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[Dennis.t]

The truth about the wack, from a 3rd generation ex-wacker who now lives on the North Shore.

20 minutes to Sumas?  Sure if there's no accident on the freeway or whiteout in the winter.  And then, no fictional 5-minute wait to shopping at Bromley's for discount cheeze.  Wow.  1 hour past that to Bellingham.  Whoop-de-do!

35 minutes to Abbostford airport?  Awesome, I can fly to such exotic desitinations as Grande Prairie Alberta, for $800 round trip in no time!

0-30 seconds to get to your favorite "secret" fishing bar at 4 am before 0-300 people show up and combat fish, throw rocks, drink, smoke dope, smoke, snag, cut lines, leave trash and start fist fights during any big run.

Identical, carboard cutout houses with no trees, slammed next to each other, with postage stamp yards, for 500-700 grand.  Sorry chum, but I'd rather pay the $1.2 M for my well-treed digs on the North Shore.  I don't know about you, but I am happy to pay a premium to live in a place with the ocean, mountains, fresh air, easy access to the island, the best traffic in the LM, easy access to Squamish, Whistle, etc.  I drive 10 mins max to the rivers I fish, and launch my boat in the OCEAN at the drop of a hat.  As for the Cap, there's probably more combat fishers on one bank on the Chedder than all anglers combined on the entire Cap on any given day.  You just got to be able to hike and work it, it's not a river that suits lazy fishers well.  

4 great skiing areas in 45 minutes?  Ok, if you gun your F150 at 130 KMPH in the whiteout, through treacherous mountain roads, you might reach the entirely forgettable Manning Park area in 1.5 hours.  If you live in the "real world" and are governed by the laws of time and space, you might make it Baker in about the same time.

Fantastic staging for your dirt bike or hunting?  Sure I guess, but its no better than heading north on the 99.  No opportunities for "good" hiking trails, quality, built-up mountain biking trails, etc.  The roads are soft and lend well to bloated guys on Harleys who can't corner, if that's your thing.  Lame.

20 minutes to Costco?  Wow, I just can't make it through my day without a 100 lot pack of frozen cinnamon buns.  Vancouver...umm...it "has" Costco, and everything else for that matter, if selection is your thing.  

I dunno about you but I tend to eat fruit and vegetables year round and the gourmet and organic grocery stores in the city have 'em all the time, not just the few weeks when they're in season.  I suppose I can drive 5 minutes to buy all the Wack produce from the Squamish FN sellers who retrieve it from as far away as the Okanagan, at a fraction of the price I paid on the farm in the Wack.  

The worst traffic jams I've ever seen in the lower mainland are around Abbotsford / Wack.  Sometimes stuck on the highway for hours before you can even make it to a dead end turn off.  

Bridges everywhere crossing small rivers, which are everywhere, which cause shoke points that can make whole areas impasable if there's an accident.  Large bridges to anywhere civilized.  There's a reason why we only know folks from the Wack on the internet.  They don't dare attempt the day-long approach to civilization often.  

Tolls to get to the north side of the Valley on the GE bridge...no one in Vancouver pays those.  Hell, they don't even know where it is!

Yes, I made it to Vancouver in 1 hour, one time.  At 3:15 am on a wednesday, 25 degrees in August, 5 years ago, gunning the truck the whole way.  I made it from my house to Boundary Road (what a victory!) in an hour.  Anything other than that is pure fantasy.  

Let's not forget the ever-pervasive stench of manure and compost associted with all the agriculture, and of course, the WORST air quality index in the province, so bad that seniors and those with respiratory problems are forced to stay indoors when a dome of hot, stifling brown air sets up over the Valley.  Ahhh!  The beautful Wack outdoors!

Quality of live boys, some people are willing to pay for it, others are willing to waste their time living in in discount locales like the Wack becuase they can't afford anything else.

AA

Dude -nice essay-sounds like your trying to convince yourself.

[Oilcruzer]

Dude -nice essay-sounds like your trying to convince yourself.

Yep.  I won't even bother. 
But I am still laughing as I type this.

[marmot]

We are all lucky to live in BC...

you guys sound like a bunch of spoiled brats who were just given ice cream arguing over whose flavour is best.

[Oilcruzer]

We are all lucky to live in BC...

you guys sound like a bunch of spoiled brats who were just given ice cream arguing over whose flavour is best.

Good point. You could even say we are lucky to live in Canada.

[canso]

The truth about the wack, from a 3rd generation ex-wacker who now lives on the North Shore.

20 minutes to Sumas?  Sure if there's no accident on the freeway or whiteout in the winter.  And then, no fictional 5-minute wait to shopping at Bromley's for discount cheeze.  Wow.  1 hour past that to Bellingham.  Whoop-de-do!

35 minutes to Abbostford airport?  Awesome, I can fly to such exotic desitinations as Grande Prairie Alberta, for $800 round trip in no time!

0-30 seconds to get to your favorite "secret" fishing bar at 4 am before 0-300 people show up and combat fish, throw rocks, drink, smoke dope, smoke, snag, cut lines, leave trash and start fist fights during any big run.

