No matter how big or small your town is, every year people must apparently be made aware that there are other people there who are graduating. For example, one wonders if the residents of Major, Saskatchewan (most recent census population: 67) would have been aware of such a momentous occasion in 2009 if it hadn’t have been painted on the pavement of the main street?

One way to broadcast your cohort’s sheer awesomeness is to tag your local dilapidated tourist attraction. On the left in Creston, British Columbia, we see that Grad ’09 has successfully claimed this old grain elevator, one of just five such elevators left in the province. On the right, we see that Grad ’06 (along with many others) have laid claim to Greenwood, BC’s famous Tunnel of Flags, where the flags of every country on Earth have been painted on the side of an abandoned early 1900s road tunnel. Hey, now, just because it was covered in paint already…

Often, graffiti battles between different classes break out, such as on this water tower in Wilkie, Saskatchewan. Apparently prized for both its prominent visibility and the difficulty of getting to the top, we can see a turf war has broken out amongst the classes of 2007, 2008, and 2009. One class has even resorted to calling the ’09 grads “dumb”; presumably this brilliant quip was the knockout blow.

The natural environment for grad tags is the vaunted overpass, where thousands of vehicles each day can be reminded about graduation time. Some classes invest more time than others; rather than just spray paint on the side, each year this overpass in Sydney River, Nova Scotia is repainted in full with a new design by students from Riverview High School in neighbouring Coxheath.

You don’t have to live near a high school to find grad tags in Canada. Even along the most remote stretches of highway, one can find messages displayed in high-visibility areas for travellers to see. Deep in the northern Rocky Mountains, Pine Pass is an hour from the nearest school and even still is covered with graffiti of all sorts, such as this message from Grad ’04.

One of the densest accumulations of grad tags may be a stretch of Highway 10 just outside of Flin Flon, Manitoba. Flin Flon lies on the thinly-soiled Canadian Shield, which means many highways in the region are incised directly into the bedrock. The open rock cuts are ripe for graffiti, and the highway leading south out of Flin Flon is filled with names and messages from various graduating classes dating back decades.

The ultimate grad tag paradise, however, may be the colourful Kerrobert Graffiti Barn in western Saskatchewan, where every year since 1977 the grad class of Kerrobert Composite School have taken over an entire barn at the north entrance to town and given each student their own slice of the edifice.

What the… hey, Ken, quit hogging all the attention! This barn was supposed to be for Grad ’09, not Grad ‘41!

Locations: British Columbia, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan / Categories: Large Type, Rudeness

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Named in 1888 for Governor-General Lord Stanley of Preston (the same man who donated that most hallowed of Canadian sporting trophies, the Stanley Cup), Stanley Park hosts 120 miles (200 km) of forested walking trails. For motor tourists, access to the park comes via Stanley Park Drive, where vehicles share the road with horse-drawn tours and trolley cars.

The main attraction of Stanley Park may be the 5.5 mile (8.8 km) seawall that encircles the park. The seawall is always filled with sightseers, joggers, and cyclists. Just be careful – hired mercenary bikers from YouTube may be following you.

Those are friendly mercenaries, of course; part of the support crew for the Street View trike which captured the entire seawall and the fantastic views therein, such as this shot of boats in Coal Harbour backed by downtown Vancouver.

The Street View trike visited Stanley Park a few months after the car, providing contrasting views of the same location based upon the tide:

On the west side of the seawall lie such attractions as the 60-foot-high Siwash Rock and the outdoor swimming pool at Second Beach, captured at dusk in a rare state of desertion.

Brockton Point lies at the east end of Stanley Park, and is home to the most visited tourist attraction in British Columbia, the Stanley Park totems. Just west of Brockton Point lie numerous decorative and memorial gardens.

The Brockton Point Lighthouse provides views of Burrard Inlet and the suburbs of the North Shore, as well as the most common sight of all in Stanley Park: tourists preening for pictures.

At the north end of Stanley Park is the historic Lions Gate Bridge, which crosses Burrard Inlet. Completed in 1938, the 1,550 foot (472 metre) suspension bridge was built by the Guinness family and opened by King George VI.

The view from the Lions Gate leaving Stanley Park is pretty spectacular, but it’d be hard pressed to beat the view of the ocean from the seawall at dusk.

Locations: British Columbia / Categories: Bridges, Natural Landmarks, Other Vehicles, Street Views, Structures

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We start our journey down the Arrow Lakes by joining the Street View car as it boards the Upper Arrow Lake ferry at Shelter Bay.

