One of Vancouver Island’s best aviation museums is just outside Courtenay and it’s the perfect stop on a family holiday.  Despite its name, the Comox Air Force Museum is dedicated to both military and civilian aviation history.  It’s composed of a thriving and well-equipped museum, a hangar devoted to ongoing restoration, and an air park. With plenty to see and do, it appeals to young and old alike.

Comox Air Force Museum

The Museum is located at 11 Pritchard Road in Comox, near the main entrance to the Canadian Forces Base Comox, which overlooks the Strait of Georgia.  It’s open to the public by donation, on Tuesdays through Sundays from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.  The Museum is open nearly year ‘round, with the exception of the holidays in late December and early January.

Its mission is “is to preserve Canadian West Coast aviation heritage, both civilian and military.”  You’ll find intriguing displays of aircraft models, history and aeronautical-related personal items from residents of the Comox Valley and Vancouver Island.  The Museum’s staff and volunteers good work to preserve the history of the Canadian Air Force recently won them a Wing Commander’s Commendation.

Are you a fan of the Canadian Forces Snowbirds?  Check the Museum’s website or Facebook page, as the Snowbirds occasionally practice in the area.

Y2K Spitfire Hangar

Just south of the Museum on Little River Road (also known as “Military Row”) is the Y2K Spitfire Hangar, dedicated to the restoration of a 1945-era Supermarine Mk 1X Spitfire, the celebrated World War II airplane.  Since 2000 (and thus, the “Y2K” designation), a large team of volunteers has dedicated their time, skills and funds to making the plane “flight-ready,” down to the original paint colours.  That’s quite a feat, considering that the aircraft arrived at the Museum disassembled, in numerous boxes.  

The restoration is a joint project between Vintage Wings of Canada and the Comox Air Force Museum.  The hangar is open most Saturdays from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., but call first to make check:  250-339-8162.

Heritage Air Park

Slightly farther south on Little River Road (also known as “Military Row”) and just 500 meters from the Museum, you’ll find the Comox Air Force Museum’s Heritage Air Park.  You can walk among a handful of vintage aircraft, getting a good look at an Avro Canuck and Canadair Argus, Silver Star, Starfighter and Tutor, along with a Douglas Dakota and Grumman (de Havilland) Tracker.  You’ll even find some heritage vehicles.  It’s open from May to September, on Tuesdays through Sundays, from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and admission is free.Comox Air Force Museum’s Heritage Air ParkComox Air Force Museum’s Heritage Air Park

LINK FOR MORE INFORMATION

The Comox Air Force museum has a lot to offer to vacationing families.  For more information about the Comox Air Force Museum, visit

http://www.comoxairforcemuseum.ca/Home.html and follow them on Facebook.

Courtenay Accommodations

There are a number of hotels, motels and bed & breakfasts to pick from including our sponsors, Best Western:

The Best Western PLUS Westerly Hotel & Convention Centre in Courtenay, British Columbia is the only full-service hotel in the Comox Valley. Its Convention Centre offers meeting space and banquet facilities for 225.  This full-service property features 142 well-appointed guest rooms; two on-site restaurants, the Greenhouse Restaurant and Snookers Lounge; free high-speed Internet and more.

Contact info: Best Western PLUS Westerly Hotel & Convention Centre, 1590 Cliffe Avenue, Courtenay, British Columbia, V9N 2K4. Toll Free: (800) 668-7797 Telephone: (250) 338-7741 Fax: (250) 338-5442 Email:  info@bestwesternbarclay.com.

Enjoy all that Courtenay has to offer and please tell your friends.

Re-published from www.amazingvancouverisland.com under creative commons license.

Planning a successful and effective conference is as much about selecting the right location as it is about managing the many details.  The charming town of Courtenay has made itself a perfect meeting venue, and here’s why:

You’ll Have Resources and Assistance

The Comox Valley Chamber of Commerce’s Visitor Centre offers a free group planner that outlines listing of possible locations to hold your important event, and includes a roster of local caterers.  Courtenay’s largest hotels have staff with extensive event planning skills.  Learn more.

