Canada: The Next Frontier

Good morning, my fellow Americans. I am pleased to report that our merry band of travelers has been reunited in the bustling Toronto suburb of Mississauga, where the highways are well-paved, the kids apparently do drugs called "zig zags" (or something called zig zags, we're not really sure), and the Tim Horton's are EVERYWHERE. Also, what they say about Canada being about 20 years behind America in appearance is eerily true. I feel live I'm observing the early 1990's, where the shopping malls are oddly retro and the soda machines only take coins. On the other hand, city sanitation actually picks up compost from individual households in addition to the recycling, so 10 points for Canada.

The drive up from Virginia yesterday was a pretty pleasant affair, as we cruised past rolling forests, rolling refineries, and to my surprise only 3 Walmarts. I'll be keeping a count throughout the trip, but thus far the Walmart tally is only slightly ahead of the tally for Indian River Casino's (2).

We realized early on in the drive that we were starting our search for America--appropriately, perhaps--on Memorial Day. For me at least, in the past the holiday weekend has meant little more than an extra day's rest, some barbecuing, motorcycles, and overpepped advertisers proclaiming sales and bargains beyond your wildest dreams. In short, the typical American holiday as it plays out on TV. The underlying significance of the day though--honoring those who have served and are serving in our armed forces--is generally lost on me. This may be symptomatic of my removal, and the removal of a large portion of the population, from the immediacy of war and connection to it through friends and relatives. Driving past cemeteries yesterday, though, I was struck by the site of people, mostly older men, walking to the gravesites of fallen comrades and laying wreaths. There are still people who commemorate the day according to the original intent, but we seem to have lost the meaning among younger generations.

At any rate, Ricardo and I still tried to show our American pride, even as we drove into Canada from our first stop at Niagara Falls (which are as jaw-dropping as they are hyped to be). Crossing the Rainbow Bridge on our approach to our neighbors to the North, proudly, ostentatiously, and thankfully with the windows closed, we blasted Igor Stravinsky's orchestration of the Star-Spangled Banner to protect ourselves from the noxious fumes of socialism and syrup. Today we will pick up once again the mantle of our mission as we make our way to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Our destination: Sault Ste. Marie, the first European settlement in the Midwest (1662). But first, we have a constitutionally-obligated stop at Tim Horton's to complete.

Quote of the Day:
Andrew - "We're getting pretty near Canada. The air's starting to smell like..."
Ricardo - "Despair."
Andrew - "...Maple syrup. Yes, precisely."