-Fernie is named for William Fernie, a right asshole who stole a Kutenxai princess and ran away chased by her father. He settled in the Elk Valley and established Fernie because there was coal here.
-The chieftan then proceeded to put a curse on the town which proceeded to burn down twice in the early 1900s and have a flood so bad than houses actually floated down the river.
-sometime after WW2 the mayor and a different chieftan smoked a piece pipe and started Fernie's long marriage with weed culture. oh...they also lifted the curse.
-only one major flood has happened since and it was a bit of a wuss.
On To The Pictures!
Unlike Cam's home-city phototour this one will lack any works of art because Fernie is small and filled with people who "don't like no artsy crap" but there will be mountains because Fernie is surrounded by them. This one ties into the fun historical facts because the shadow on this mountain is the "ghost rider" and is supposed to depict William fernie on his horse followed by the princess and chased by her father. Also pictured are, in geographical relation to the camera, the Fernie Hotel (or where you can find half of my graduating class drinking themselves into oblivion), The Overwaitea where I earned the title Least Productive Service Clerk, and my old old High School.
This is Castle Mountain as viewed from my front yard. Hidden by the tree is a set of radio towers on the mountain that I was covinced at age 5 was the castle for which Castle Mountain was named. Turns out it was just cause of some stupid cliff.
Continuing the history lesson apparently the chieftan was mad at his daughter and her two sister tried to help her hide. They failed and the chieftan turned them into a mountain. Or a god turned them into a mountain to protect them. I forget. Either way there is a mountain called the Three Sisters one mountain over from the Ghost Rider. 
Finally we have Fernie Mountain or Mt. Fernie...see how well I know the town I grew up in. Anyways on the left side of the mountain you might be able to make out a clearing which I am personally convinced looks like a duck wearing a) aviator goggles b) a leather flight cap and c) a scarf. Will agrees with me so I think that proves I'm not crazy.
This picture is a seguay to the building portion of the tour. This is a shot of historic downtown Fernie and in the background is the Lizard Range, better known as The Ski Hill. What you can't see is that half these storefronts are empty or closed because the Ski Hill has no snow on it yet and thus the various hippy and head shops aren't selling too much product right now. Well...okay...the head shops are doing okay. And so is the vacuum store (I don't get it either).
Speaking of empty stores. Frozen Ocean was once my favorite board shop in town, and not just because they (the owners/employees) knew me and thus gave me 30% off everything. This is a picture from last winter because the store is now empty. Apparently, the guy who ran it was doing the finances for his unrelated juice shop through FO and the owner didn't like that too much so he came in the dark of...evening and took everything. I happened to see this happen actually. Sadly I will no longer recieve cheap skate shoes. However there is an FO on Granville Island so all is not lost. 
I call this one "And I wonder why people have such a hard time believing I am a snowboarder from Fernie and I don't smoke pot" for fairly obvious reasons. 
Continuing the board shop theme is the Edge of the World hearse which screams, "I can desecrate the dead and catch some freshies all in one go!" I personally think this is a genius way of transporting snowboards which always have a nasty habit of being too big to fit in your car. It also makes you look like a complete badass. It also has a monty python quote painted on the back window. A dollar for whoever guesses the right quote.
...and back on the head shop theme. This is a Mexican import store. Despite all odds it has managed to stay open in an area where better stores have failed. My conclusion: drug front. Poorly disguised too as shown by the statue of a smoking guy outside the store.
I'm not entirely sure why there was ever a grain elevator in the middle of the Rockies but apparently there was and now it is an overpriced restaurant where the financially elite assholes can get a 30 dollar steak that, honestly, tastes no better than something I can get for 9.50 at Whitespot.
This is one of the better restaurants in town. One where I caused a waitress distress by suggesting I would simply climb out the bathroom window rather then pay the bill. It is home to the Hungry Harold, a 1.5 foot wide platter of poutine (real poutine with cheese curds) topped with vegetables and two cajun chicken breasts. For those playing the home game that is a shit-tonne of food. Also those flower baskets are actually chairs from one of the ski lifts.
This is my old high school. At least it was until it was deemed unsafe due to it's backwardsly installed ventilation fan and a structure that was so old it could no longer take the snow load an buckled every winter so much that doors could not be opened or closed without the use of excessive force. So a new high school was built...
...out of tin cans by some guy from Whistler. It was a vast improvement on the old school because whereas the old school only threatened to collapse under Fernie's snowload the new school actually did...twice. Conclusion: people from Whistler know fuck all about snow.
Outside the new school is the closest thing we have to a statue...a giant rock. Many a drunken attempt to climb onto this has been made, not by me because I am not an idiot (I only climb on it sober...I swear). Also people like to ride bikes off the top of this usually resulting in injury.
This is the house where a bulk of The Off-Season was shot. It is also the home of the girl whom I have dubbed "She Who Ruins Movies". There is a couch in the middle of the back lawn which is infested with maggots and also which I made my actors sit on.
When I took this picture it was titled Smallest House In Fernie because...well...look at it, it's tiny. But I am convinced my friend Steph (whom you will meet on the people/events/bars installment of the tour) recently began renting something even smaller. The entire lawn of this house used to be a rock garden that was supposed to represent the sea floor. Nobody thought it was cool...because it wasn't. 
This shot may seem to have no real significance and it doesn't. I took it because a) mushroom shaped trees b) it's a good shot of the Three Sisters and c) That house is the most Italian house in Fernie (You can only see one Italian flag painted on it here but there are at least four that I can think of). 
I walked by these houses anytime I needed to go uptown. That included walking to and from school. In my 18 some odd years of living in Fernie I never ever saw these garage doors open. As a kid I thought the house that lay behind that gate was abandoned and haunted. Then on the day before I was to leave Fernie this summer I was walking uptown and lo and behold: Doors Open. 
This is what is behind my house. Well behind the dyke that is behind my backyard. To either side of this shot is trees meaning I literally have a forest out my backyard, complete with cougars, mooses, and bears...oh my! Also pictures is my chocolate lab Teva. She is not the smartest dog when it comes to finding something you are pointing directly at but she can understand commands in French (seriously).
This is the creek that runs into the river that runs behind my house. I have to cross it (via bridge) anytime I want to leave my neighbourhood and go uptown. It is also the site of many a childhood fishing/swimming expedition. In 1995 it overflowed and ran down my street (nobody anticipated that the levees would break) hence the reinforced by stainless steel dykes. It is also the site of this:
I have dubbed this Beetle-Jesus and it is quite frankly one of my favorite things in all of Fernie. I don't know who did it but they are obviously more artistic than the people that write the usual Grad '02 graffiti around town. They are also incidentally my hero.
I'm going to end things there for this installment. Join me tomorrow for my snow damage/events/bar tour of Fernie.
2 comments:
I feel hurt that I'm not on your blog list. Even though you don't know me and I don't know you. Hello, Stu.
I like how the history of your town is like part actual history/part people being turned into mountains.
thats fucked up
Post a Comment