Just to the south of Shelter Bay, we can observe a huge log boom, a common site on lakes and rivers in forest-laden British Columbia.

At the south end of Upper Arrow Lake is the bucolic village of Nakusp. Most know it for its hot springs and Japanese garden¹, but it also lays claim to a unique concrete-encased waterfront designed to prevent erosion from the lake below, replete with stairs taking you right into the lake (don’t worry, vacationers; there’s a very sandy public beach to the west).

When the Arrow Lakes were converted into a massive reservoir in 1968, many small villages were flooded, and 2,000 residents were evicted. At low water during winter and spring, remnants of the former towns can still be seen. The village of Burton was relocated 1 km to the east, but the partially-flooded highway bed leading into the old townsite is visible just to the west of Lakeview Park Road.

It was the Hugh Keenleyside Dam west of Castlegar which raised the level of the lakes. From above the dam, we can see the spillway, a small navigation lock in the middle of the dam, and more of those ubiquitous log booms.

At Castlegar, the Kootenay River joins up with the Columbia to head off across the international boundary into Washington state. Our tour turns east up the Kootenay past the Brilliant Suspension Bridge National Historic Site. The bridge was built in 1913 for no pay by forty members of the local Doukhobor community. The Doukhobors were a group of 8,000 who emigrated from Russia to flee persecution for their communalist/pacifist lifestyle. Their descendants make up a large percentage of the local population to this day, and Russian remains a secondary language of instruction in schools. Right next to the bridge is the Brilliant Dam.

Twenty kilometres past Brilliant lies a complex of five dams in a 4.5km stretch. To the south of the river, the 15 metre deep Kootenay Canal was completed was completed in 1975. From the Street View camera, we can get a pretty good view of the Upper Bonnington Dam and its historic powerhouse, built in 1907 to provide electricity for the city of Nelson just to the east.

We end our trip through the West Kootenay in NOS73N… er, Nelson, which is home to over 350 designated Victorian-era heritage buildings. Unfortunately, the Street View car decided not to venture into the heart of the city, but it still provides us with a glimpse of two of Nelson’s most famous buildings: the old post office/customs house (now home to the city’s museum), and the imposing city hall.

Of course, being in British Columbia, we can’t go without a sighting of the elusive pink Sasquatch:

Locations: British Columbia / Categories: Bridges, Buildings, Street Views, Structures

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Born in 1958 in in Winnipeg, at age 8 Fox moved with his family to British Colombia where he became an avid basketball player. In 1977 constant pain in his right leg was diagnosed as osteosarcoma, an aggressive form of bone cancer. His leg had to be amputated above the knee and Fox underwent an intensive program of chemotherapy.

He retained a positive attitude throughout his treatment, recovery and adaptation to the use of an artificial limb, particularly when he learned that medical advances boosted his chance of survival to 50%, whereas a couple of years earlier it would only have been 15%. He pledged to raise money for cancer research in an effort to help others with various forms of the disease.

Despite a pronounced limp and pain from the replacement leg, Fox trained for and completed a marathon in Prince George, BC in August 1979. Inspired by this he developed the plan for the Marathon of Hope – running across Canada 42 km every day (the standard marathon distance.)

He started on April 12th 1980 in St John’s, Newfoundland, with a low-key ceremony in which he dipped his artificial leg in the Atlantic ocean, intending to repeat the act when he reached the Pacific thousands of kilometres later. There is a small monument near where he did this.

Many people feel this monument deserves more attention – it is not promoted by St John’s tourism authorities, it is hard to find and the area around it is often unkempt.

Terry Fox started the Marathon of Hope with the goal of raising $1million for cancer research. As the journey progressed across the country the public attention – and donations – grew significantly so he upped the goal to be $1 for each of the 24 million population of the country at that time.

However, after 143 days and over 5,300 km he was forced to abandon his effort when increasing pain resulted in a diagnosis that the cancer had spread to his lungs. There is a large monument and scenic lookout at the point on the Trans Canada Highway outside Thunder Bay where he had to stop.

Chemotherapy was unable to halt the spread of the disease and Terry Fox passed away nine months later, prior to which he became the youngest person to be named a Companion of the Order of Canada.

Fundraising efforts in his name continue, with annual Terry Fox runs taking place in thousands of communities across the country, and around the world. To date approximately $500 million has been raised and donated to cancer research programs.

