So, we’re in Canada, eh.   Is it weird that we were sweating this?  First time up here for both of us, and although we’ve both been to Mexico a bunch of times, being this far north hasn’t been in the cards.   I triple checked what we were supposed to need to cross the border, and made sure we had all of our papers in order.  Passports, medical histories for the four legged, inventory lists of above normal photography equipment, printout of our destination reservation and no alcohol, tobacco, firearms or fruits and vegetables.  We even freaked when we couldn’t find the rabies cert for the doggie and called three vets till we tracked down the one who did the last one and had them email us a copy to print out and show when asked…  (they were very accommodating)

So, here was the dialog upon entry:

Border agent: Where you headed and why?
Me: Cultus Lake on vacation
Border agent:  How long?
Me: Maybe 10 days to 2 weeks
Border agent: Any guns or ammo?
Me: Nope.
Border agent: Okay, welcome to Canada!
Me: Ummmmmmm… do you need to see the rabies certificate for the dog?
Border agent:  Naaaa, have a good trip.

It was kind-of-a disappointment, I’m not gonna lie.

Initial impressions: (Note: ridiculously and typically gauche American generalizations to follow)  Are the roads smaller? They seem smaller.  Why isn’t there any place we can pull over the RV and look around a bit?  It kinda looks exactly like most parts of the US. (It’s not like I was expecting castles or Spanish villas, but still)  Mini malls everywhere and pretty much most of the same corporate eateries and such.  Taco Bell, KFC, McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Carl’s Jr., Pizza Hut, Walmart, Home Depot etc…   But also, an insane number of Tim Horton’s.  You know how, as you’re driving through typical American cities, and there are just Subway’s everywhere?   Now, double that and you might get close to the Tim Horton’s experience.  Even the little small towns have 3 or 4 sprinkled around.   And how did we spend almost two weeks here and not manage to hit one up?  It’s my biggest disappointment.

We did hit a McDonald’s, just for a soda, and they do not have the any drink for a buck special that we have.  On the other hand, a Canadian buck is about a $0.70 American, so we had that going for us.  (Buy something for $10 Canadian, and it’s about $7 US.   So, our $18 park fee was $13ish and our $30 dinner was $22ish.)

The campground and lake area were spectacular, but we may have been about a half a month too late in the year.  It seemed like we just missed the really good weather, and had mostly closed out heavy overcast and rainy skies.  Not a lot of great photo opportunities, and also some mailing and medication woes that really caused some bother and cut into our enjoyment and time factor.  (More on that next time)

Overall, plenty of highs and some lows.  We’d both like to come back and spend more time here a little earlier in the year maybe, and when the timing of some of the outside world demands are more settled.

We will be back, America’s hat… we will be back.