Nrthwnd

We got a couple of heavy snowfalls, this past week. So, mail delivery is on hold, garbage and recycles aren't being picked up... A Non-Typical Vancouver Winter, lol! From the front porch...... Happy Solstice Everybody!

Today's the day!

Feliz Navidad Celine Dion & Her Family

For all you KD fans out there.... (And this was not an April Fools joke,. either. They were/are really selling the stuff!) And yes, there's the flavor of cotton candy. All in one of those handy dandy KD packets! Don`t know if these are available, any more.

"Let's Continue On, From Where We Left Off..." Backing up to The Show we saw, at the Coliseum. Being paired with SUPER DOGS!!!, were the Peking Acrobats Show. Something for everyone. We'd seen the dogs' show a number of times. Lots of fun. But it's usually the second 'act' that appears in conjunction with The Dogs, we're really interested in. One year, they did a convoluted touring show of "Peter Pan." Back in 2019, it was a Hypnotists Act. But they cleverly gave 1/3 of the end of the stadium rink, for the show, the back of the stage being the stage front for the Dogs, and the rest of the floor for the Dogs. This time however, they put the performance stage for Peking waaaaaaaay over on the other side of the floor. Which looked really strange once their show started up. It's like all the expensive seats decided not to show up. And PNE staff were there to shoo away anyone walking up to the stage, closer on the Dogs' show mat, etc. Even kids that wanted to get closer were gently turned away, too. It was all wierd. The show was great, by the way. Just far, faaaaaar away, lol. After the show we went thru the livestock buildings with nothing really new to see, since last year. Then we ended up in Revel District where we got our two kinds of ribs, and sides. And a couple of beers for me. Then we finished our visit, by walking up through Playland, stopping for one last beer at the Side Car Bar (or whatever it's called). Paid our respects to SkyBender (didn't work for the whole two week fair!), then exited out the Playland Gate, to catch a bus home. We decided not to stay late, even though they were doing (again) this great night time show with fire, drones, and fireworks. But we were one-and-done by late afternoon. Maybe next year's visit, longer? We'll see. Here's the rest of the photos... OMGOMGOMG! We're back where we left off! Anyway .... Pardon in advance for the photos I took. I wasn't used to such long distance shots. How far we actually were, from the stage. with the SUPERDOGS!!! mat in between. Before the show, I had bought this new case for my camera at an outdoor stall. She was good at what she was doing up there. Good old spinning plates act. This guy was fun. Playing it very 'casual' on the wire... Then, he'd go and do something like this. The Finale starting up. A 5 - 6 - 7 - 8! Wire guy comes back for his bows. And they all wave to us waaaaaay across the floor. Good show. The PNE "House Band" performing out front of the Coliseum. Took a look in here at the livestock/horse competitions. Unfortunately, nothing was happening there. Heavy horse? ....... okaaaaay. Like I said, nothing happening "at this time". Trivia: my dad took me to see the Moscow Circus here. Back then. The Livestock Buildings. Nothing new, but some good shade as it was a pretty warm day, that day. #One BBQ spot. #Two BBQ spot. We tried ribs and sides from both. Always get a kick out of the Gator BBQ Menu. Yum. We got too much corn bread, though. And we forgot slaw, too. Next year, better prepared with notes! Getting one more beer, and a last look at a non-running SkyBender. <sighs> Haven't ridden Coaster yet, with <ugh> the seat belts. Maybe next year when they open for the season in June.

"Tis The Season .... to post Late TRs, ho ho ho! Actually, this report isn't too late. It's the one day (Thurs.Sept.03 which would have been "Out At The Fair" Day for us, as in the past few years). David and I went to the annual PNE, which then includes Playland (and mucho raised ride wristbank/single tix prices). They had expanded the exhibition site from last year's Fair, now including all the buildings at the East end of the park (or front-of-the-Fair, when you look at a map of it all). So the Showcase was back in the Forum Bldg. And the Rollerland bldg. had something different: The PNE Prize Home. Although not exactly The Home itself. They decided to forego having the actual home onsite, allowing walk-thrus by the gp, and instead recreated a couple of it's rooms, and used a lot of media to show off the house itself. So this was a quick one for us. We literally tried not to backtrack anywhere, and headed to the Livestock Bldgs. Nothing new there, so I took no pix. But, we missed the Central "Foodtruck Alley" that others walk thru and figure out what they want to eat. I think we missed a couple of trucks with food we wanted to try. Our loss. We next headed to Revel District where our BBQ was. Two of them, this year. Both good BBQ and sides. We liked both. Couldn't choose between them, lol. After that, it was up through Playland, noting that SkyBender never opened for the Entire - Fair. I got to ride it back in July, but geez ..... Anyway, checked out Coaster and sure enough, set belts were on. Also found out from an older couple nearby, that their grandson "waited up to two hours to ride this thing." I laughed. So we had entered at the Main GAte. And we left the PNE at the Playland Gate. Here we go... the Front Gate Entry. And immediately to one's left, is the MARKETPLACE bldg. Which we immediately entered! This was a cool find. Pre-mixed for veggie/protein/vegan dishes. We bought a few of them. I love these kinds of "greeting cards". Brilliant, really. More of these lovely cards. I didn't buy any, as there is a place downtown I like to support, buying their cards. Still ....really lovely work. A Piece of The Map, on display again. It's from a HUGE plywood creation. The original was wonderful to see. Red line is the Canada-US Border. We're all north of it. We find something we wanted to try: Deep Fried Oreos. We got a 5 piece. How they looked. Not bad. But thy really needed a nice cold glass of milk with them. Lotsa BLING for sale here. Amusing to watch people freak out and fall off these things. This IS "Reality Entertainment"! This was neat to watch. She rolled clay, basically, combining colours, then cutting and melted in the basic oven (!) and .... .... to make these ... or ... ... to make THESE beautiful creations. I bought one of the round tin boxes, like the ones in that bowl there. An exhibit area to show more of what's happening all around our city. Many, many exhibits here. And a lot of stuff for kids to do, too. I'm not too sure if this was mainly for kids, or families or ... ? Didn't stick around to find out. Best. Onsite Food truck. Ever. We really get a lot of food trucks here at the PNE. For a good number of years, now. Awesome! Henri's BBQ was there, too. Always tempting, but we do have a lot of great chicken cuisine, beyond the PNE. One of our finds was this taco truck. with (it's at the bottom there) PHO BEEF BRISKET. We ordered those ones. Not much left of it. But they were good tacos. Big display of motor homes etc. here. Awesome to check some of these $$$$$$$$ out. (o: Pretty. We didn't queue for it. We're fine where we are, thank you very much! And this part of the TR ends, with A Big Chair Photo. (To be continued...)

