The Concord Pacific site at False Creek is hosting many of the Vancouver 2010 pavilions and hospitality houses.

Pavilions include: Molson Canada Hockey House, IIHF International Lounge, Hockey Canada House, Maison du Québec, Saskatchewan Pavilion, Global TV, Tourism Vancouver kiosk, Ontario House, BC Housing, and Right to Play.

Friday February 12, 2010
Molson Canadian Hockey House (Paid)
11am – 3pm video highlights
3pm – 5:30pm DJ, Five Alarm Funk
6pm – 2am Opening Ceremonies, The Odds, Club – DJ

Maison du Québec
2:45pm – 3:15 Beatrice Deer
5pm – 11:30pm 7 Doigts de la Main (contemporary circus)
6:30pm – 9pm Ima

Saskatchewan Pavilion
3pm – 6:00pm Jack Semple & The Free Style Boogie Band
6pm – Opening Ceremony
7:30pm – Jack Semple, Mobadass, Def 3

Ontario House
11am – 6pm Signature Event
6pm – 8pm Music @ Mill Street (Lounge) with Tyler Yarema
10pm – 2am Performance: Bedouin Soundclash, Transition

Saturday February 13, 2010
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Sunday February 14, 2010
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Monday February 15, 2010
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Tuesday February 16, 2010
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Wednesday February 17, 2010
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Thursday February 18, 2010
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Friday February 19, 2010
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Saturday February 20, 2010
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Sunday February 21, 2010
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Monday February 22, 2010
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Tuesday February 23, 2010
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Wednesday February 24, 2010
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Thursday February 25, 2010
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Friday February 26, 2010
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Saturday February 27, 2010
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Sunday February 28, 2010
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They have their own mega calendar available with a round up of each event, at each pavilion on their site including free activities and performances. For news, updates and photos you can follow @Concord_Place.

It’s been ages since I updated my Day Tripping series and thanks to our trek up to Squamish yesterday I can revive it with a worthy entry.

Half way between Whistler and Vancouver lies the historic town of Squamish, BC. Known for its Sea to Sky proximity, windsurfing, The Chief, and its namesake the Squamish First Nation Squamish is a great day-trip destination for those in the Metro Vancouver area.

Starting off the day we picked up Dave and his wife, then headed past Squamish and up to Whistler to pick up my pass from the Whistler Media House. I’ll be doing some Olympics coverage from the Village later this month so it was ideal to make the trek now, before lanes and parking lots were closed.

We zipped back down to Squamish, which is only 30 minutes from Vancouver, and spent the rest of the day with Cinci. The rain was misting down as we walked along a gravel road to an opening in the trees that led us down to the river across from Brackendale Eagles Provincial Park. Along the side of the river there multicoloured rocks of all sizes resting below the rushing turquoise water. The sandbars were weighted with rain and silt while the faint stench of salmon carcass ripped through the crisp pristine air.

After our stroll we headed over to the spit, a long, thin strip of land that reaches southward through the water.

It offers amazing views of Howe Sound, Squamish, The Chief, and even the boat on which Vancouver 2010 volunteers are staying. I’m not sure of the significant of the Mona Lisa but it’s an interesting setup for sure.

Onward to the downtown core for lunch we experienced Grilled Fromage, which is not your average soup and sandwich joint. Grilled Fromage offers up 57 different kinds of grilled cheese sandwiches, in a funky space, filled with retro 80s atmosphere. Shaun Cassidy and Barry Manilow albums on the wall, signage with plenty of cheese puns, we got Rick-rolled just by looking around.

I ordered the Asiago soup and then the Polyester Pickle which had smoked Gouda, pickles, and bacon — so good. Other options included “Thriller” which has Havarti, Ham, Cranberries, Banana Peppers, “Bonnie & Clyde” with Creamy Danish Blue Cheese, Sliced Pear, Walnuts, “Feliz Navidad” consisting of Brie, Turkey, Cranberries, on sour dough… and many more.

We met the owner, Colin Bush, who has done an amazing job of bringing unique culinary life to the area… you can’t go wrong with cheese. As Dave said though, the food was just a part of the experience of dining at Grilled Fromage.

After our cheesy experience we walked through downtown, looking at all the shop windows that were Painting the Town Red.

Winding around streets we ended up at the Howe Sound Brewing Company, which was filled with warmth, aromas, fresh beer, and plenty of folks out to watch the Superbowl. Dave swears by their beer and it was well worth the trip to taste some samples.