Identical, carboard cutout houses with no trees, slammed next to each other, with postage stamp yards, for 500-700 grand.  Sorry chum, but I'd rather pay the $1.2 M for my well-treed digs on the North Shore.  I don't know about you, but I am happy to pay a premium to live in a place with the ocean, mountains, fresh air, easy access to the island, the best traffic in the LM, easy access to Squamish, Whistle, etc.  I drive 10 mins max to the rivers I fish, and launch my boat in the OCEAN at the drop of a hat.  As for the Cap, there's probably more combat fishers on one bank on the Chedder than all anglers combined on the entire Cap on any given day.  You just got to be able to hike and work it, it's not a river that suits lazy fishers well.  

4 great skiing areas in 45 minutes?  Ok, if you gun your F150 at 130 KMPH in the whiteout, through treacherous mountain roads, you might reach the entirely forgettable Manning Park area in 1.5 hours.  If you live in the "real world" and are governed by the laws of time and space, you might make it Baker in about the same time.

Fantastic staging for your dirt bike or hunting?  Sure I guess, but its no better than heading north on the 99.  No opportunities for "good" hiking trails, quality, built-up mountain biking trails, etc.  The roads are soft and lend well to bloated guys on Harleys who can't corner, if that's your thing.  Lame.

20 minutes to Costco?  Wow, I just can't make it through my day without a 100 lot pack of frozen cinnamon buns.  Vancouver...umm...it "has" Costco, and everything else for that matter, if selection is your thing.  

I dunno about you but I tend to eat fruit and vegetables year round and the gourmet and organic grocery stores in the city have 'em all the time, not just the few weeks when they're in season.  I suppose I can drive 5 minutes to buy all the Wack produce from the Squamish FN sellers who retrieve it from as far away as the Okanagan, at a fraction of the price I paid on the farm in the Wack.  

The worst traffic jams I've ever seen in the lower mainland are around Abbotsford / Wack.  Sometimes stuck on the highway for hours before you can even make it to a dead end turn off.  

Bridges everywhere crossing small rivers, which are everywhere, which cause shoke points that can make whole areas impasable if there's an accident.  Large bridges to anywhere civilized.  There's a reason why we only know folks from the Wack on the internet.  They don't dare attempt the day-long approach to civilization often.  

Tolls to get to the north side of the Valley on the GE bridge...no one in Vancouver pays those.  Hell, they don't even know where it is!

Yes, I made it to Vancouver in 1 hour, one time.  At 3:15 am on a wednesday, 25 degrees in August, 5 years ago, gunning the truck the whole way.  I made it from my house to Boundary Road (what a victory!) in an hour.  Anything other than that is pure fantasy.  

Let's not forget the ever-pervasive stench of manure and compost associted with all the agriculture, and of course, the WORST air quality index in the province, so bad that seniors and those with respiratory problems are forced to stay indoors when a dome of hot, stifling brown air sets up over the Valley.  Ahhh!  The beautful Wack outdoors!

Quality of live boys, some people are willing to pay for it, others are willing to waste their time living in in discount locales like the Wack becuase they can't afford anything else.

AA

Best post I’ve read in this thread

[StillAqua]

Best post I’ve read in this thread

X2 (from another north shorer)

[BigFisher]

Yep.  I won't even bother.  
But I am still laughing as I type this.

Im giving it a C+ as it was a little convincing. Best one iv seen yet.

[F33shFr33k]

The funny thing about the city of Vancouver is, people that  move there from other areas are the ones that seem to think its a better place than it actually is. Eventually one starts to get the snob factor assimilating to their very being..lol..

[gofishon]

The truth about the wack, from a 3rd generation ex-wacker who now lives on the North Shore.

That was alpineangler's first post? I'll give it a A. I can hardly wait for more. A fabulous read. All that from an "ex-whacker", I'll have to give him the benefit of the doubt. He speaks of what he knows. My only experience in Chilliwack (other than my many visits fishing the Vedder in the 70's and 80's when it was nearly deserted) was getting run over last year by a senior on a scooter in Cottonwood Mall.

[NiceFish]

alpineangler, did you happen to be wearing a cape and shouting that obnoxious rant from fromme mountain or something? when are you going to be releasing the new 10 commandments?  You and Robert are a couple of real characters, arguing about who's quality of life is better, everyone has a different opinion of what's a quality life and what isn't.

At the very minimum living somewhere in BC with access to fishing for the salmon runs would be enough for a great quality of life, or are you going to tell me that if you can't live on the north shore or chilliwack I might aswell be living in fort mcmurray snorting crack?

[purplehelmet]

Seriously, though, good river (for how long?) & good corn.

[drock31]

If chilliwack were so great people would actually want to move there. But they don't it's just people who can't afford housing in greater Vancouver that have to settle for the whack

[greese30]

WOW!  only people that cannot afford Vancouver?  not on your life.  never.  never would i choose to live in vancouver over the wack.  its a choice to live here because i love it here... not because i cannot afford to live elsewhere.  but to each his own.  please keep convincing everyone else to move to vancouver.  i would appreciate that.

[awurban@msn.com]

Chilliwack is my home town, but now I live out near east sooke on the island. The island is nicer in some ways but to all the people that dislike chilliwack so much; if you dont like it then don't go there and don't fish the cheddar either lol just saying...

[island boy]

could'nt agree more. don't like it, don't go.