My Sharona The Knack M-m-m.....

It's been one of those days ... Ho Ho Ho!

Until He gets on with that spectacular Overnight Holiday Parcel Delivery system to do, he likes to relax for a bit .... Santa RAWKS!

This is a total shock .... Stephen 'tWitch' Boss, was the main DJ on the Ellen Degeneres Show, and one of the main judges on recent So-You-Think-You-Can Dance shows. Age 40. And ..... apparently "by suicide." I would have never guessed by his usual on-camera demeanor. But then, mental illness can be a very quiet and silent thing. Healing thoughts and warm hugs go out to all who knew and loved him, including his family.

"Purple Snowflakes" ...from the awesome cd "If The Fates Allow ~ A HADEStown Holiday Album." Which is by the original Broadway cast of "Hadestown" led by three very wonderful talented women, who played The Fates in the musical. Worth getting, for your Broadway Geek friend.

If all of that artwork above, IS what the lighting package would/should/could look like?...... o ...... m .....g.

Winter Wonderland Annie Lennox -via ~ Annie was born on Christmas Day!

That's no cabin ..... that's an amazing experience, Bert!!! Wow. Totally floored by the size of it, how everything was put together and how you access through it all - amazing! Thanks for sharing all that. And THANKS to everybody who helped you decide to go and celebrate the season, there. Hugs for that, guys. Looking forward to your 1st Full Day there. And "Seasonally-Adjusted Greetings!" Jingle, jingle!

When we held the 1986 World's Fair (EXPO86) in Vancouver, Washington State had a pavilion, which consisted of a moving walkway (a travelator?) and huge screens to one side with images of the state were shown along with movie clips etc. The amount of people (and not just kids) pushing by, to get going faster on the thing was ridiculous. I found that staying on the left side of the walkway (closer to the screens) was the best position to take, when a horde of people come by, who couldn't be bothered with relaxing, and letting the walkway do the work. Unless there are separation 'things' of some kind to keep people in their place .... it could turn into a nightmare all created by the gp. Then again, with it being a shooting attraction, that might help keep people in their place on the walkway.

Wow. A lot of wonderful shots you've taken at Liseberg, Marcus! So many to choose from. I am curious about one thing I saw in one of your shots.... Is this a standing heater of some kind? For folks to stand around and warm up, with?

Personally, I would rather "sit & shoot" like (most) other dark, shooting rides.

^ Huh. I guess I just never noticed that, when I toured thru those countries with TPR, in earlier years.

A great countryside (by bus) and downtown fair tour, Bert. I noticed this, and I found it strange.... I don't think I've ever seen a mayonnaise packet, with the second 'n' in brackets. Wierd.

Now, I am in the right thread...... I hope. Anyway... Recently posted "Behind-the-Scenery" (literally) photos from Disneyficated. Thanks to him/her/them/whoever this is, over there. Much appreciated. And below is my fave of the bunch. It looks like a good chunk of the coaster is going to be enclosed ...... Awesome!

Well, dang it, I posted it, in the wrong Disney Park Thread.... Oops. See: Hong Kong Disneyland Thread, instead. But I decided to (at least) post this overhead night shot of Zootopia construction. Thanks to whoever took this shot.

Our second big snowfall of the year, is finally all melted and gone, for the most part. Now, it's mainly low temps. and rain for the season. But snow could come again. Very unpredictable, our winters here.

Playland(PNE) just posted their info.page about 2023 Season Passes! At this time, only two levels of pricing exist .... a milder, more General Pass, and then there's their Thrill Pass, which includes Coaster, SkyBender, AtmosFEAR, etc. Here's the link to the page, and for ordering... https://www.pne.ca/playland/?utm_medium=email&elq_cid=715750&ehash=296cfb63182d7267918b2600a62278ac115b9c752efad4ccecd03fa9b39370f6 Sadly (or at least, at this time...) there's no listing for any kind of a Seniors Pass. But I'm supposing there's very few of us around here, in our age group, who are still riding coasters, etc. So I decided to buy the Thrill Pass, which costs $119 (Cdn). saving $10 (deal good till Dec.24th).

^ Best Advice I Can Give You .... No matter how much you really, really, really want to ride it, do not ride Condor. It's the first SLC of it's kind granted (the first one in the U.S. is at Kentucky Kingdom - anyone wanna ride that one? I rode it back in1995), but your back and entire body from the neck down, will not forgive you for what IT will do to you. Be forewarned. I took a photo from here, and you could hear the yelling and 'pain' coming from the riders, at this time. Taken Sept.12/2015. At a safe distance.

^ Great looking souvenirs from the park, Bert! I agree that Wang is a great mascot (in part) of Phantasialand. I got a tall drink cup, green of course, with It 'smiling' back.