Mark Thorburn

Pacific Northwest Trivia is a readable, entertaining potpourri of fascinating facts about a region of ecological diversity, captivating history, a progressive political culture with hints of separatism and colorful characters: - The world's largest strawberry shortcake, weighing 5700 pounds, is served to more than 15,000 people at the Lebanon Strawberry Festival in June - Adam West, of Batman fame, was born in Walla Walla, Washington, and played the lead character in that campy TV series from 1966 to 1968 - Despite being a semi-arid to arid climate, summer in Idaho is known for its wildflower blooms, covering literally thousands of acres - The site of the nation's only fatal nuclear reactor meltdown is just one of the more than 50 nuclear reactors built at the national testing site near Idaho Falls - Bertha Knight Landes (1868-1943), the nation's first female mayor, served as Seattle's mayor from 1926 to 1928 - The name for the city of Portland was settled by that most scientific of methods: a coin-toss.

Whether the names come from the First Nations peoples, the English and Spanish explorers who sailed along BC's coast, or the fur traders, gold prospectors and settlers, the stories behind the place names reveal much about the places themselves and the history of the province: - Babine Lake takes its name from the French word for large lip and refers to the former practice of the local First Nations people of inserting half-inch pieces of wood or bone between the teeth and lower lips of their women - Barkerville was named for Billy Barker, a gold prospector from the Cariboo Gold Rush Days who struck it rich but later died in poverty - In 1920, the residents of Harper's Camp voted almost unanimously in favour of changing their community's name to Horsefly in honour of that pesky insect that visits every summer - Lulu Island, on which the city of Richmond sits, was named for 16-year old American actress Lulu Sweet who won the hearts of a detachment of Royal Engineers - Squamish is an anglicization of the Squamish people's name for themselves, the Skwxw 7mesh, the word means mother of the wind and many refer to the steady wind that blows off Howe Sound into the city - Vancouver's famous clothing-optional Wreck Beach was named after three ships that were sunk off its shores in 1928 to create a breakwater for a log-storage site - T te Jaune Cache is French for Yellow Head's hiding place and refers to the yellow-haired Pierre Bostonais, an Iroquois M tis fur trapper and trader who worked as a guide for the North West and Hudson's Bay companies.