Arts & Entertainment
Let The Games Begin
By Linda McK.Stewart
Let's face it. If by now you've not been tapped for the U.S. Olympic Ski Team, chances are you've been passed over. No word either from the speed skating team? Or even the luge guys? You might as well give up. It's not going to happen. So of course there's all that disappointment. All those dashed hopes. But under no circumstances should you allow this setback to turn you off the larger picture, meaning the 2010 Winter Olympics, Canada, Vancouver... the works. Deleting that larger picture from your "must do" list would be a huge mistake.
Let's start with the Games. As of this writing there are still tickets available for every event. Furthermore, Canada being Canada, you can count on ample, comfortable public transportation to all Olympic venues, from the snowy peaks of Whistler to the hills and harbors of Vancouver and out to the official Olympic Park in Richmond, 14 km southwest of downtown Vancouver. Hospitality is such a given in this northwest corner of the globe that no one need worry about not finding a place to stay. There is still plenty of housing at every level from five-star hotels to double deckers in youth hostels.
Quite apart from the games, Vancouver and its environs offers so many recreational opportunities that it's hard to choose from a long list of intriguing options. Consider just these few: Whale Watching. Thanks to warm north-flowing currents in the Pacific just offshore, Vancouver's coastal waters rarely if ever see ice. Whale watching tours of 3-5 hours depart daily year-round from the Vancouver waterfront. It's your chance to get up close and personal with orcas, humpbacks and minkes.
It's only 15 minutes by bus from the center of Vancouver up to Grouse Mountain, an absolute paradise for fun in the snow. What better way to start the day than on a zip line that carries you high above the snow drifts at an eye-opening 40 mph. Not only are there well-groomed trails for snowshoeing (plus snowshoe rental), there are also snow boarding obstacle courses and ski slopes for everyone from snow bunny to black diamond pro. The ice skating rinks are for all levels of equilibrium from wobbly two-year olds held up by Dad to puck-swishing jocks who are only a whisker away from turning pro with one of Canada's fabled ice hockey teams. Buy the After Hours pass and you can hang out on Grouse Mountain from sunset to dawn, skiing, snowboarding, snowshoeing under the lights. If the legs begin to fold there are always sleigh rides topped by the Skyride Gondola.
When you weary of risking life and limb you can sign up for any of a dozen forestry tours through stands of 1,000-year old giant trees, all within 30 minutes of center-city. They're conducted by rangers who can describe in awesome depth the life cycle of a single acorn no larger than your smallest fingernail. From something just that small can come, one or two thousand years from now, a tree that tops out at 500 feet, or three times taller than the Statue of Liberty.
Of all the parks I've ever visited, Stanley Park is thus far my favorite. It's an ideal biking park with a never-ending view of harbor traffic, tugs and yachts, cruise ships, rowboats and always, like moth swarms, the kayakers slipping in and around the ocean behemoths. It's also where you'll find one of the world's most intriguing aquariums. But for this roundup I have to burble on a bit about Capilano Park just north of the city. It's a heavily forested park with every imaginable enticement for kids...tree houses, pow-wows with rangers, story telling, lots and lots of forestry lore and, saving the best for last, the Capilano Suspension Bridge. The bridge, only two persons wide, is 450 feet long and it dangles 230 feet high above a rushing river canyon. When it starts, ever so gently, to sway back and forth, you're instantly as one with Thornton Wilder who forever glued the Bridge of San Luis Rey into each of our psyches.
Many cities call themselves "unique." So few really are. But Vancouver invests that adjective with fresh veracity. It embraces mountains and sea. It is both a sophisticated metropolis and an unspoiled wilderness. Its residents are unfailingly helpful, ever-courteous and pleased as punch to be hosting the 2010 Olympic Games.
So just because you won't be standing on that little pedestal with a beribboned medal hanging around your neck while a 64-piece orchestra plays your national anthem, that is no reason not to start planning your westward-ho trip right now. No reason whatsoever.
IF YOU GO: There are daily non stop flights Newark-Vancouver. For more information about the 2010 Winter Olympic Games: www.2010 Olympics Vancouver
