New Brunswick
Sunrise. The tide rolls out, exposing the deep bottom of the bay. Sandals in hand, feet squishing on the wet beach, you circle the monumental pillars of stone carved by the sea and topped with grass. Sunset. The tide rolls in, swirling and churning against the high cliffs, covering the stone pillars until they are nothing but tiny green islands.
Category: Provinces & Territories
Nova Scotia
You weren’t exactly sure what to expect. An image of people chatting around a kitchen table, eating chips and dip, was your first thought. When you arrive at the “kitchen party” you see half the guests are holding musical instruments. And they’re not all crammed into the kitchen. They’re on the sofas, the rugs and the windowsills – filling up any available space where they can sit, lean or stand.
Prince Edward Island
You drag your feet slowly across the pink sand and listen. You do it again, a little faster, and listen. Not sure if it’s a squeak or a whine. It’s quite distinctive, though. There is definitely something about this sand.
A loud thud interrupts your pondering. A seagull snatches a mussel in its beak, sails high above the shore and drops it onto the rocks, then dives down to repeat the technique. Just a few more tries and lunch is served. That’s a fair bit of work for a meal, you think to yourself, glad to have seen the corner-store looking seafood shop a little ways back.
Newfoundland & Labrador
Gargantuan icebergs glint in the summer sun out on the rippling bay. As you snap some photos, a man loading up a dinghy asks if you want to take a closer look at the icy giants. It’s no trouble, he insists, he’s on his way out anyway. The air feels noticeably cooler as you approach the oceanliner-sized floating glacier.
Your new friend scoops up a floating chunk of ice in a fishnet. He opens his cooler, breaks off a piece of the “bergie bit” and offers you a drink chilled with a two-thousand-year-old ice cube.
Yukon
Breathe in crisp Yukon air. Smell spruce sap and the earthy tundra. Listen for the excited howls of husky sled dogs. Wander the landscape under the midnight sun and aurora borealis. Walk in the footsteps of Northern pioneers, talk to the locals and uncover the Yukon spirit.
Wild rivers, outdoor adventures like no other, caribou migrations, captivating First Nations culture and pioneer character will mesmerize you. You can hike the mountains in Kluane National Park and Reserve, photograph Tombstone Territorial Park, watch the swans on McClintock Bay and fish for arctic grayling. From Whitehorse, Dawson City, and Kluane you can flightsee, cross-country ski, kayak or snowmobile for a few hours.
Northwest Territories
It’s well after midnight and you’re finishing up another cup of coffee. The sun is still glowing bright and warm over the course and you are still going strong. Your last shot made it miraculously onto the green, leaving you in good position to birdie once again. Your companions can only shake their heads at your fine streak of play.
You’re getting ready for your next great putt when a cheeky raven swoops down and scoops your ball away in its thick beak. Not the kind of birdie you were hoping for. Luckily, they have rules in these parts for “theft of ball by raven”. As for muskoxen wandering onto the fairway, well, it’s generally best to just hit around them.
Nunavut
You are struck by the unexpected presence of a stony figure on the open tundra. Rocks piled into the rudimentary form of a person, standing arms outstretched. Who built it? And why? Why here, where the land seems no more remarkable than the vast tracts of wilderness you’ve already crossed? Caribou bones and arrowheads scattered around its feet hint at a larger significance. You marvel at the perfect balance of well-chosen stones, laid with care for ultimate durability. Looks like the builders left a small gap though. You peer through an opening in the torso – and find centred in your sights, another stony figure in the distance. The Arctic has many secrets, you just have to take the time to look.
British Columbia
Thousand-year-old cedars wear coats of thick moss in Carmanah Valley. You pretend you’re a human ant as you step around the ancient tree roots rising out of the ground like small buildings. Down the coast, you dig clams out of the sandy beach at low tide, then hang around a few hours to watch the waves come crashing onto the rocks.
Alberta
From the dizzying height of your Rocky Mountain peak you descend. Past the jagged cliffs where mountain goats huddle, through the forest where grizzly bears mark their territory on evergreen trunks, past the migrating herd of caribou in the valley and across a crystal clear lake. You take extra care walking across the ice fields between Jasper and Banff, the crackle of ice beneath your boots both thrilling and unnerving.
Saskatchewan
A boundless blue sky stretches over golden fields of wheat rippling in the warm, dry wind. The horizon interrupted only by a lone grain elevator. A dusty pick-up chugs down a gravel road, its weathered driver intently observing this year’s field of crops. Meanwhile, you luxuriate on the buoyant surface of a hot mineral spring, its curative powers made famous by Native legend. All the muscles you stiffened playing 18 holes of your best golf, release their tension into the healing waters. Soon enough, you’ll be as good as new, ready for another day of downtown patio hopping in Saskatoon or testing your relationship with lady luck at the grand casino in Regina.