You Can Make Your Meeting Different

Help bring a little magic to your meeting, and let your guests create fun memories by offering a group event that your attendees don’t expect.  How about a scavenger hunt at a farmer’s market?  Or an eco-tour?  Perhaps absorbing some lessons in leadership from a tour of the Comox Air Force Museum on vancouver island, dedicated to the accomplishments of the brave soldiers of the Canadian Air Force on the West Coast?

You Can Create a Memorable Spouse Program

Spouse programs can run the gamut from dining, shopping and gallery visits to a culinary tour through the region’s local farms, vineyards and fishing docks.

You Can Make it Easy for Them Stay and Play

Keep your attendees happy by selecting a venue that makes it easy for them to vacation in the area with their family before or after the meeting. The Courtenay area’s unique geography and temperate climate year round makes it the perfect setting for whole-family activities including hiking, horseback riding, boating, fishing, swimming, mountain biking, diving and camping. And only 20 minutes away is an alpine playground that receives some of the deepest snow in North America.

Courtenay Hotels

A message from our sponsors.

The Best Western PLUS Westerly Hotel & Convention Centre in Courtenay, British Columbia is the only full-service hotel in the Comox Valley.  It offers easy access to Mount Washington Ski Resort and Crown Isle Golf Resort.

The Best Western PLUS  Westerly Hotel & Convention Centre is rated three diamonds by the AAA-CAA.  This full-service property offers free, high-speed Internet, a complimentary full breakfast and room service.   The Hotel’s new Mountainside Wing offers guest rooms featuring 37-inch flat screen televisions and walk in showers.  All of the property’s 142 rooms are non-smoking and include and four suites.

Just steps from your room are the property’s Greenhouse restaurant, open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and Snooker’s Lounge, where you can sink into one of our big comfy leather chairs for a fireside chat or enjoy a game of billiards with friends.  For pub fare and evening entertainment be sure to check out our new Flying Canoe West Coast pub, opening in the Spring of 2011.

Traveling with your four-legged pal?  Pets allowed based on the availability of pet friendly rooms.  Up to two dogs are allowed per room, with an 80-pound weight limit.  Other pets, including cats and birds, may be accepted at the hotel’s discretion.  The pet rate is 10.00 CAD per pet per day with a 100 CAD per week maximum.

Unwind in the indoor pool, hot tub, sauna and full fitness centre.  Other amenities include locker rooms, a games room and even a ski storage room.

With meeting space and banquet facilities for 225, the Best Western PLUS Westerly Hotel & Convention Centre’s meeting rooms and ballroom are perfect choices for your company’s conference, your non-profit group’s big event and especially a wedding or special birthday party.  The hotel’s business center helps corporate travelers be more productive.

The friendly hotel staff will be happy to help you schedule a variety of packages including golf packages from March to October and ski packages from December to April.
Contact info: Best Western PLUS Westerly Hotel & Convention Centre, 1590 Cliffe Avenue, Courtenay, British Columbia, V9N 2K4. Toll Free: (800) 668-7797 Telephone: (250) 338-7741 Fax: (250) 338-5442

Email:  info@thewesterlyhotel.com

Enjoy all that Courtenay has to offer and please tell your friends.

Re-published from www.amazingvancouverisland.com under creative commons license.

Where will the Courtenay and District Museum and Palaeontology Centre take you?  On a voyage of discovery through the worlds of palaeontology, geology, geography and culture, that’s where.  You can even travel 80 million years back in time as you venture on a fossil tour.

So What’s an Elasmosaur?

This most famous resident of the Courtenay and District Museum and Palaeontology is a giant marine reptile known as an elasmosaur.  It’s the largest marine reptile fossil ever discovered in British Columbia and the first of its kind west of the Canadian Rockies.  Vancouver Island residents Mike Trask and his 12-year-old daughter Heather found the fossil along the banks of the Puntledge River in November 1988, and since then a few other specimens have been recovered from other Upper Cretaceous sites, most notably from exposures along the Trent and Englishman Rivers.

