Near….Far….
My recent trip to Regina in the middle of winter was an eye opening experience. Let me rephrase…it was an eye-freezing, lids can’t shut, tears falling as soon as you’re in the car experience. While I am quite aware that Sask/Manitoba winters are legend, my wimpy BC butt was sure that the threat of minus thirty weather was grossly exaggerated. I shook off their warnings, letting them know that I had lived in the country in Ontario for half of a decade. I had traveled to Edmonton the winter before during a snow storm and drove around the city in a car with limited heating. I had gone on Girl Guide trips up the mountains and had been snow camping several times. I was hardcore and I knew cold.
I stand corrected.
This past summer, when I traveled out to Regina & Saskatoon, I was impressed at how very green both cities were. I was glad that it wasn’t my first trip or I would have been convinced that Regina isn’t so different from Victoria or Calgary (if you can ignore those pesky mountains and that little ocean). Their unseasonably green and mild summer made for a very pleasant trip and I stayed out late all week walking around the city. Last year (2007), the summer was hot, dry and dusty and I received more than my fair share of head shakes from the locals when I decided to power walk about the city at high noon. Jump back another summer, and I found myself in Calgary. Again, this western-weenie took flack for my vegetarian diet and desire to recycle everything in sight. I had to head out a week prior to Stampede. I still regret it.
While I could never call myself a local in any other city than Vancouver, I won’t embarrass myself on the streets of any major Canadian city having been fortunate enough to visit most of them (Maritimes 2010???) and having gotten the chance to get my foreigner faux-pas out of the way. But, I am very aware that each province has it’s own quirks and anytime I have been too “big-city” to set aside my pride and ask for tips before coming to town, I have found myself overdressed or hanging out in my hotel room waiting to fly out again.
