Wrote By Rote: Prince George British Columbia

A to Z Theme 2016

For my 2016 A to Z theme I used a meme that I ran across on the blog of Bridget Straub who first saw it on the blog of Paula Acton. This meme is a natural for me to use on my memoir blog. It's an A to Z concept and it's about me. No research and nothing complicated. I'm given twenty six questions or topics to discuss that are about me.
In April I kept my posts short and uncomplicated. In the midst of it all you might learn a few things about me that you didn't previously know.

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Vancouver, British Columbia

View on Vancouver on October 1, 2005 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

When I was traveling with the World of Fantasy Players theater group, we had some good tour planners and agents who usually seemed to manage to book us on a steady schedule while allowing for some time off in some nice places to be. I don't know if it was intentional or serendipitous, but it was fine by me and the young people I had touring with me.

In the summer of 1986 we were doing our annual tour up the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia. This is a beautiful region of lakes surrounded by scenic mountains and popular with tourists. Our tour of this region always culminated with the city of Prince George which was several hundred miles north.

This particular year our agent managed to book us in the scenic town of Squamish about 40 miles north of Vancouver, BC. The trip from Prince George to Squamish was a hair-raising adventure which I won't go in length to tell here other than it involved what I believed to be a short cut that led us through many miles of mountains on gravel roads in a steady downpour. Thankfully we arrived in Squamish without mishap and in rather good time.

But I digress for this story about Vancouver. Actually there's no big story other than in 1986 the World's Fair was taking place in Vancouver and we conveniently had a few days off. My wife and I and our young daughter spent one day at the fair as did the tour members. It was raining--I guess it rains a lot in Vancouver.

The rain actually may have been an advantage as it kept the crowds down which meant lines to the attractions were not very long. Susan and I had attended the World's Fair in Knoxville, Tennessee in 1982 and it was a much different story there--big crowds and long lines. That visit had been the day after we had gotten married. We wanted to see the World's Fair that was so close to my Tennessee home and we knew that this would be our only chance to visit since we were going to be on the road with the show all year. One day at the World's Fair--two World's Fairs --was all we got, but at least we got to go.

I don't remember if it was then or another time that we went to the Historic Gastown District of Vancouver but I remember being there and eating in a restaurant. In fact I find it a bit amazing that in those years I went to two World's Fairs, several major cities, a number of national parks, and I couldn't tell you how many other attractions and I don't remember much about a lot of them. And yet I can recall details of some of the most absurd events, certain show venues, and quiet little podunks that most travelers would never bother to go to.

The memory can be an odd trickster. I've been to Vancouver, BC, It seemed like a nice place, but I can't tell you much about it. Someday I'd like to go to Vancouver and actually remember it.

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Quesnel, British Columbia

Casbar Motel and Drive-in Quesnel, BC
Delcampe. net

About three quarters of the way between Kamloops and Prince George, British Columbia was a rather peculiar claim in the town of Quesnel.

"The World's Largest T.V. Screen" was the blaring sign over a retro-looking 1950s era establishment called the Casbar Motel. The place was not particularly run-down, but it was old looking. I knew that one day I would have to stay there.

It was in the summer of 1986 when that day came. I had decided to make reservations to stay at the Casbar following our show in Prince George. We would be wrapped up with our show by 9:30 that night so the hour or so drive to Quesnel would not put us there overly late. Staying at the Casbar was doable.

The gimmick at the Casbar was that there was a drive-in movie theater incorporated with the motel and that was the "T.V." screen. Each room had a large picture window that faced toward the screen and there were speakers in the rooms over which the film soundtrack was piped. The biggest problem here was that the motel was a ways past the last row of cars and the screen itself was rather distant. The entire set-up gave film viewers a sense of disconnect that was not particularly conducive to enjoying a film.

The rooms themselves were furnished in an incongruous mash-up of what had originally been there since who knows when and what had been scrounged up from wherever such things are found. I felt as though I were in a musty small town museum display of "this is what things were like in the 1950s". I won't say the place was filthy, but the oldness of everything reflected years of previous guests who had stayed in that place. Since I had stayed in worse places I was not particularly taken aback by the situation.

One of the films showing that night was Romancing the Stone with Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner. We kind of watched it, but with the screen so far away and it being so late it was kind of difficult to really get into the film. One of the problems with going to the drive-in theater that far north in late July is that it doesn't get dark until after 10 PM. A drive-in movie runs very late. After a long day of driving over 300 miles to Prince George and then back to Quesnel we were tired.

At least I got to stay at the Casbar. The prospect of "the world's largest T.V. screen was too curious to pass up. It's not a place that I'd ever go again to watch a movie, but on the other hand I doubt whether the Casbar is there anymore.

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