Rounding out the day we walked back through the town, which was silent and calm. Even in Metro Vancouver we can sense this sort of “calm before the storm” which will erupt next weekend. If you have the chance, you can spend an afternoon like this is Squamish – you can even partake in far more activities in a single day. Sure, it’s that half-way point between Vancouver and Whistler but it’s also an outdoor playground, which can also offer up some seriously tasty post-adventure treats.

After 105 days on the road the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Torch Relay is making its way to the host City at the end of this coming week. We know a few special guests will be carrying the flame for a leg, including Steve Nash (NBA) and Trevor Linden (NHL). Here’s the official Torch Relay map for its journey through Vancouver proper.

February 11, 2010 Day 105 – Vancouver

February 12, 2010 Day 106 – Vancouver

Click here to download the full PDF map including celebration site locations.

Update February 8, 2010 I have updated the post with a few of the torch-bearers’ names including Arnold Schwarzenegger [via Vancouver Sun]. Since many on Twitter expressed confusion over this selection, I thought I would put it to a poll.

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Tonight starting at 4:30pm the doors of House of Switzerland Canada will be opened to the public over at Bridges on Granville Island. The restaurant remains open throughout the games, serving up delicious Swiss creations but tonight, it’s all about the party.

I’m sitting in the back corner doing some blogging alongside over $200 in Swiss merchandise. I have a grand prize Lindt gift basket, some Zimtstern belts, Zimtstern hats, aprons, and a Lindt cookbook up for grabs. Come on by, spot me, tweet about this event, and I’ll do a draw around 6:00pm for the prizes.

As a bit of disclosure, I am here independently as accredited media for House of Switzerland. I asked if I could come live blog from their event and they enthusiastically said, “YES!” and offered up the prizing to boot.

Update: Chef Béda Zengg (whom I met in Switzerland) just dropped off this food. It’s probably better than you join me as soon as possible since I won’t be able to finish all of this myself. I have a table reserved for visitors if you’re able to come by right now.

Update: For the next month, the coffee supplier at Bridges is the Swiss company, Nespresso.

Update: French reporter and Twitter personality @GastonReport stopped by to say hello then I stepped outside to watch the opening ceremonies.

Update: Thank you to everyone that came by, which I believe was about 20-30 people just for the Tweetup at various times. Congratulations to Bev Davies who won the $150 chocolate gift basket and thanks to KLParrot, ArianeC, Photodreamz, VancouverLens, Raul, and more who stopped by. Bridges will be open daily and you can find a list of special House of Switzerland events on their website.

There’s lots more in store and if you do make it by, let me know how you enjoyed the experience (once you come down off the Lindt chocolate high). I’ll be back on Valentine’s Day for another one of their signature events.

Just a quite note about this exciting public event with Katarina Witt and Elizabeth Manley taking place at GE Ice Plaza this Sunday at 11:30am.

The figure skating stars of the Calgary 88 Olympics will be reunited on the ice at Robson Square. The event is open to the public, media, and young skaters from the Coquitlam Skating Club will be there too. Robson Square is hosting a series of free events during the Games including free public skating, concerts, and the free Olympic Zipline overhead launching February 12th.

Many people have been wondering what the official Twitter hashtag for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games will be. To give a bit of background I’ll explain the purpose of a hashtag.

Every word on Twitter that is published from a public account is searchable on Twitter (see: search.twitter.com or Twitter Search in Plain English). When someone puts a pound sign or hashtag in front of a word that is a signal that it’s a topic or trend to follow. The most helpful usage is when you’re attending an event. Everyone at the event can say updates such as “I’m here at ABC Conference, it’s fun! #ABCconf.” Now anyone wishing to follow that conference can just search #ABCconf on Twitter and see all updates from attendees. Using the hashtag also makes the topic a link on Twitter so when it shows up on your Twitter profile, you can click #ABCconf and see all results under that topic.

Back to the Olympics… I’ve heard of the following being used when posting updated about the Games: #Olympics, #Vancouver2010, #Vancouver, #Van2010.

Since you only have 140 characters in which to post your update on Twitter, the shortest tag is usually the best. I’ll be using #Van2010 throughout the Games and I’ve heard a few others will as well. I’m assuming that #Olympics or simply #Vancouver will be trending on Twitter (meaning they’ll be the most-spoken terms throughout all of Twitter globally) during the month of February.

If you’re ever wondering why a word or phrase is a “trending topic” on Twitter, you can check out WhatTheTrend.com.

