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I Love New York- of the North West |
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Every year a friend of mine flies to New York City to indulge in theatre, shopping and gou rmet dining. I have envied her in a way, but now I have found a place to rival NYC and it is only a leisurely 4.5 hour drive from Kelowna. In fact I think Spokane, Washington, rivals New York in many ways. Here a few little known facts - Wall Street was in Spokane first - in 1889 in fact. The first Empire State building was built in Spokane in 1900 at 1023 W. Riverside Ave. by F. Lewis Clark.
You know that famous carrousel on Coney Island built by Charles Looff? Well he built one in 1904 that is in Spokane’s Riverside Park, as a wedding gift for his daughter Emma and it is still in operation, brass ring and all.
New York shopping? Bah humbug - Spokane has Nordstrom’s, Abercrombie and Fitch and dozens of other posh, highfalutin shops in the downtown River Park Square shopping center. This is the first place I have managed to drag hubbie Jim into without cries of protest. He was curious.
As for culture, this inland Northwest city has dozens of museums and galleries within blocks of the Davenport Hotel, where we stayed for our May long weekend visit. Our first night in town we went to hear Bernstein’s Broadway performed by the Spokane Symphony at the INB Performing Arts Centre, a lovely theatre with wide outside steps down to the Spokane River where you can sit at intermission and sip your wine. I know that they have good music in New York City, but what is the likelihood of your sitting beside the mother of a lovely young lyric soprano who is making her singing debut right in front of you. Kristy Fox’s mom was so thrilled with her youngster’s “coming out” that she could not contain herself at intermission even divulging that her child received four free concert tickets and $500 for her performance ($125 of which purchased her inaugural gown at Macy’s). It was fun and friendly and I bet it wouldn’t happen you know where.
Our first morning in Spokane we unloaded our Dahon folding bikes and cycled over the Monroe Street bridge that crossed the rushing gorge of the Spokane River just below the falls. When the bridge was completed in 1911, the 281-foot concrete span was the largest in the world. Some friendly locales pointed out the western motif images in concrete that decorates the railings. We rode along the River Trail and were spoken to by friendly Spokane citizens enquiring about our “funny, little bikes.” They were keen to share information about the 37-mile paved pathway where nothing with a motor is allowed. We heard that, due to a late spring, the Lilac Bloomsday Run was not a blooming success. The 12-kilometre road race is the largest timed road race in the world. There was regret expressed by our new acquaintances that we wouldn’t return for Hoopfest the last weekend in June. It seems that more than 25,000 players on more than 6,000 teams play 3 on 3 street basketball on the streets of downtown Spokane. What a wonderful town. The Big Pear, is what I think I’ll call it. Lian Couper
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MYRA CANYON KELOWNA BC
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