Life in Sea to Sky Country
Archive for February, 2010
Flame Winds Through Downtown Squamish
Feb 5th
The Olympic flame spent about 4 hours touring Squamish this morning. The first part of the journey for the flame was Squamish’s contribution to alternative forms of transportation for the torch – up and down an 80-foot logger-climbing pole, with the flame carried on the back of the torch bearer!!!
The Torch Leaves Downtown Squamish
For me, it was almost a case of “you snooze, you lose”. My snoozing had nothing to do with sleeping in, but more with not properly reading the VANOC schedule for the Torch Relay. They published a time of 9:03 am in the loop just outside of downtown, but I missed the directional arrows. The Torch was leaving downtown at 9:03 am, and I interpreted it as arriving! So, as I was sauntering the couple of blocks from my home on the edge of downtown, I noticed the lead vehicles on the their way out of town. I then scrambled to catch up to them and at least snap a few pictures that you can have a look at here.
Olympic Torch Arrives in Squamish
Feb 4th
It felt more like an early spring evening in Squamish, rather than early February and just a week before the opening of the Winter Games. The clouds parted today and revealed a beautiful star-lit sky as our community of 16,000 gathered to greet the Torch in a community celebration. According to some estimates 7,500 people were in attendance, representing almost half the people in town!
There could not be a much better choice to be the final torchbearer than 2009 Squamish Citizen of the Year, Kristen McBride. The loudest cheers of the night greeted Kristen as she made her way up to the stage and lit the community cauldron. The young lady in the wheelchair is a great role model with her positive, can-do approach to life, and is proof there are no limits to what we can all aspire to achieve.
I’ve also posted some of my pictures from the celebration here.
Here’s one more video from the entertainment prior to the arrival of the Torch (and no, I do not work for Coke):
Casino Opens in Squamish
Feb 1st
This is not directly related to the Olympics, but the opening of the first casino in Squamish was definitely accelerated to be ready in time for the increased traffic expected as a result of the Games starting next week.
Chances Souvenir Coin
The casino is located just a couple of km. south of downtown Squamish, before you get to the Chief. The opening was set for 6:00 pm tonight, so I thought I’d pop in on my way home from work. I was surprised that both the parking lot and slot machines were about 3/4 full when I got there at 6:05 pm.
I went inside to have a quick look around and snap a few pictures (before I was told that this is not allowed inside casinos). As I mentioned, the slot machines were pretty busy. The Bingo Room was empty, as it does not open until Friday night. There was just 1 Blackjack table in the corner, with a very interesting feature – an electronic “dealer” rather than a human.
Before heading home (without leaving behind any “donations” to the casino), I had a quick walk through the restaurant, lounge and outdoor patio. The food coming out of the kitchen looked quite tasty. The patio deck was quite large, covered and heated. Although it was a bit dark at night, it looked like it would provide excellent views of the Chief during the daytime. Might be a nice place to enjoy a cool one in the summer/fall after a hike up/down the Chief.
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