In Whistler, they have notified media that they can use #Whistler30 for news and updates. This means you can monitor #Whistler30 (using a Twitter search) to see all news coming out of the region. They have also publicized #WhistlerW5 for any media wanting to know any “Who, What, When, Where, Why” information about Whistler.

In Vancouver, social media reporters, indie journalists, bloggers, photographers and podcasters can tag their information with #TNMH which is the True North Media House. This is an independent collaboration of content producers who want to get their information out to a broad audience.

To specifically mark tweets as being Olympic-related, I’m going with #Van2010 for now, although more suggestions are welcome.

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You can follow all of my updates on Twitter @Miss604 and I’ve also created a list of Vancouver 2010 people on Twitter which you can follow here.

Vancouver is hosting the North American debut of the kung fu rock musical Monkey King. Running February 5th through the 27th the story is based on the Chinese legend Journey to the West.

This hit musical from the Beijing Olympics is the only running musical during the Vancouver 2010 Olympics. Visitors and locals alike can catch this production that will have international appeal for all ages.

Featuring a cast of over 60 singers, dancers, acrobats, musicians and martial artists- the show tells the story of a monk’s quest to recover a sacred relic. His journey sees him joined by unlikely warrior companions, beset by demons and monsters, and matching wits with kings and gods. The epic narrative is played out through a series of breath-taking kung fu battles, spellbinding dance sequences and an original, driving rock score.

I have two tickets to give away for the 7:30pm performance of Monkey King on February 25th at the Centre in Vancouver for Performing Arts.

To enter to win, simply leave a comment on this post or re-tweet the code below:

Print: Estimated value $90. Winner must confirm they can claim their prize within 24 hour of notification. Contest will run until February 9th.

MuchMusic is coming to Whistler February 12th until the 28th and will broadcast their daily Much on Demand (MOD) show live from the Garibaldi Life Co (GLC).

VJs Sarah Taylor, Tim Deegan, Jesse Giddings, and Liz Trinnear will host segments of MOD LIVE @ THE BASE every day. “We are so excited to be hitting Whistler in true MOD style!” said MuchMusic VJ Jesse Giddings. “As a B.C. native, I’m very proud to bring the Olympic Games spirit to our youth audience in this completely new, non-traditional way. For once in my life, February is going to be my favourite month of the year. Bring on the cold!”

MOD LIVE @ THE BASE Afternoon Show
2:00pm PT – 3:00pm (1 hour)
A live hour that includes highlights of the Games, music videos, and interviews with celebs, artists, and athletes.

MOD LIVE @ THE BASE Evening Show
7:00pm PT – 8:00pm (1 hour)
The evening broadcast picks up where the afternoon show left off with more interviews, more music videos, and stories from the Games that day.

Much Music will also be the exclusive broadcaster of the Vancouver 2010 Victory Ceremony concert series in Vancouver and Whistler. Every night at 8:00pm they will air live concerts that will include: Nelly Furtado (Feb 14), Barenaked Ladies (Feb 16), Paul Brandt (Feb 17), Hedley (Feb 18), Theory Of A Deadman (Feb 19), Stereophonics (Feb 20), Trooper and Loverboy (Feb 21), Billy Talent (Feb 23), INXS (Feb 24), Great Big Sea (Feb 26) and more.

I’ll be heading up to TEDxWhistler February 18th and will also stop in to see the VJs at MOD LIVE. If you’re in the village, stop on by to check out some of the free live entertainment.

ValleyFest in Lynn Valley is North Vancouver’s own community celebration site for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games.

The Torch Relay will make its way to the Lynn Valley Centre on day 104, February 10th with music and entertainment at 11:00am and the torch ceremony from 1:00pm – 3:00pm.

From February 12th until the 28th their daily activities roster is rather full and they’ll have a big screen so you can watch Olympic coverage from the Lynn Valley Centre plaza from 10:00am.

Special theme days at ValleyFest include Local Heroes, Youth night, Paralympics profile, First Nations, Seniors, and Mount Seymour showcase.

The Discovery Zone will have workshops with the likes of “Molly the Mountaineer”, a North Shore Museum and Archives display, Build a Bug lantern activity, as well as arts & library activities.

The Games Zone will have “Kurling” hosted by Curling BC and the North Shore Winter Club, Biathlon demos, speedskating and ski jumping demos, hockey shots, and Wii sports.

Concerts include performances by Dustin Bentall, Ready Steady Go, The Black Bear Band, Bobs & Lolo and more.

It looks like they have a nice, FREE, local celebration planned for the community and if you’d like to join them your best bet to get over there is by bus. You can take the 228 or 229 from Lonsdale / Seabus, 255 from West Vancouver or 210 from Burrard.

