Pictures don't really do justice to the drive we just made, but I will try anyway. After a great night at the K-Pub in Calgary with some NB ex-pats Jester and I climbed in our rental, dubbed the Blue Streak, for our run to the hills.From our 8am (groggy) start it was a beautiful day for a drive. If the weather held, which the forecast predicted, we would be in for an approx. 6pm arrival time in Vancouver. Once we hit the TCH toward Banff the mountains appeared in the distance, and as that distance closed they began to loom large.I had done the drive a couple of times previously but never in daylight start to finish. I did remember that the scale of the mountains around Banff to be hard to fathom and they were again this time. We took a quick ascent up Mount Norquay to snap a photo of the town and its surrounding peaks.From marvelling at the sheer size of the Rockies there was also time to marvel at the engineering needed to put a highway through them. For example this is part of the road near Kicking Horse Pass:As a history guy my thoughts turned to the incredible concept of men with 19th century tools traversing these mountains with the dream of a railroad to unite the country. They did it, with great adversity, and it became, quite literally, the ties that binded a country.
Once through Banff and Yoho National Parks and Kicking Horse Pass we descended into the Windermere Valley at Golden and our first pass over the Columbia River. The road then starts another ascent up to Rogers Pass in Glacier National Park and then past Mt. Revelstoke National Park where we meet the Columbia again, this time much wider, at Revelstoke. From there we passed throughh the Shuswaps at Sicamous and Salmon Arm where this is a typical scene:The mountains here are older and rounder than the Rockies and tree covered and this is most assuredly logging country.Shortly after our lunch in Salmon Arm we made it to Kamloops where 17 years earlier Jess and I both made out first trip there for the Canada Games in 1993. Kamloops is an almost desert-like landscape and is the start of the Coquihalla Highway that follows the Coquihalla River to Hope. Hope B.C. is the site of one personally-famous breakdown and the end of the Fraser Canyon. High Mountains surrond the town but, driving west, they quickly give way to the wide end of the Fraser Valley which essentially encompasses BC's Lower Mainland. So with the wide Fraser Valley by our side we made the break for the coast.The drive from Hope to Kitsilano took a little over an hour and a half. The afternoon in Vancouver was as beautiful as the morning we left in Alberta. It was a spectacular drive and I was happy to be able to enjoy acting as the Jester's co-pilot from start to finish. We made it to Kitts slightly ahead of schedule at 5:30 just in time for happy hour.
And so the adventure begins. Early but uneventful departure from YFC only to land in Montreal which was seemingly the only city in Canada getting snow this month.A little delay but am now safely on the ground in Cowtown. The Jester Allaby, my co-pilot for this adventure, picked me up and I am now at Acorn Jackson's planning an evening of fun in Calgary before an early am run for the coast. We're rollin now...
I have a new favourite Olympian this evening after watching Maelle Ricker with her snowboardcross event. She is a local Vancouver girl winning gold in her backyard at Cypress. After the race she was so smiley and giggly it was infectious. She was tongue-tied, when asked (a dumb question about) how she felt about winning the gold. She just said how much fun she was having and then looked in the camera and said that she hoped we were too...and then giggled again. The two gold medals we've won thus far were won on Cypress Mountain by athletes from opposite ends of the country but that, to me, could not be more quintessentially Canadian. Great stories both.
"Like a bird on the wire, like a drunk in a midnight choir, I have tried in my way to be free."
Last Thursday a NB MLA flipped the bird to one his colleagues and then exploded into a tirade that ended with an invitation to another colleague to step outside. He ended up looking kind of like that drunk in the midnight choir. Abe Leblanc is probably a tough guy (former union head) who represents a tough town. This kind of passion from politicians is, although misdirected here, not altogether unwelcome. I would just with that he would fight for his constituents concerns as hard as he would fight for his bruised ego as this clip suggests:
The ongoing debate over the sale of NB Power has these guys under immense pressure and I think this is some of that pressure releasing. Leblanc was suspended for a few days but it will be interesting to see how he addresses the media and the Leg. upon his return.
This is another flashy piece of news from the NB House that has made some national headlines, the last being TJ Burke's rendition of Pants On The Ground last month. This one is obviously of a much different tone although it seems that it too has been turned into song.
