Well Lisa and I left Alaska around the 24th of May. We had a great trip through Canada, it was a lot of fun, unfortunately the Alcan (Alaska-Canadian) Highway was a little harder on my computer than I was expecting. The laptop died, so now here I am almost two months past with a new iBook. I've got a lot of catching up.
The trip through Canada was a blast, and it was made even better by the fact that Lisa and I shared the experience. It was our first real road trip together (not counting a few trips from Colorado to Ohio) and it was someplace neither one of us had been. Anyone who knows me knows how rare an event that is for me.
Canada is a friendly country. I couldn't stop for gas or food without getting into a conversation. Anyone who knows me knows that this is also a rare event. For some reason I found this refreshing, I'm usually a little uncomfortable making small talk with people. I may be blowing this out of proportion but the Canadians I talked to had a genuine warmth and openness I don't see very often here in the U.S. The country itself was pretty and clean. They still have the thing where you can turn in your bottles and get change back. I remember doing that as a kid but it seems like no one here will give you the deposit, think of it more as a tax. We stopped at more than a few gas stations where the attendant fished our bottles out of the garbage, it must be a large refund.
Canada reminded my a great deal of traveling through the U.S. via the old state route system. There weren't any interstates to speak of just a lot of two and sometimes four lane roads that went right through the little plains towns. The population was sparse so traffic was hardly ever aggravating. It was what I imagine it must have been like driving across route 40 or 66 back in the fifties. Or driving today with my Dad anywhere.
One final observation - tater tots are called potato fritters and huevos rancheros have a crispy flat bread tortilla (at least in the restaurant where we ate). This caused me no end of mental anguish.
