Do people in Minnesota even travel to Canada? (shop, license)

[twinswinmh]

Won't bother getting a passport with the new laws, but as a kid we'd make the end point Thunder Bay on the North Shore trek..I remember it being a neat town and would love to go again if the borders weren't what they are today. Perhaps someday, but I can't imagine getting a passport for a few hours in Thunder Bay, and I don't anticipate needing one for anything else.

[knke0204]

Originally Posted by MplsTodd

I've been to Canada probably 14-15 times. All over the country--from Halifax, Annapolis Royale on the east to Vancouver/Victoria on the west, and places like Moose Jaw, Ottawa, Calgary, Sudbury, Toronto, Guelph, and Montreal. I think Canada is an awesome country--especially in the summer!

Welcome back MplsTodd.

What are some differences from one end to the other in Canada?

[uptown_urbanist]

I've never been to Canada. I'd love to get there, as there are many places there that sound like they'd be wonderful to visit, but cost of airfare has kept us away so far. Maybe this summer (if we're around in the Twin Cities) we'll carve out enough time to do the drive to Thunder Bay, and, I hope, one year we'll be able to fold Montreal and Quebec City in with a New England trip. If we end up on the east coast (our potential relocation saga has been practically never-ending this year, but that's another story...) we're definitely going to make the NYC to Montreal train trip sometime. It sounds like a pretty spectacular route.

[Minnesota Spring]

I would like to visit Winnipeg and the small towns of Manitoba someday. I wounder if their small towns are similar to the small towns down here.
I don't know too many people from the southern part of the state that make a trip up to Canada, but some do go up for long fishing trips.

[Lily0fthevalley]

I live about 1.5 hrs south of the border. People up here just go to just go, like anyone would go anywhere.

A friend and her husband drive up to Fort Frances to have dinner, just for something different to do now and then. LOTS of people from here go up to the Winnipeg Folk Festival every year. Some people drive up to get their prescription drugs in one of the border town (Hypothetically! I'm not disclosing any names or actual specific knowledge of this!!!) Lots of people do the Lake Superior circle tour (driving around the whole lake, for those who don't know.) I'd like to do that but the road to Thunder Bay makes me seriously car sick. Bunches of people go up to go hunting - even when I lived in Oklahoma I knew several men who did that.

I personally love the drive over though ND to the Peace Gardens. I've also travelled in the past through most of the Canadian provinces: New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, PEI, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, & BC. When I lived in Seattle and had out of town visitors it was tradition to take the ferry to Victoria for High Tea at the Empress. Now I'm really wanting to do the train that goes from Toronto to Vancouver. And isn't there one that goes from Winnepeg to Churchill? But I'm about to move to central Iowa, so I guess that will have to wait.

Why are you asking? Are you thinking the only travelling is done by Canadians TO the US?

[Radical_Car]

Never been to Canada myself, don't intend on going any time in the near future.

[golfgal]

Winnipeg is a cool city. It is only about 6 hours from the Twin Cities, easy drive. We have been up there a couple times. We also were in Canada for a wedding several years ago, north of Rugby, ND-geographical center of North America. We drove through the Peace Gardens, which are lovely.

We also visited Banff in the winter several years ago--unbelievable . We need to go back in the summer and golf there sometime too.

[MplsTodd]

Originally Posted by knke0204

Welcome back MplsTodd.

What are some differences from one end to the other in Canada?

I never went away! I just don't have the time to post as much as others!

Where to start...
Canada in many respects is similar to its locational counterparts in the US. For example, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick (and the rest of the Maritimes) are similar to the non-urban parts of New England--small, historic towns, oriented to the fishing industry or tourism. Vancouver and Victoria are more similar to Seattle and Portland than they are to eastern Canadian cities. Vancouver has probably the most beautiful natural setting of any city in North America with the nearby mountains, plus water all around the city.

Calgary to me is like a better planned version of Denver--very much an energy-focused boom-town with about 85% of its metro office supply located in its downtown. That's how Calgary (with a metro population of about 1 million) has a skyline that's bigger than Minneapolis or Denver. If you look at a map of Calgary, its great how the city ends and then you start into ranch country. Of course The Canadian Rockies are about an hour away (Banff, Lake Louise).

The Prairies of Alberta, Saskatcheown (sp) and Manitoba are pretty basic, but I enjoyed driving across in summer seeing all the Canola fields, the grain elevators and the trains. Moose Jaw is a cool little town that used to have lots of Chicago gangsters in the Prohibition era.

The smaller cities in Ontario remind me a lot of smaller cities in Pennsylvania--a bit tough and not prosperous, but generally having some nice older buildings. But Ottawa and Toronto are awesome cities that are extremely vibrant and active. Probably my other favorite places in Ontario would be: Guelph (beautiful stone buildings like you see in France, because of the quarry nearby); Parry Sound (a bit like Ely, located on Georgian Bay and serving as the gateway to "cottage country"); Kingston (very historic city with an old fort and beautiful old downtown).


There's an awful lot to see up north. I think having a foreign country so close that is so similar to us, and yet, also, so different, definitely provides a great perspective on our own country.

[audadvnc]

Once again - do I need a passport to cross the border to Canada nowadays?

[knke0204]

Originally Posted by audadvnc

Once again - do I need a passport to cross the border to Canada nowadays?

Yes. Unfortunately. Well, I guess it is for the safety of our country. But still a pain.