Mountains / West
Air, cleansed by regular Pacific rain and billions of leafy filters, rushes into your lungs, stimulating each nerve from the inside. You’ll need every one of them at attention before you charge headlong down Whistler’s powdery slopes or start the grueling climb up the rocky face of the Chief. Never backed down from a challenge before, shouldn’t start now.
The Prairies
When the wind whips up over the open plains, oceans of tall grasses ripple in waves, their feathery tops tickling your thighs. A colourful patchwork of crops stretches out beyond the horizon under a never-ending sky, suggesting boundless possibility. You can’t wait for the sunset to sweep across this idyllic expanse. Somehow you know, the prairie sky is sure to put on quite a show.
Northern Canada
Here, the sun is either your constant companion or long lost friend. The bite of cold has long since disappeared as you track across the snowy plain. The howl of a lonely coyote floats across the open tundra on a mellow gust of wind, adding melody to the rhythm of your breathing, to the ambient noise of sled scraping along hard-packed snow.
Canada’s East Coast
The tide surges in, resolved to fight its way back into the bay. You run up the steep staircase, hoping to beat the rising sea to the top of the cliff. A yelp as a squirt of water splashes your side. The sea waits for no one. Folks here know its rhythms, live by them. Its sway tells fishermen when to cast their nets, when to retreat. It keeps tempo for the old-timer playing the fiddle and the young dancer stepping to an old Gaelic jig.
Central Canada
Storefronts clamour for your attention in a multitude of languages. Tides of people going about their day sweep you along the busy streets. From the home-style sausages smoking on sidewalk grills to the white napkin power lunches of Bay Street, Toronto buzzes with perpetual activity and ambition.
In the national capital of Ottawa, red-coated guards march past lofty parliament buildings with choreographed precision. Grand boulevards designed to receive eminent dignitaries, like you for instance, lead the way to the nation’s treasures.