There are roads, schools and other buildings across the country that bear his name, and he was commemorated on a $1 coin in  2005. The province of British Columbia named a mountain and provincial park in his honour.

The westernmost monument is a statue in Beacon Hill park in Victoria, the ‘Mile zero’ location where the Marathon of Hope would have ended if he had been able to continue. It features a quote from Terry: “Dreams are made possible if you try.”

A much more detailed history can be found at Wikipedia or the CBC which has many articles and videos, while the Terry Fox Foundation website has full details about all fundraising efforts.

Locations: British Columbia, Newfoundland and Labrador, Ontario / Categories: Monuments, Natural Landmarks, Street Views

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The Games’ opening and closing ceremonies, along with nightly ‘Victory Ceremonies’ (which we assume means medal presentations) will be held at BC Place in downtown Vancouver.

North America’s largest air-supported roof will ensure all these festivities can proceed without interference from inclement weather. For the opening ceremony in particular, a vast security cordon was in place to ensure planned protests¹ did not disrupt proceedings.

Right next door is Canada Hockey Place, perhaps the focus of this hockey-mad nation’s attentions for much of the next few weeks.

Olympic naming regulations mean the arena has to be stripped of its usual branding as General Motors Place, despite the fact that GM is one of the IOC’s largest sponsors. Also the arena’s usual tenants – the Vancouver Canucks – have been forced to go on the longest road trip in NHL history because of the Games.

Some hockey games will also take place at the University of British Columbia’s Thunderbird Arena.

East of downtown, the Pacific Coliseum will house the figure skating and short-track speed skating events.

Dating to the 1960s, this arena has undergone significant renovations to prepare it for the Olympics.

A number of new venues have been constructed for these Games, including the spectacular Olympic Oval with stands beside the Fraser River in the suburb of Richmond.

While emphatically non-oval in shape, the building is named for the long-track speed skating course inside, which will hold close to 8,000 spectators. The $178 million construction project includes an elaborate rainwater collection pond and associated sculptures known as the Water Sky Garden.

There has been a minor controversy regarding practice time at this venue, with allegations that Canadian athletes are benefiting from privileged access.

Another new venue is the Vancouver Olympic Centre which will host the curling competitions.

This building is conveniently surrounded on all sides by baseball diamonds, should the athletes want a change of sport. It will be converted into a community centre after the Games.

As part of an effort to stage the ‘greenest’ Games ever, both new buildings were constructed to high levels of LEED certification. The wood used for the roof of the Richmond Oval came from forests killed by a pine-beetle infestation, rather than cutting down live trees.

The 2,700 athletes participating in the Games will be housed in the Vancouver Olympic Village on the south-east shore of False Creek.

Construction of these buildings hit serious financial difficulties courtesy of the same investor that may have to sell the Whistler resort during the Games, as mentioned in the Mountain Venues post. They were finally finished at a total cost of $1 billion, and will be sold off after the Games to recoup some of that money.

Meanwhile, the thousands of media representatives will work in the Media Centre located in the Canada Place / Convention Centre complex on the waterfront.

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The port and harbour will host a significant number of cruise ships for the duration of the Games – providing accommodation for visitors unable to secure a hotel room, as well as members of police and security forces.

To the west of the harbour, near Stanley Park, a 14m tall set of Olympic rings lights up every evening.

Locations: British Columbia / Categories: Buildings, Stadiums and Sport, Street Views

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Earlier this week Google really pulled out all the stops to give us the first ‘Slope View’ – ski trail images from Whistler captured by snowmobile – along with trike views of the village and a couple of other venues².

The brand-new Whistler Sliding Centre can hold 12,000 spectators for bobsled, luge and skeleton events. From the upper and lower start houses athletes will go through as many as 16 turns on the 1,450 m long track. A maximum incline of 20% propels sliders towards the finishing area at speeds of up to 140 km/hr.

Alpine skiing events will take place at Whistler Creekside which will accommodate 7,700 spectators near the finish line. Street View gives us an idea of how steep the course really is.

One slight concern regarding this venue is the financial status of its owner Intrawest, or more specifically its financiers missing debt payments, which presents the possibility that Whistler may be put up for sale during the Games.

A few kilometres west of the town in Callaghan Valley we come to Whistler Olympic Park, a brand new $117 million CAD venue constructed to host ski jumping and two nordic events, with up to 12,000 people attending each of the three sports.

