served as our
advertising agency's branch office. Rail
Adventures
and
Super Cruises
Details
.....