What to see Vancouver Island / Vancouver

[Jes Andersen]

A bit more... You can check out most of this stuff On Line to get the details.

The Empress is under new ownership and renovations, but still hanging on by the teeth to the old style. Some of the old décor, like the Bengal Room, is toast, to become a yuppee bar or something. High Tea is still available.
If you do the triangle tour, Vancouver, Victoria, mid Vancouver Island, you can take the ferry to near Sidney, a 30 min drive from Victoria, explore the greater Victoria area, then travel north to Nanaimo and on to Parksville, Port Alberni and Tofino/ Ucluelet. On the return trip, you would take the ferry from Nanaimo to Horseshoe Bay in West Vancouver and if time permitted, could head a bit north to check out Whistler and Squamish. Whistler can speak for itself and Squamish has a number of things that may interest you. They have a gondola with panoramic views over Howe Sound, and the BC Railway Museum is located there. A couple of brew pubs, lots of restaurants. What more could you want?

On Vancouver Island again, in Duncan, the BC Forest Discovery Centre is focused on west coast logging history and has steam and other trains, some running on the property. If you like machinery and its history, this is good. On the way north, before Duncan, is the Kinsol trestle, which has been restored and is billed as being the largest wooden structure in the Commonwealth at one time. It was used by the CNR while they still ran trains on the Island.
Going toward Port Alberni, a bit outside of Parksville is the small community of Coombs. This is the home of Coombs Country Market and 'Goats on the Roof'. An interesting stop even if you just walk around and window shop in the various small stores, or check out the market and have coffee or a bite to eat there. I think the goats have a web site.
On the way to Port Alberni, past Coombs, is the Cathedral Grove in MacMillan Provincial Park. This is a stand of very large, first growth Douglas Fir trees. Parking is right by the road, so not much walking. In Port Alberni, in season, they run a steam train from the downtown area out to McLean Mill, an old time sawmill and National Historic Site. The Francis Barkley sails from the pier downtown to service small communities along Alberni Inlet and the Broken Group Islands of Pacific Rim National Park Reserve. They deliver freight, drop kayakers and stop in at Bamfield before returning to Port Alberni. Its a true west coast experience and a favourite of tourists from all over the world. Check web site for details.

For those interested in local wineries, not to be compare to Niagara or the Okanagan, there are a number both around Victoria and in the Duncan area. My favourites to visit are Avril Creek and Zanatta is that's spelled correctly in the Cowichan Valley. There are lots of others and a tour guide is available, on line, I think.

That's it for now...

[Robin Craig]

Thanks for all the info.

We have concluded day one and driven around the local area, been up to Whistler and back and are now going over to the Island at lunchtime. Turns out by some bizarre coincidences I have a living cousin on the island I knew nothing about and another family connection in Vancouver that was not known of.

Beautiful place but I can assure you all that Howe Island, Ontario, will take a lot of beating, so BC is safe.

Meeting with Chris Preston on Tuesday in Victoria and seeing the Ferret and Museum that he is involved with.

This week will be over all too quickly

[Jes Andersen]

Welcome to B.C. Once you finish your week, you'll have to give us the critique on what/where. I suspect that since you will only be seeing tiniest slice of the west coast, you will have to come back again and go further afield. Cities are a lot a like everywhere but places such as Haida Gwaii (formerly Queen Charlotte Islands) and its special places are in a class of their own. A chance to see a Kermode Spirit Bear, or a Grizzly in their natural habitat are high on the list of once in a lifetime experiences.

Enjoy the rest of your visit!

[Robin Craig]

Stopped in with Chris Preston and the guys at the Ashton Armoury Museum and their Ferret yesterday. Many thanks for the tour Chris.

It is March break here and "off season". much still closed.

Found some bridging pontoon sections and a Catalina and a Sherman based yarder and been given a tour of a Pilot cutter to name some highlights so far.

Being a forecaster here is easy, cloudy with a chance of showers, or showers with cloudy periods would pretty much nail it.

Amazed at the flora that they can grow here that we can not back home in frigid Ontario.

You would need just one one winning lottery ticket to see our country properly, let alone a place like this. Way too much to take in for a day.

[maple_leaf_eh]

Not much on the attractions side, but this may appeal to your rusty old equipment appetite. (You are warned, these things have a tendancy to follow people home. Just ask Rob about some Cadillac engines ... )

In the 50s, 60s and 70s, the Madill company in Nanaimo had a thriving business converting M4 tank and M32 ARV hulls into logging tower platforms. Their company colours were an orangey-red. The logging companies are retooling - again - and there might be random Madill machines sitting in random machinery or auction yards. A second repurposing of Shermans was by Finning which now owns Caterpillar. Shorten the chassis by one suspension station, plonk a dirty powerful hydraulic rock drill on a corner and start making holes in solid rock for dynamite.

[Jes Andersen]

Shhh! Now the secret is out....

Many of these machines are still in service and parts have been available, but the trend now is for excavator type undercarriages on harvesters and the other machines seen in west coast logging operations. There is a yard not too far from my home that salvages all sorts or larger logging equipment. They have a few M4 finals and undercarriage parts waiting for someone that needs them. If you have deep pockets, it would make a great base for a resto-sherman with modern engine. Places like the old Madill, and now T-Mar build up this stuff locally and may have the remnants in the yard. Unfortunately, an American company, Schnitzer has bought up all the scrap yards on the coast and will not resell anything they get in. It all goes to the torch and loaded out to smelters somewhere. Many a nice small crawler that could have been restored for hobby use has died on the cutting floor.

Unfortunately for Robin, none of this stuff found around will fit in his carry-on luggage...

[Robin Craig]

Jes,

who said I was leaving?