The wild horses of Oliver

Take a drive up the eastern bench above the Southern Okanagan wine Mecca of Oliver, B.C., and you’re sure to spot some wild horses among the sagebrush and arid, sloping hillsides.
You’re not seeing things. Turns out there have been free roaming horses in the Oliver area for a long, long time. On a recent drive [...]

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Stuff to do: Vancouver’s North Shore

When you live in the “Best Place on Earth” (cough, cough), you’re surrounded by so many choices, in so many directions, it can be hard to think of something good to do. It seems you can never think of anything much beyond the totally obvious choices – walk the Stanley Park Seawall? Go to Chinatown? Hit the beach? Go for a hike? Grab a coffee? See a movie? Yawn. Add in traffic congestion and high parking price, it’s no wonder we end up sticking close to home. A list of ideas can help.

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Bargain City: the Michael Jackson edition

The vinyl record is dead, you say?
Not exactly.
Consider the price currently offered at Whistler’s amazing second-hand store for the recently deceased Michael Jackson’s Thriller.
Someone has already bid $100 for a copy of the late King of Pop’s multi Platinum-selling (28x) 1982 album at the Re-Use It Centre.
That bid bested the original – and only other [...]

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Farewell to a Queen

It was an emotional final sailing on the Queen of Saanich.
Passengers making the voyage home from Vancouver Island to Tsawwassen late Sunday afternoon were surprised to learn they were part of BC Ferries history.
A smattering of applause greeted the captain’s request that passengers observe a moment’s silence to mark the Queen of Saanich’s last round [...]

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This is not a grave

Roadside memorials – white crosses, wreaths, and personal mementos marking the scene of a fatal accident –are they dangerous distractions to drivers? Maybe not.
Surprising findings out of the university of Calgary, where researchers say roadside memorials may actually make the roads safer.
According to a recent Canadian Press story, several of the school’s studies suggest the [...]

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Ghost city in the clouds

Just a short drive up the hills from Highway 31a outside New Denver, B.C., lies the not-quite-qhost town of Sandon.
Travellers and mining history buffs will be happy to discover there’s still quite a few old buildings to see – most of them lovingly rebuilt or restored since the place was nearly destroyed in a flood [...]

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Wrecked old ghost town on the Galena Trail

Bike down a couple of clicks along the creek and you’re suddenly upon a massive pile of wooden rubble.
This incredible heaping dump of rusted-out iron works, twisted inside a gigantic nest of fallen, weathered grey wooden beams, was once known as Alamo Siding.
Back in 1904 this was a CPR mining and siding centre. There was [...]

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Pathway soars above Golden Mile

There are all sorts of great reasons to stop in at one of B.C.’s famed Okanagan wineries. There’s the wine, for one thing, and you can normally sample a sip or two for free at the tasting bars.
Then there’s the ambiance. You get to rub elbows with folks from across the province and beyond – [...]

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Travel tell-all? Or just another ego trip…

Writer, pioneering English teacher abroad and former magazine editor Chuck Thompson promises to lift the lid on the travel writing industry in his new book, tantalizingly titled Smile When You’re Lying: Confessions of a Rogue Travel Writer.
Things start out with a suitably appalling anecdote set in a greasy Thai bar, involving an ex-pat Australian – [...]

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