Graduation Celebration Trip: Day 5

Today was relatively error-free, aside from the fact that it snowed and rained all day! Which is ironic considering that it was April 1.

We were in the lobby waiting for our off-site location tour in plenty of time. Here is Mike with Lynn Smith who was location manager for Stargate SG-1 Seasons 2-6, the longest period of time with one location manager. She is married to executive producer N. (Norman) John Smith. She has a lovely voice that blends Canadian and Irish accents together. We found some of the speech phrases interesting: "side by each" instead of "side by side" for example.

This was the first year that the location tour went to farther-out locations instead of staying in the city. The tour bus had video monitors hanging from the overhead bins (yes, it was like an airplane) so that we could watch SG-1 episode segments of the sites we were about to see. Very cool to help you get oriented. Here's a little map of where we went. The farthest point (D) is about 30ish miles outside of Burnaby. Point A is our hotel, where the tour started.

We headed out of town and crossed the Pitt River on Lougheet Hwy, where they are building a new bridge:


Point B was the first stop: the Pitt Meadows Regional Airport. This is where they filmed parts of "Tangent"

Above: The tower crew were probably wondering why a tour bus cared to visit them. Below: the intersection of the runway where they did most of their filming for this episode.

Next we went to Bordertown (Point C on the map), which was used to film a western tv show for a few years. But it was also used to film a few episodes of Stargate SG-1: "A Hundred Days" and "Beast of Burden". This barn, below, was used in Beast of Burden.

Inside the barn, where Chaka was kept:

Not the exact area where O'Neill is canoeing on the river in "A Hundred Days", but nearby:

Next we went to (Point D) Jackson Pit and Municipal Pit. Jackson Pit looks exactly like it did during filming of "A Hundred Days" and "Orpheus":

However, Municipal Pit (location for filming "Lost City (Part One and Two)" and "Heros (Part One and Two)" has since been filled with new houses:

Next we went to the location (Point E) where "Seth" was filmed. We couldn't go inside because the building was being used for a wedding that day. Minnekhada Lodge is apparently a relatively popular place for weddings.

There's a lot of moisture around there. The trees are covered in moss:

Next we drove all the way back to North Vancouver to visit part of the GVRD that isn't open to the public (Point F). Stargate SG1 and Atlantis filmed in there very frequently, as have a number of other shows and films. The area is part of the Mt Seymour Watershed, so there's a lot of water facility construction going on. But we were able to visit the "Kilometer 4 Gravel Pit" which served as the planet Chulak in "Family", also was seen in "Maternal Instinct", was the planet Latona in "The Sentinel", was seen in "Alliegance" and "Death Knell" and probably other episodes too:

Also in the GVRD we saw the "Mid Valley" area which was used as a command post in "Matter of Time", also seen in "Demons", "Paradise Lost", and "Evolution". I guess I didn't take any pictures there. More trees, a valley, rocks, etc.

We also saw the "red rock quarry" that was seen in "New Ground". However, they have since excavated out all of the red rock:

This cemetary was also used for filming. I think for "Moebius Part 1" but my notes don't say.

Since there was still a little more time left for touring, we drove past a few locations on Boundary Road. This is the Accent Inn, directly across the street from the Bridge Studios where the show was filmed. Accent Inn appeared in "Avenger 2.0".

When the tour was over, we stood in line to pre-register for the convention. At least half of the 538 attendees were in line to pre-register. We saw this guy, and worried that maybe we weren't big-enough fans to be there:

Yes, he has a gate address tattooed on one arm, and the Ori symbol on the other. He wore that outfit the entire conference. But it turned out that very few people wore costumes the entire time. So while we weren't anywhere as geeky as some folks, we were more geeky than a lot of the audience. This is us in front of the convention banner. Stay tuned for details about our adventures at the Stargate SG-1 and Atlantis convention in Vancouver.