Canada!

So yesterday I went to Canada with Faythe and Jen O. It was a really long day but a really great day. We left at 8am to do the Selkirk Loop. Faythe was the photographer as usual and her flickr set of our day is here. Here are my thoughts and observations:

1) First of all, Canada is great! Even though it is so close to the US, it is a totally different place, and you get that sense immediately. I got to use the little kilometer part of my car's speedometer for the first time. I like that the speed limit is 100 even though really you're only going 65. Also, the words ending in "er" down here end in "re" up there, so I had fun going to the town centre or the visitor's centre. Which I pronounced "centray" all day even though that was wrong.

2) I was amazed that in a place with such outstanding natural beauty, that there were so few cars on the road. It is really unspoiled up there, which was great, but I don't know why more people don't go, it is so awesome.

3) The ferry ride! You are just driving along and all of a sudden you are stopped at the lake and you drive your car onto a boat and take this really beautiful and relaxing half hour boat ride and then you get back in your car and drive off the boat and you are on your way again. That does not happen every day. Unless you live up there, then I guess it does.

4) I had to find a bathroom so we pulled into this campground to use the washroom at the vistors centre (I sound so Canadian!). This campground was so beautiful that it make me want to start collecting camping stuff from garage sales and become a camper again. This was the campground. Garage sales here I come.

5) Nelson, BC is the coolest town! I could so see myself spending a few days up there. It reminded me of Santa Cruz, totally laid back. I guess smoking pot is legal there, that might explain the laid back-ness. And the wide variety of potato chips at the Safeway.

5) The Safeway! We ended up eating lunch from there because there was a power outage downtown and all the restaurants were closed. This ended up being a great thing. Canada Safeway looks exactly like our Safeway until you look closer. All the labels on every item in the store are in English AND in French! You could totally learn French just from shopping. And the other thing is that they have flavors of foods that we don't have here. Like Ketchup flavored potato chips. And lots of other great flavored chips, I know they are great because we bought them all. In fact, I am eating the Vintage Cheddar & Red Onion / Cheddar Fort et Oignon Rouge flavor right now. For breakfast. Thanks, Canada!

It was a fun day spent in a fun place with fun people, and really you can't ask for more than that. Before the summer is out, I will be going back. Canada is really close but you feel so far away when you are there. And that is a wonderful thing!