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The main road through the small town of Hyder, Alaska just a few hundred feet from the US/Canada customs visible looking east. A sign refers it as the "Friendliest Ghost Town in Alaska" as the town has a current population of 87 w/ no police, no sheriff., & the highest per capita number of XM radio listeners in the world. The town was started in 1907 as Portland City & had a mining boom particularly of gold & silver, one of the main mines called the Granduc Mine further north up in Canada closed in 1984. It remains one of the only few accessible town in southwest Alaska by vehicle by way of Stewart, British Columbia. Here you will often find drivers from license plates from other US states stretching from the West Coast all the way to Maine & Florida, more than the number of BC plates I saw - this of course is an easy access point into Alaska w/ some grandiose glaciers nearby. When driving into Alaska you do not need to stop at customs, it's only when you return back to Stewart, BC that your passport is required for reentry into Canada.
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The capital of Canada is Ottawa, in the province of Ontario. There are offically ten provinces and three territories in Canada, which is the second largest country in the world in terms of land area.While politically and legally an independant nation, the titular head of state for Canada is still Queen Elizabeth.On the east end of Canada, you have Montreal as the bastion of activity. Montreal is famous for two things, VICE magazine and the Montreal Jazz Festival. One is the bible of hipster life (disposable, of course) and the other is a world-famous event that draws more than two million people every summer. Quebec is a French speaking province that has almost seceded from Canada on several occasions, by the way..When you think of Canada, you think of . . . snow, right?But not on the West Coast. In Vancouver, it rains. And you'll find more of the population speaking Mandarin than French (but also Punjabi, Tagalog, Korean, Farsi, German, and much more).Like the other big cities in Canada, Vancouver is vividly multicultural and Vancouverites are very, very serious about their coffee.Your standard Vancouverite can be found attired head-to-toe in Lululemon gear, mainlining Cafe Artigiano Americanos (spot the irony for ten points).But here's a Vancouver secret only the coolest kids know: the best sandwiches in the city aren't found downtown. Actually, they're hidden in Edgemont Village at the foot of Grouse Mountain on the North Shore."It's actually worth coming to Canada for these sandwiches alone." -- Michelle Superle, VancouverText by Steve Smith.
