The US - Canadian Border
We traveled up the 5 north to enter Canada for about 107 miles. The border crossing was very easy and we only waited in line for about fifteen to twenty minutes. The young guy working at the booth asked Jen a couple of standard questions about what our plans were and where we were headed. The guy then checked out all of our stuff in the wagon and asked "Is that a hockey stick back there?"
"Yeah" Jen said, "We use it to prop up the hatch."
"Alright, welcome to Canada."
We made it into Canada at about eleven o'clock and stopped at the welcome center to get some maps and information on camping. We scored a very useful catalog of pretty much every campground and national park in British Columbia. It came complete with directions and even an estimate on prices, give or take a few dollars. After the visitors center we got back en route to Vancouver, which was about 70 kilometres away.
Everything in Canada is pretty much like America only slightly different. For instance, restrooms or bathrooms are called washrooms. The main difference, however, is the standard of measurement. Canada uses the scientific standard of the metric system. Growing up in the U.S. gave me basic knowledge of the metric system, as it is very easy to use and convert between itself. This understanding of how it works and how it looks on paper does little for real life use. I know how long a mile is. I can comprehend and feel out a distance that is in miles, but when a distance is in kilometres it is hard to place exactly how far away it is since i have no practice in everyday use. With all of this in mind, we got a lot of use out of multiplying and such to convert into American standard so we could get a grasp on how far things really were. Over time we did grasp the metric system. It really is a much easier method once you get the hang of it.
Driving the speed limit of 90 kph we made it to Vancouver in about an hour. Vancouver is a very pretty town as its downtown city centre was very clean and buzzing with many people walking the shopping district. There were remnants of the Winter Olympics, from just a short couple of months earlier, all around town. Since we were not in the position to shop we took to Stanley Park.
Stanley Park is a mecca of parks. It is to Vancouver what Central Park is to New York. The park is named after Lord Stanley, and yes that is the same Lord Stanley that the Stanley Cup is named after. We drove the one way loop that circled the park, which killed a good half hour. We used the drive to pick out a good spot to eat lunch and then circled again to dine. We settled on an area that had a series of local tribes' totem poles. The poles were all very ornate and each had a distinct style representative of each tribe. It was easy to get a sense of what was valued to each tribe separately from one another. There was even a real life crane looking bird on top of one of them showing off his nice long neck. Since parking in the park was expensive we stuck around for a bit and then drove around again stopping to look at the various sites on the way.
After the park we kept on our way and started heading out of town as we couldn't afford to stay in the city for the night. We decided to find a campsite somewhere along the way on our long drive to Calgary which was about 975 km away. On our way out of town, we stopped at a bank to get some Canadian money and also made a short trip to the grocery store to get food for dinner and breakfast for the next couple of days of camping. As if you didn't know already, from looking at the back of any book you may have bought in the last few decades, everything in Canada is a little bit more expensive. So we made the best we could with some food and gathered our supplies to move out.
As soon as we crossed a very distinct line in the city, Vancouver went from a nice ritzy town to Bum City. There were homeless people lined up and down the street for a couple of blocks and then they disappeared just as quickly as the came. On the highway, through the old part of town, we found a Value Village. For everyone who lives in or around Vegas, Value Village is the same store as Savers. Same color scheme and everything. They even use the same font to write the name of the store. The store we found was huge. They had so much inventory it had a small upstairs location for all of their bedding items and a small downstairs for sorting and sporting goods and the likes. They had a whole rack of hockey jerseys. We spent a good hour drifting in and out of the aisles and despite having some really good stuff, we left with only a pretty sweet Ontario t-shirt and a couple of little nick nacks like Jen's little maple leaf pin.
After cruising the very pretty surrounding scenery we decided to sleep in the ever so cool, Sasquatch Provincial Park. Even though I kept a good eye open for the beast, he eluded us and kept out of sight. After setting up our tent the park ranger came around to check us in. We chatted it up a little bit about the states and the difference in the bills and coins that the countries have. He spoke of some counterfeit issues in the country, which brought up our little story of our magic fifty that we had. He said we were justified and that made us feel better. The ranger was a good guy and was fun to talk to.
In the night it got pretty chilly, as we were on the cusp of the Canadian Rockies and the meters were starting to climb a bit in elevation. I think the news said there was a low of about ten degrees Celsius. We woke up and got the fire going and made some eggs for breakfast. We packed up our gear and traveled out of the park. On the way out of town we came across a nice little second hand/antique store called Rusty's 2nd hand store. We stopped in to have a peek. I wish we had a trailer for all the cool little things we have been finding at all of these stops, but since we are traveling, we left with just some little stuff to bring with us or as gifts. One of our favorite things to look for in these stores are old post cards, so be on lookout for one to arrive in your mailbox. If you're lucky that is.
Random Facts
Sasquatch sculptures/murals found in and around Sasquatch Provincial Park = 5
Walmart count = 10
Money spent on fire wood = $0
Number of times someone in another car said bless you after I sneezed = 1
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