A Discovery, A Transformation

The Trask’s discovery not only rocked the quiet world of palaeontology, it transfixed the community and transformed the Museum.  The once-small county museum made the Elasmosaur location a provincial heritage site, organized the excavation of the remainder of the fossil and responded to the community’s interest by supporting further fossil research.

Other large extinct reptiles have been discovered in the area, including the crocodile-like mosasaur, a marine lizard.  Material attributed to a number of different mosasaur has been recovered from several sites along the Puntledge River and from Maastrichtian marine deposits on the North Coast of Hornby Island.

Fossil Tour, Anyone?

Experience the thrill of digging for extinct dinosaur relatives firsthand, on a docent-led tour of leafy fossil sites along the Puntledge River.  The tour, which must be booked in advance, is a short ten minute drive and an easy five minute forested walk from the Museum.

Your tour guide will describe the site’s history and explain proper collection techniques; then you get to dig in.  They supply a limited number of hammers, chisels and goggles, and here’s the best part: you get to keep any fossils that you find!  If the species is of scientific value, you may be asked to donate the fossil to the museum collection, with the finder’s name attached.

Learn more http://www.courtenaymuseum.ca/pro_tour.html

Courtenay Accommodations

There are a number of hotels, motels and bed & breakfasts to pick from including our sponsors, Best Western:

The Best Western PLUS Westerly Hotel & Convention Centre in Courtenay, British Columbia is the only full-service hotel in the Comox Valley. Its Convention Centre offers meeting space and banquet facilities for 225.  This full-service property features 142 well-appointed guest rooms; two on-site restaurants, the Greenhouse Restaurant and Snookers Lounge; free high-speed Internet and more.

Contact info: Best Western PLUS Westerly Hotel & Convention Centre , 1590 Cliffe Avenue, Courtenay, British Columbia, V9N 2K4. Toll Free: (800) 668-7797 Telephone: (250) 338-7741 Fax: (250) 338-5442.

Enjoy all that Courtenay has to offer and please tell your friends.

Re-published from www.amazingvancouverisland.com under creative commons license.

Courtenay is in the heart of the Comox Valley on Eastern side of Vancouver Island. It is both fun and unique. Vitality Magazine named Courtenay “the most charming small town on Vancouver Island.”

Courtenay Downtown Events

There always seems to be something going on in downtown Courtenay from its markets, dances and art shows.

Mount Washington Alpine Resort

Mount Washington is on the eastern side of the Vancouver Island range which features a spectacular alpine setting with the Pacific ocean as backdrop. It has a variety of runs from beginner to expert and boasts the deepest snow in the world!

The resort, some 30 km (19 miles) from Courtenay offers world class alpine skiing, snowboarding, and host of other winter activities. Accommodations  include an Alpine Village with condominiums, chalets and townhouses.

During the summer Mount Washington and the surrounding resort are transforms itself into a major destination for walkers, hikers, mountain bikers and hikers.

Mount Washington

Vancouver Island Music Fest

The Island Music Fest is the largest music festival on Vancouver Island and is held in the summer, usually in July. Bring your tent or camper and enjoy an eclectic mix of music.

 Strathcona Provincial Park

Strathcona Provincial Park is a huge rugged mountain wilderness park located almost in the centre of Vancouver Island. Except for Buttle Lake and Forbidden Plateau which offer some tourist activities, the rest is basically undeveloped. If you are looking for the untouched outdoors of a majestic rain forest you will love this area.

Whether you are looking for crystal clear lakes, majestic peaks or alpine meadows you will find it in abundance here.

Looking for a marine dinosaur?

How about a Elasmosaur or the Mosasaur? The Courtenay and District Museum and Paleontology Centre  has quite a reputation for their discoveries all to the delight of novice and experienced paleontologists.

Enjoy Courtenay and please tell your friends.

Re-published from www.amazingvancouverisland.com under creative commons license.