Also Brian, Southern Ontario is not exactly the most spectacular part of Canada. If you lived in Alberta or BC, you'd probably like it a lot more.
Southern Ontario is a lot more like the Midwestern Us in terms of climate and terrain than it is like the rest of Canada. Nothing wrong with that, but the Midwest isn't for everyone.
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Arkansota Wrote:Also Brian, Southern Ontario is not exactly the most spectacular part of Canada. If you lived in Alberta or BC, you'd probably like it a lot more.
Southern Ontario is a lot more like the Midwestern Us in terms of climate and terrain than it is like the rest of Canada. Nothing wrong with that, but the Midwest isn't for everyone.
Ideally I'd live in Vancouver but that won't be in the cards for many years. The winters here are very very harsh and I have a hard time with em. Summer is brutally hot and even worse then winter.
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Canada is great. Most of the people are educated, friendly and polite. I've been to Toronto, Montreal, Winnipeg, Calgary, Regina, Kenora, Thunder Bay, London, Ottawa, St Catherines and many other places and never had a bad experience. Been as far north as Prince Albert, SK. Still have to get to Thompson, Edmonton, Vancouver, PEI and the Maritimes someday.
Driven across the Trans-Canada, The QEW, Yellowhead Route. When you're in Anoka, drive up 35W / I-35 to Duluth and take the North Shore drive to Thunder Bay for the weekend. You'll be glad you did.
The further you get from the border the thicker the Canadian accents become. It seems like Canadians are always happy when an American comes to visit their country. I was in The Bay at Polo Park, Winnipeg and the lady at the cosmetic counter made a fuss about "the handsome gentlemen from the States who came to visit". (My companion was with me) and soon we were surrounded by clerks recommending things to see and do in Winnipeg. They even gave us a shopping bag full of men's cologne samples.
I've been "Canadianized" because for decades I've been going there. I hated to see Eaton's disappear, Meteor, Monarch, Parisienne & Laurentian cars stopped being manufactured, Loblaws close up shop everywhere but Quebec, Zeller's overtaken by American stores. Is Montana's still open? How about Grapes?
I always have to bring home boxes of MacIntosh toffee when there. Go to Salisbury House restaurant when in Winnipeg. It's nothing special but try everything that's local. If you need something stop at Canadian Tire (they sell much more than tires there), Hudson's Bay, Future Shop, Shopper's Drug Mart, Supercentre (you won't believe how big these places are!). Shop locally, forget Wal*Mart, Target and Best Buy when in Canada.
One thing I've noticed are Canadians are more "reserved" than Americans. Americans are loud, opinionated, pushy and rude while Canadians aren't. Of course there's the exception but I'm generalizing. You can see Canadians have a higher standard of living than Americans because you don't see the extreme wealth vs extreme poverty there as here. Drive through Chicago and you'll see miles of slums, then drive through some northern suburbs and you'll see million dollar mansions everywhere. Drive through Toronto and you don't see the huge differences.
Looks like I rambled on a bit here.
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BrianNorth Wrote:Ideally I'd live in Vancouver but that won't be in the cards for many years. The winters here are very very harsh and I have a hard time with em. Summer is brutally hot and even worse then winter.
In the US, our summers are much warmer. Even Minneapolis-St. Paul, the coldest major metro, has an average summer high of 83F. However, our average January high is 23F. Not too bad, but a bit on the chilly side.
Where I currently live has an average high of like 94F in July. And it's humid. Arkansas is oppressively hot. On the flip side, our winter high is 48F, which is well above freezing and feels comfortable for the most part.
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Arkansota Wrote:In the US, our summers are much warmer. Even Minneapolis-St. Paul, the coldest major metro, has an average summer high of 83. However, our average January high is 23. Not too bad, but a bit on the chilly side.
Ours varies a lot more then that. We have some summers in the 90s (30-32C) and some winters in the -22F range. It's really hard to acclimate to such a wide sweep. I do plan to move to some place with a bit milder spectrum of weather.
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BrianNorth Wrote:Ours varies a lot more then that. We have some summers in the 90s (30-32C) and some winters in the -22F range. It's really hard to acclimate to such a wide sweep. I do plan to move to some place with a bit milder spectrum of weather.
Oh, Minnesota's winters are highly variable. Arkansas too, but to a much smaller extent. Minnesota has absolutely no protection from arctic air masses and they come in frequently. On the flip side, we get gulf air in the summer.
I think you'd do well in Vancouver because while it's not super warm, it does have a very stable climate, unlike us central people who have to endure wild, bipolar extremes.
If you ever move to the US, you'd want to stay out of anything in the central part of the country because almost every place in the central US has summer highs in the 80's. The same is true for anything in the Southern half of the country and many places in the Northeast and Northwest.
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Yeah Canada is humid because of the great lakes (west of the great lakes it's really dry and more comfortable. Our winter is so cold compare to the Europe (for the same latitude) because of the Canadian shield. The way the land is shape the winds from the Arctic goes straight down and they are not block by any mountains and such.
Those two elements shape the distinctive climate of Canada.
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MountLogan Wrote:Yeah Canada is humid because of the great lakes (west of the great lakes it's really dry and more comfortable. Our winter is so cold compare to the Europe (for the same latitude) because of the Canadian shield. The way the land is shape the winds from the Arctic goes straight down and they are not block by any mountains and such.
Those two elements shape the distinctive climate of Canada.
It's interesting to note that Southern Minnesota and Northern Minnesota are completely different because Northern Minnesota is on the Canadian Shield, meaning that conifers grow much better than the deciduous trees that dominate the rest of Minnesota. So it's basically boreal forest without the extremely harsh winters.
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Arkansota Wrote:It's interesting to note that Southern Minnesota and Northern Minnesota are completely different because Northern Minnesota is on the Canadian Shield, meaning that conifers grow much better than the deciduous trees that dominate the rest of Minnesota. So it's basically boreal forest without the extremely harsh winters.
I didn't know part of Minnesota was on the Canadian shield but it kind of make sense since it's a topographic region. I do know some of the Canadian rockies are actually in United states because the mountains have been form the canadian way and not the american way.
I've been to Minnesota only 45 minutes and I've seen more American flag in those 45 minutes I seen Canadian flag my whole life. I was so amaze.
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MountLogan Wrote:I didn't know part of Minnesota was on the Canadian shield but it kind of make sense since it's a topographic region. I do know some of the Canadian rockies are actually in United states because the mountains have been form the canadian way and not the american way.
I've been to Minnesota only 45 minutes and I've seen more American flag in those 45 minutes I seen Canadian flag my whole life. I was so amaze.
That's interesting. Minnesota tends to be very liberal and liberals in the US tend to be less likely to display American flags.
And by the way, you're always welcome in Minnesota. We love getting tourists and we're happy to share our beautiful state with you 
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