Screech-owl
Links on Winnipeg and Manitoba -
screech-owl, you have a big decision to make: if you have only 1 week to spend in Canada, you’ll have to choose a relatively small region to explore, and even then, you will only scratch the surface.
You might consider choosing between the following regions: The Rock (Newfoundland and Labrador); The Maritimes (Nova Scotia/New Brunswick/Prince Edward Island); Quebec; Ontario; The Prairies (Manitoba/Saskatchewan/Alberta); The West (Alberta/British Columbia); and The North Yukon/NWT/Nunavut). Each of these areas has its own special charm and culture (some have many diverse cultures). All offer some kind of outdoor experience (don’t write off the Prairies: Grasslands National Park may not have the Rocky Mountains, but there is diverse life, including birds!)
Some offer more urban experience: I think most Canadians will admit that Montreal is Canada’s most sophisticated, vibrant, almost European city, while Quebec (the city) retains some of the elegant air of Nouvelle-France. Vancouver is a truly Pacific Rim city, set between mountains and sea, looking to the Orient.
Newfoundland offers magnificent National Parks like Gros Morne; and records the first tentative steps of Europeans in North America at L’Anse aux Meadows. The people of Newfoundland are colourful, and have retained a sense of identity and humour through tough economic times.
Remember that visiting any one of these regions will only give you a glimpse of the country as a whole; you might consider taking several short trips over a couple of years, and see different parts of Canada: we’re a much more regional nation than the USA, both in terms of physical geography and mental attitude! Very few Canadians ever get to the North, to see the spectacular Virginia Falls in Nahanni National Park (twice as high as Niagara Falls!), or the artic vastness of Auyuittuq National Park, or even trace the route of the Klondike Gold Rush in Dawson City, or hike the challenging Chilkoot Trail.
My humble suggestion is to start with a great sampler: Alberta/British Columbia. Fly into Calgary, maybe in time for the Stampede: a truly Western experience! Rent a car, and drive south from the prairie through the rolling foothills of the Rocky Mountains. Don’t miss Head-Smashed-in Buffalo Jump, near Fort MacLeod. This is the oldest and largest buffalo jump in North America, used for over 9000 years by the people of the First Nations (most recently the Blackfeet). Because the ancient landscape has remained virtually unchanged since the last ice age, great care was taken when planning an interpretive centre not to intrude on the viewscape: the centre was built inside the hill itself, leaving the exterior cliff in its original state. The local band run the modern interpretive centre inside. Head-Smashed-In is one of those places that make the hair on the back of your neck stand up.
The power of nature is impressively illustrated at theFrank Slide Interpretive Centre, telling the story of the 1903 landslide that buried a small town in the Crownest Pass.
There are four National Parks in the Canadian Rockies: Banff and Jasper are the best-known, but you’ll drive through Kootenay and Yoho once you leave Alberta and enter British Columbia. Banff town has become a funky (and expensive) tourism site, with signs in German and Japanese as common as those in English. Jasper National Park, about 3 hours north of Banff along the breathtaking Columbia Icefields Parkway, has retained its smalltown charm, and is much less commercial. It still has the flavour I remember from the mid-60s when we camped there.
Through British Columbia, you can choose to drive through the fruit and wine producing Okanagan Valley, or take the route through cattle country of the Cariboo, including a real 1862 Gold Rush town, Barkerville.
If you like whitewater, travel down to the coast via the Fraser Canyon and Hell’s Gate. In the lush green Fraser Valley delta, make sure you stop at an authentic Hudson’s Bay Company fur trade post: Fort Langley National Historic Site.
In Vancouver, explore the rich culture of the west coast First Nations at the UBC Museum of Anthropology, or enjoy a walk through Vancouver’s jewel, Stanley Park. Step aboard the first ship to circumnavigate North America, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police ship St Roch. Take a Royal steam train along spectacular sea cliffs to Squamish, then drive or bike up to Whistler mountain: even if it’s not skiing season, the mountain biking is terrific!
On to Vancouver Island (where you could spend your whole week!). Victoria, the capital city, has several must-see attractions: The Royal BC Museum, Butcharts Gardens, whale watching, and of course, Fort Rodd Hill & Fisgard Lighthouse NHS!
Don’t miss some of the only old-growth Pacific coast rain forest left, at Pacific Rim National Park. If you want one of the most challenging and rewarding hiking experiences in Norht America, book early for the West Coast Trail, a 7-to-10 day path along the Pacific shore, in the shadow of the great rain forest.
I’ll cut this too-long post short, but screech-owl, wherever you decide to go in Canada, do your reasearch first, and check out what Parks Canada has to offer in the way of National Parks or Historic Sites in the area. We’re the “keepers of the flame” as far as Canada’s natural and cultural identity goes, and in every region of Canada, you’ll find something worth visiting:
National Historic Sites across Canada
Bon Voyage!
Yes Gull Lake… I’ve been camping there a few times with Dad and his ex-friends… it was lots of fun there as well as being pretty
My husband and I just got back to the US after spending three years in Newfoundland for his grad school. We absolutely loved it! The coast is just drop-dead-gorgeous and the people are not like anywhere else.
If you go to St. John’s stop by Bruno’s Italian restaurant on Water Street for some of the best food in the world. Go upstairs and look at the mural–my husband and I painted it!