And now here to calm everyone's nerves is Leonard Cohen:
Montreal's biggest recent band sang, in this song: "Come on Alex, you can do it. Come on Alex, there's nothin' to it." They may have singing it to Montreal's new biggest star, Alexandre Bilodeau, who just won the fist gold medal by a Canadian on home soil.
It was a magical moment; the crowd erupted in cheers and Alex's face erupted in elation as the final skier's score was revealed leaving him in the Gold medal position. During his post-race interview he thanked his family, his teammates, the country and his government funding. He seemed like a great kid just like you'd hope he is. He is, unquestionably, now a national sporting hero with that first gold at home. Hopefully the first of many.
The Inukshuk is one of the main symbols of the games in Van and a very fitting Canadian symbol at that. An inukshuk is one of the defining symbols of our vast Northern regions whose landscape is one of the defining symbols to the rest of the world. For most of that live close to the southern edge of the country, though, the inukshuk first came into popular consciousness thanks to this commercial:
I watched last night's opening ceremonies from a bar stool in a crowded bar. I didn't get to hear the performances or, for that matter, the commentary. Nevertheless I could see an amazing display of Canadian artistry of all kinds. I was proud as hell to see Measha Bruggergosman, a former mini-rugby player, singing on the world's stage, and hope to see it if I can watch the replay sometime soon. The visual inside BC Ploce were outstanding and the parade of performers, beginning with native dancers from across the country was outstanding. The Olympic flag-bearers, including amazing Candians from Betty Fox to Romeo Dallaire to Bobby Orr. Finally, and not surprisingly, although not without a Canadian solution of multple lighters, Wayne Gretzky was the final torch bearer and the games were underway. A mind-blowing number of people watched it and, in my opinion, it was a beautiful way to kick off the games and a showcase for our country. And now they will know we were here:
The photo shows the gear that my wonderful Godmother Nancy gave me for my journey to the Olympics. I was excited when I got them and I am now ecstatic that the games are finally here and I can get to wear them in support of Team Canada.
The opening ceremonies are tonight but as I write this a pall has been cast over the celebration with the tragic death of Georgian luge competitor during a training run. Some serious questions will need to be answers regarding safety and some adjustments will need to be made to the ceremonies to honour the young man but, bottom line, the show must go on.
Canada is set to welcome the world and I am frankly a little more excited about the prospect of showing the world what a friendly, hospitable, talented, diverse, not to mention stunningly beautiful country we have than I am about winning the overall medal count or even the hockey. Although either of those would be nice too.
One day to go until the Games kickoff in Vancouver. I spoke to some friends in the city and they said the place is already teeming with people. The last couple of days there has been lots of water-cooler talk about who is going to light the flame. Sentimental votes are going to my farourite Canadian, Terry Fox's, mother Betty Fox. Terry was a local boy and embodies everything great about the human spirit. Having said that, the smart money is on The Great One. I think either would be fitting.
It must be electric in the city right now and I can't wait to join them in a week. The athlete's must be so pumped; years of work and now their stage is set.
Google Street View has finally added Fredericton to its database. The freaky Google Maps feature that lets you get an on-the-ground street level view of any place that their cameras have been no inlcudes Freddy. Their timing wasn't perfect but it could have been a lot worse. It looks as though they were here in the spring because the grass is green but the trees have yet to bloom. Ideally they would have been through on a grand sunny day in July but, on the flipside, at least they weren't here on a slushy winter day.
I looked for my house but could only catch a glimpse of the lawn as they only did a drive through of the Northside down Union. I can't believe even Google stereotypes Devon. Google, stop by Henry st. for a beer and I'll show you some Devon hospitality. I also wasn't able to find anybody doing anything untoward in my quick overview but hopefully someone picks up a photo of some couple shagging in a parked car on Needham st. It could happen.
Well the Super Bowl turned out to be a good game but not a great game. It was close and that is the main thing. It did not, however, have many defining moments like the helmet catch two years ago, the interception return or the tiptoe catch from last year. Tracey Porter's interception return might qualify but, to me, that is as much as one of the greatest quarterback's choking as it was about Tracy Porter making a play. Typically I like the underdog (and I am happy the Saints won - more on that in a moment) but I am eargerly awaiting the favourites coming through in the clutch in Vancouver a couple of weeks. I want to believe that the cream will rise and perform under the immense pressure. But I digress.