The ski jump towers are modestly called the ‘normal’ (bottom) and ‘large’ (top) hills, but with launch speeds approaching 100 km/h and jump distances up to 140 m, I don’t think they’re fooling anyone about how utterly terrifying they must be to experience.

Cross-country skiing events start and finish in this area, with the longer races (up to 50 km) taking the tracks off through the surrounding woods.

Biathlon events are focused just to the north, with the rectangular area being the firing range where, very shortly after climbing lung-bursting hills, athletes have to swiftly steady their pulse and breathing to be able to shoot straight.

Athletes in all these sports will be housed in Whistler Olympic Village a short distance south of the town. Google’s new images show the housing mostly complete but the rest of the facility still under construction.

The world’s media will be based in the Whistler Conference Centre in the centre of town, while nightly medal ceremonies will take place in the new Medals Plaza, which is seen under construction in these images.

The one weakness of Whistler as a venue is the single access road – the infamous Sea to Sky Highway which often has a cliff on one side and ocean on the other. The province has gone to great expense – approximately $600 million CAD – to widen the road and straighten the more dangerous sections, but bad weather or landslides could easily cause disruption to the thousands of people travelling between city and mountain.

While Whistler has been enjoying near record snowfall, the other mountain venue for these Games has been suffering through one of the warmest Januarys on record. Cypress Mountain is due to host the snowboard halfpipe, ski/board cross and freestyle skiing competitions.

While Google’s images do show snow, other than at the very top of the mountain, constant rain has currently washed most of it away. A massive effort is underway to transport snow from other areas, with straw bales being used to shape the various features needed for these sports.

Locations: British Columbia / Categories: Buildings, Stadiums and Sport, Street Views

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Travelling again from east to west, we begin in Winnipeg, location of the magnificent Fort Garry Hotel.

Constructed in 1913¹ in the now familiar Chateau style, it was the tallest building in the city at the time. The hotel was named after the nearby Upper Fort Garry, which was a prominent trading post in the 1800s.

The hotel was, for a while, totally self-sufficient – with heat, food, water and laundry all being taken care of on-site. There was even a working printing press, which was lifted into place before a room was constructed around it (it’s still there but currently unused). Unlike the majority of railway hotels which are today owned by Fairmont, the Fort Garry is independently operated.

Another non-Fairmont hotel is in Saskatoon, The Bessborough.

Named after the then-Governor General, the Bess was built in 1932 but the great depression meant it didn’t receive its first guest until 3 years later. This hotel is noted for its extensive private gardens which stretch down towards the South Saskatchewan River.

Following the route of The Canadian to the west, we get to Edmonton and the Hotel Macdonald, which brings us back into the Fairmont properties.

Named for Canada’s first prime minister, The Mac was constructed in 1915 in the Chateau style, though the use of Indiana limestone gives it a different appearance to many of the other hotels. This hotel was in poor condition and closed for a while in the 1980s. Heritage designation from the city saved it from demolition, and it reopened in 1991 after a major renovation.

Finally, we go beyond the reach of the railway, to Victoria and the unmistakable ivy-covered walls of The Empress, which opened in 1908 to serve passengers from Canadian Pacific’s steamships.

Perhaps most famous for its afternoon teas, The Empress has a storied history of Royal and celebrity visitors. Similar to The Mac, a period of decline almost saw its destruction, but local sentiment was strong enough to save the building. That same civic pride forced Fairmont to abandon plans to alter the iconic sign on the hotel’s exterior.

There are many more railway hotels across Canada, but this concludes our look at the majority of the grandest and most historic properties.

Locations: Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan / Categories: Buildings, Street Views

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Continuing our journey from east to west, looking at Canada’s grand railway hotels, we start in Toronto and the Royal York Hotel.

The largest Fairmont hotel in Canada, the Royal York is directly across the street from Union Station, still the departure point for trains which head across the country to Vancouver¹.

When it opened in 1929 the hotel was the tallest building in the British Empire, and it is typically where members of the Royal Family stay when visiting the city.

Hopping across the still-lacking-in-Street-View-imagery provinces, we head to Alberta and the Palliser Hotel in Calgary, located right next to the Calgary Tower.

Opened by the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1914, the Palliser is now home to the CPR Pavilion, an exhibition showing the historical links between hotel and railway, including some vintage train cars². Once the tallest building in the city, the hotel is now dwarfed by skyscrapers that have sprung up in this oil-rich city.

Following the Street View car west we get to the Rocky Mountains, and two hotels that can perhaps be considered the grandest of the grand hotels. CPR President William Van Horne declared “If we can’t export the scenery, we’ll import the tourists”, and those tourists still flock to these hotels in huge numbers every year.

