Fort Worth Glacier Peak Bearfire Resort Vision

Earlier today I blogged about Seattle's cruise ships. That somehow had me remarking that Fort Worth should add a fake mountain to go along with its fake lake as part of its very clear Trinity River Vision.

Then Steve A commented about the mountain idea by pointing out that there have been plans to build a mountain in Fort Worth called Bearfire. It was supposed to open in fall of 2009. However, ground was never broken on this ambitious project. I believe it was to be located out by the Texas Motor Speedway and Cabelas.

Bearfire was to have toboggans, bobsleds, a mountain called Glacier Peak, gondolas, ski lifts, ski and snowboard slopes.

An Alpine Village called the Villages at Bearfire were to have shopping, restaurants, ski shops, all in a romantic hamlet at the base of Glacier Peak. In the center of Bearfire Village you would have found Bearfire Ice Creek, using some sort of synthetic ice that has the properties of the real thing, except for not being really cold, the Ice Creek trail was to meander through the village.

I'm thinking skating on fake ice in the Texas summer heat might not have been too fun a thing to do. Maybe a lot of misters were to have been used. The snow on Glacier Peak was also to be a synthetic that replicated snow.

With Bearfire Resort and Glacier Peak not likely to happen, another group of visionaries is seeing the possibility of building a ski resort and mountain near Lake Grapevine. That would seem to be a much better location for such a thing than out in the Fort Worth Alliance area. A fake mountain and ski resort would be a nice fit with Gaylord Texan, where all of Texas is under one giant glass atrium and Great Wolf Lodge, where you can pretend you are staying a cabin in the wild north woods.

Now if only the brilliant visionaries, who saw the Trinity River Vision, could convince someone to build one of these fake mountains and ski resorts on the banks of Little Fake Forth Worth Lake, why then you'd be really having yourself something to have a vision about, that would have towns far and wide really super green with envy.

Today's History Lessons In Grapevine Texas

I had to be in Grapevine today. Grapevine may be my favorite Texas town. I can't think of anything I don't like about Grapevine. It's got a great lake in Lake Grapevine. A huge attraction in Gaylord Texan. A huge mall in Grapevine Mills. A huge waterpark in Great Wolf Lodge. And a very well done downtown with an awful lot of historical markers.

There is extreme attention to detail paid in Grapevine. Much of it having to do with the grapevine theme. Even the public library, which is excellent, is grape themed in shades of purple.

I walked around the north end of downtown Grapevine this afternoon. I came upon a statue of Benjamin Richard Wall. That is he you see in the first picture. Born in 1876, lasting til 1955, Mr. Hall was mayor of Grapevine multiple times. He was an ardent do-gooder who greatly impressed his fellow Grapeviners with his do-goodiness. When the hurricane of 1900 struck Galveston, Mr. Wall hurried south to help.

That's another statue in Grapevine. A judge sitting on a bench in front of a bank. I don't know what his story is. But he looked very thoughtful.

That is the Grapevine Liberty Bell swinging in the HOT summer breeze. City Hall is on the other side of the street. I don't know what the statue represents on top of city hall.

Today I learned the Gaylord Texan Trolley trolls through downtown Grapevine, picking up tourists to take them to the giant Convention Center Resort on the lake to watch Friday night fireworks. Sounds fun. I want to do that.