You can find more information, show times and maps on the ValleyFest website.

Related: Surrey’s Celebration Site, Richmond O Zone, 2010 Pavilions, all my Vancouver 2010 posts.

I was recently giving two packs of the Travellers Deck for review and giveaway. The deck of cards is a “Best 100” list of places to eat and shop in Vancouver.

Colour-coded by neighbourhood, the concept is to grab the deck, give it a shuffle, and draw out a random location when you’re ready to hit the town. I looked through and made some observations. Neighbourhoods include: Kitsilano, Downtown, South Main/Cambie Village, South Granville/Granville Island, and Commercial Drive.

The Pros
The deck is great for discovering new places to have breakfast, lunch or dinner around Vancouver and it also offers discounts. For example, if you shuffle and cut the deck finding Sophie’s Cosmic Cafe you can stop on in and get a free root-beer float with your purchase.

The cards are waterproof (handy for Vancouver weather), the website says the reviews are all honest and that no outlet could pay to be a part of the deck, every card has an exclusive discount or incentive and the decks are available in English, Spanish, Chinese and Japanese.

The selection for downtown makes up almost half the deck with fewer options available for South Main and Commercial Drive. However, they did manage to include some of my personal favourites. I admit that at first I thought the cards were one-sided and thought that the selection was pretty scarce. However in a moment of true genius I flipped over the cards to reveal even more listings.

I’ve actually been approached recently by another card deck company that’s doing something similar so this is perhaps a new tourism trend.

The Cons
One thing that threw me off was the “Canadianisms” card which is obviously aimed at visitors. It explains some key terms such as “Canuck”, and “The Grind”. There’s nothing terrible about that, it was just slightly odd but I suppose useful for those who really wanted to know what a “Cougar” is.

The downfall is that updates aren’t too easy to do on the printed cards but Travellers Deck does have an updates section of their website. If they had a iPhone version it would be good, sort of like the shake n’ shuffle Urbanspoon application.

I think they have some nice dining selections and even though some of the suggested retail spots are a little too rich for my blood, it does showcase local stores. The discount on the card also helps ease that a bit, for example you can get 10% off at John Fluevog, 10% off at Zebra Club, 15% off at Gravity Pope.

Overall
This old-school method does have its charm though and would be great for people who do not live in Vancouver or those who want to explore other neighbourhoods. Also, not everyone has a smart-phone and being available at major retail outlets gives tourists optimal access to the deck.

The decks can be purchased at outlets like The Bay, Chapters, Pharmasave etc. or online for $11.95.

I’ll be giving away one of my review decks and keeping the other around for when the in-laws visit and we’re looking for a great place to eat, outside of the downtown core perhaps. Travellers Deck has also offered up a gift certificate for Charm Modern Thai, which is listed in the downtown section of the cards. You can read a review of the restaurant on the Chow Times blog.

The Contest

To enter to win a Travellers Deck for Vancouver and a $75 Charm Modern Thai gift certificate leave a comment on this post listing your favourite place to eat or shop in the city.

You can also re-tweet http://bit.ly/ax5hPn & @Miss604 if you can fit your favourite within a 140 character update.

Fine print: Contest will run until February 8th, 2010.
Disclosure: cmp.ly/2 I received two decks and will be keeping one of them.

About an hour outside of Prince George along Highway 16 lies a practically unmarked treasure, the Ancient Forest.

What makes this plot of land so unique, aside from being a grouping of 800-2,000 year old cedars, is that it’s a rainforest… but it’s inland. Being 800km in from the coast of British Columbia this pocket is actually a snowforest and I was lucky enough to explore under the canopy of these aged coniferous giants last weekend.

The Ancient Forest is free to visit year-round but for the sake of learning a bit more about the area we were escorted by Trevor and Laurella of The Outdoor Life Adventure Company. We also had Dave Connell along with us who is an Environmental Planning Professor at the University of Northern BC. Together our group set out on snowshoes along a looped trail that takes about two hours to traverse.

Our first pitstop was at the “Big Tree”. Now I’ve seen some big trees in my time and this one’s at the top of the list at 16 feet in diameter.

We continued along the trail, over creeks, wood-planked bridges, and through clusters of trees reaching up to the sky. At one point I think it stopped snowing but flakes continued to float around like flour, gracefully sifted through the outstretched arms of the giants.

Dave said that he’s heard a visitor refer to the forest as “decadent” which is pretty spot on. Covered in snow we couldn’t spot the rich, entangled root systems or the natural mulch that lined the path however the are is filled with Red Cedars and various types of plants, fungi and lichen that thrive in a snowforest ecosystem.