The Banff Springs Hotel opened in 1888 and was rebuilt 40 years later after a fire, though it took another 40 years after that for it to be made suitable for winter use.

The Banff Springs takes its name from the natural hot springs which rise in another part of the town – the hotel’s current spa is only ‘reminiscent’ of the natural springs!

Named a National Historic Site in 1992 (and located in the UNESCO World Heritage Banff National Park), the hotel is now a major ‘resort’ with a world-renowned golf course, huge conference centre, on-site staff housing and multiple accommodation wings for guests.

About 60km to the north-west is Chateau Lake Louise, which has also developed into resort status.

At the edge of a stunning glacier-blue lake, surrounded by soaring mountain peaks – this has to be one of the most scenic hotel locations in the world³, though it is amusing to see trail-ragged hikers wandering through the opulent surroundings after a long day’s walk. And despite its size, this hotel did not open year-round until the 1970s. Winter activities now include skiing and skating on the lake, as well as horse-drawn sleigh rides.

Finally to Vancouver, end (or beginning, depending on your direction of travel) of the cross-country train journey, and the Hotel Vancouver.

A joint construction by Canadian Pacific and Canadian National, the hotel is a short distance from the current VIA Rail station. It opened in 1939 with a visit from the King and Queen.

Similar to the Chateau Laurier in Ottawa, the Hotel Vancouver housed the local CBC studios for a number of years.

We hope to conclude this series with the hotels in Winnipeg, Edmonton and Victoria – when Street View makes it to those cities.

Locations: Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario / Categories: Buildings, Street Views

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While Canada is generally thought of as a land of ice and snow, it is home to one arid desert – the Osoyoos or Nk’Mip Desert of British Columbia.¹

Surrounding the community of Osoyoos, and the lake of the same name, this area of the Okanagan is home to desert plants and animals not found anywhere else in the country. It is one of the hottest and driest parts of Canada year-round, and some believe that Osoyoos Lake is the warmest in the world (though there are several competing claims for that title.)

The desert is characterised by barren hillsides and plains, bordered by lush green fields and orchards which survive with heavy irrigation.

For a small desert, it is surprisingly well endowed with visitor centres. The Osoyoos Desert Society has its Centre to the north-west of town, while the Nk’Mip Indian Band’s Desert Cultural Centre is “an architectural marvel sensitively constructed into a hillside” on the other side of the lake. At both, you can learn about the local flora and fauna through static displays and a network of trails

The Nk’Mip Band have also managed to carve a golf course out of the desert, with an associated resort and spa, while nearby is an estate of vineyards producing some of the wines for which the Okanagan is renowned.

Some distance out of town, the desert even has a salt lake, called – not surprisingly – Spotted Lake. The spots appear when water evaporates, leaving rich mineral deposits behind.

Panoramio has a good selection of pictures of Canada’s Desert.

Locations: British Columbia / Categories: Buildings, Deserts, Natural Landmarks

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From: “deryk houston” <xxx@xxxxxx.com>
Date: 18 Apr 2005 02:40:26 -0000
To: <xxx@xxxxxx.com>, <xxx@xxxxxx.com>
Subject: [Google Sightseeing] Contact Form

I constructed a peace sanctuary on the foothills of the Rocky mountains in British Columbia. I used a forty-two ton bulldozer to move hundreds of tons of gravel to form the lines of a mother and child. A primitive drawing. The image is a thousand feet across. It is located near the Bennet dam in northeastern BC. on Portage mountain.

Could you help me find a photo of it from space? The project was completed two years ago. (It is actually an ongoing project but the main image is completed. The National film board of Canada did a documentary on it called “From Baghdad to Peace Country“.

Thanks for any help you can provide.

Deryk Houston

Well Deryk, it may have taken 4 years, but Google did eventually add high-resolution imagery of the area to Maps and Earth, meaning that we have finally been able to find your peace sanctuary.

During further correspondence with Deryk, he sent me this image he took of the site from a light aircraft, which clearly shows the two faces, a dove, and a hand.

Until someone launches live satellite imagery, there will always be some sort of waiting period for imagery to be updated. However, perhaps the brand-new Geoeye-1 satellite will at least reduce the waiting time to a matter of months? Or maybe even days?

Deryk’s official site has more info on the Peace Sanctuary project.

Locations: British Columbia / Categories: Monuments

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