As expected, we were bombarded with Olympic broadcasting ads. Some got tired quickly but the ad for the song I Believe did strike a nerve:
The shot of the skater on the lake kills me. That feels like a quintessential Canadian moment to me. I believe!
And to turn it around from the Peyton downer, there is the flipside of that. The Saints were the feelgood story. For Canadians there will be numerous feelgood stories and we will see euphoric moments at venues and, spontaneously, all around Vancouver/Whistler and across Canada for that matter. I saw this vidoe today and I can only imagine what it will be like if a country can celebrate the same way come February 28th:
Awesome. I can't stand that song (although it is much better than Eh O Canada Go) but that video is awesome. I believe!
Finally, I did review the American commercials via Adweek and I think my favourite has to be the Snickers ad. How can you not love Betty White.
You can't lose with Betty White. She should be in Vancouver. I believe.
I'm not sure what's sadder; the fact that the marketing machine that is the NFL has managed to make Western civilization actually care about commercials or that I personally am perenially disappointed at not getting to watch them here in Canada thanks to having only a Canadian feed. At least I can claim I just don't want to have to sit through the same 10 cheap Canadian commercials.
Fortunately, I have found a website that will be showing the commercials as they happen. As of yet, I haven't found a website that will be tracking the Canadian commercials.
Luckily this year's game should be worth the price of the beer I drink on its own. At this point I could see myself being happy if either team wins; I just want to see a good game, like the last couple.
A bit of news that will make my grandfather proud; I have taken up curling. At least temporarily. With skip Copper Dave off on Olympic duty I have taken his place (although at the front end of the team - lead) on the as-yet-to-be-named team he is a part of for the Thursday night curling at Coliseum. I have been a fan of the game for years. Particularly on Sunday afternoon while searching for something to nap to if I couldn't find me some Bob Ross. I was never foolish enough to think it was easy but I was still surprised by how hard it is. I'm lucky I haven't killed myself yet and that's probably the best news yet. I have thrown at least a couple of nice rocks though and that is just as good a feeling as making a nice pass, hitting an open jumper, or hitting a bull playing darts. In fact, curling is really just darts on ice. It's not quite the drinking game darts is though; it's tough to carry your beer while sweeping and you'd have to have one at each end of the rink to be drinking at any pace. I think I might be on to something there.
Although we don't always win, Canada is a pretty dominant force in world curling. We should get two medals out of the curling rink at the Olympics. Curling is popular enough in Canada that they don't need to jazz the marketing up to much but if they ever do here is the song to do it:
From our 8am (groggy) start it was a beautiful day for a drive. If the weather held, which the forecast predicted, we would be in for an approx. 6pm arrival time in Vancouver. Once we hit the TCH toward Banff the mountains appeared in the distance, and as that distance closed they began to loom large.
I had done the drive a couple of times previously but never in daylight start to finish. I did remember that the scale of the mountains around Banff to be hard to fathom and they were again this time. We took a quick ascent up Mount Norquay to snap a photo of the town and its surrounding peaks.
From marvelling at the sheer size of the Rockies there was also time to marvel at the engineering needed to put a highway through them. For example this is part of the road near Kicking Horse Pass:
As a history guy my thoughts turned to the incredible concept of men with 19th century tools traversing these mountains with the dream of a railroad to unite the country. They did it, with great adversity, and it became, quite literally, the ties that binded a country.
The mountains here are older and rounder than the Rockies and tree covered and this is most assuredly logging country.
Shortly after our lunch in Salmon Arm we made it to Kamloops where 17 years earlier Jess and I both made out first trip there for the Canada Games in 1993. Kamloops is an almost desert-like landscape and is the start of the Coquihalla Highway that follows the Coquihalla River to Hope. Hope B.C. is the site of one personally-famous breakdown and the end of the Fraser Canyon. High Mountains surrond the town but, driving west, they quickly give way to the wide end of the Fraser Valley which essentially encompasses BC's Lower Mainland. So with the wide Fraser Valley by our side we made the break for the coast.
The drive from Hope to Kitsilano took a little over an hour and a half. The afternoon in Vancouver was as beautiful as the morning we left in Alberta. It was a spectacular drive and I was happy to be able to enjoy acting as the Jester's co-pilot from start to finish. We made it to Kitts slightly ahead of schedule at 5:30 just in time for happy hour. 