From “old man’s beard” moss, to smooth flat fungus, or technicolor yellow striping along the side of the trees. Even in the dead of winter the forest is absolutely alive with colour.

“It’s a sense of awe and a sense of being,” said Dave. “And not like being in the city, but as in being human.”

We took the trail loop up to Treebeard Falls and then down and around to old Treebeard himself. A towering cedar with arms outstretched toward the sky, aptly named after the character in the JRR Tolkien books, The Lord of the Rings.

There are information signs at each specific point of interest on the trail and my favourite element was that some of the messaging was written on behalf of a tree.

Along our route there was evidence of the logging industry coming in and marking territory using bright orange spray paint. The Ancient Forest lies on a patch designated as “Block 486″ and its future is still on shaky ground but there’s hope.

Without the continuing research and dedication from the folks at UNBC at the Dome Creek Forest Information Committee, the Ancient Forest may not be around today or in the future. There’s a documentary film available called Block 486 that explains a bit of the story.

Dave is hoping people like me can get the word out about this fantastic place and that we’ll be able to explore the non-timber side of forest economics. If we can get more visitors then maybe everyone will be able to discover just how special this area really is – making sure the land is protected and appreciated.

When I was growing up my family took part in many forest-exploring adventures. Each week it was a different park in the Lower Mainland and each summer it was a unique camping experience. I love being among the trees even when I can only get my fix by venturing down the lesser-known trails in Stanley Park. I’ve stood among the Redwoods in California and I’ve named my favourite Western Red Cedar in Stanley Park. Now, I’ve snowshoed the Ancient Forest.

Here’s hoping I can help just a bit by spreading the word so that this gem can live on for even more generations.

Extra info:
The Outdoor Life Adventure Company on Twitter @TOLAC
The University of Northern British Columbia on Twitter @UNBC

Disclosure: cmp.ly/2 – I was there with a group thanks to Northern BC Tourism. It’s free to trek through the forest but our tour from TOLAC was on the house. I would actually recommend having a guide in the winter due the elements — they have wilderness training, first aid, they know the route, and they know how to get you out of waist-deep snow pits.

Last month I talked about where everyone will be during the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games. I plan on staying around town, making one quick day trip to Whistler, being extremely busy covering events for you all to enjoy, and watching the best in the world excel in their sport.

I wanted to take a moment to profile where my coverage can be found during the Olympics.

BC Living Magazine:
Over the next four weeks I will be providing original articles on various facets of the Olympics for BC Living. In their exclusive Games section they have everything from athlete profiles to TV listings and sporting news. You can read my first article that was posted last week that has some of my Opening Ceremony predictions.

True North Media House:
A collaboration of any and all in social media (bloggers, photographers, podcasters) who want to cover the Olympics their way, on their own sites. This site is a one-stop resource for independent content creators and will have a showcase of all registered reporters’ feeds. My involvement with TNMH will be to rally tweetups, photowalks, and opportunities for folks to gather and create content for themselves. Be sure to follow @TNMH on Twitter or my main account @Miss604.

Vancouver Access 2010:
A site put together by Robert Scales who has years of experience covering the Olympics in a social media capacity. Along with his team and co-developer Nadia Aly, they have already put up one of the most comprehensive “Free Attractions” posts for the Olympics that I’ve seen to date. I’ll be cross-posting some existing Miss604.com content in the form of a weekly digest and sharing photos. They’re @VancouverAccess on Twitter.

News 1130:
Over the next few weeks I’ll be checking in with News 1130am. I may have some radio coverage and will be checking out the operations of the official radio station of the Vancouver 2010 Olympics next week. Throughout the Games, if you have Twitter updates you’d like to get on their radar, tag them with #1130.

Miss604.com:
Follow along every day for about 2-5 entries about life in Vancouver (as usual) as well as Olympics coverage. You can subscribe to my Vancouver 2010 Olympics feed if you just want Games-related posts. My photos will all be on Flickr and I’ll also have up to the minute updates on Twitter @Miss604.

For a quick preview this week I’ll be attending/covering the CODE launch party, the grand opening of House of Switzerland Canada (stay tuned for Tweetup information), and attending The Blue Dragon.

Next Tuesday I’ll be riding along with the Torch Relay in Surrey, heading the BC Hydro Power Smart Village and ending the night at the Richmond O Zone — it’ll be a long day but just the beginning of the many adventures yet to come this month.