Canada, eh!

Posted on 10/07/2017

This is the year to get out and travel Canada in celebration of our Sesquicentennial. Here are some interesting facts about our great country that might aid in planning your trip.

Canada is the second largest country in the world and we have the longest coastline at 243,977 km. The largest non-polar icecap in the world is found in the St. Elias Mountain Range in the Yukon Territory. Canada has six times zones making it difficult to communicate between Gander and Vancouver. The Trans-Canada highway is the longest in the world at 7,604 km. Wasaga Beach is the longest beach in the world. Canada and the United States have the longest unprotected border in the world. Manitoulin Island is the largest freshwater island in the world.

Unique Canadian foods are peameal bacon, poutine, maple syrup and Timmies. Canadians consume 23.4 pounds of cheddar cheese per person a year. (I know a few people who do not eat dairy, so I happily consume more than the average on their behalf!) Not surprisingly, there are more doughnut shops per capita than in any other country. Our American cousins drool over our butter tarts that are not available in their homeland.

There are many communities with unusual names in Canada: Sober Island Nova Scotia which has its own brewing company, Vulcan Alberta where the residents wear pointy ears for special occasions, a town in Quebec with exclamation points – Saint-Louis-du-Ha!-Ha! The longest place name goes to Pekwachnamaykoskwaskwaypinwanik Lake, Manitoba. You can travel to Eyebrow or Elbow, Saskatchewan or Finger, Manitoba. Or if it is your heart’s desire to go to Newfoundland, there are the communities of Heart’s Desire, Heart’s Delight and Heart’s Content.

If you are looking for something different you could travel to Narcisse, Manitoba for the snake orgy, to the Enchanted Forest in Revelstoke, BC, to the UFO landing pad in St Paul, Alberta or to the Viking settlement in L’Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland.

In the Yukon or the Northwest Territories, you have a good chance of seeing the Northern Lights or almost 24 hours of daylight during the early summer. You might want to avoid Snag, Yukon as it experienced the coldest temperature recorded in Canada of – 63 C.

Canada has contributed many inventions to the world including the zipper, five pin bowling, snowmobile, Bloody Caesar, Pablum, peanut butter, the telephone, cardiac pacemaker and Trivial Pursuit.

We have much to be thankful for in this amazing country that we call home. Whether your travels will take you to the far reaches of Canada or a few kilometers from home, have a safe and happy trip.

Photo credit: abdallahh via Visualhunt