As a good will gesture, we accept to help you both, by welcoming Celine.
But, only for a short duration tour (already planned, I saw posters this morning).
Enough is enough....

The same reasoning for that, is the same reasoning why it happens in reverse too. You can't lump all of Canada in to that group, just like I can't lump all of USA in to that group.

People are people... One person doesn't reflect all of one country.

Just like when I use to work in the mid west, some parts of Indiana would not tip (I never worked in service industry, but boss at the time tried to explain it). They expected no tips in return where ever they went. Don't know if it was a 'town' thing or not.

Remember, Canada has 6 time time zones and 80%+ of our populate exisits along the US/Can boarder (probably closer to 70-75% now, but a stat is a stat). And we only have about 32 million people give or take.

I can go on and on, but if you where you are in the USA and someone from another state won't tip you, do you still get upset?

British Columbia is supposed to heavily forested. It is said to have millions of hectares of forest land; but it sure doesn't give the appearance of being heavily forested when you look at it on the map. The provincial parks, such as Garibaldi, are all marked in green; those places really STAND OUT and they are easy enough to spot on the map, but I'm wondering what it's like in those areas of B.C. that aren't designated as provincial parks or as cities. It seems to be a fairly desolate and sparsely populated region. I can hardly see any roads, but I don't see any forests there, or maybe I just need to bone up on my map reading skills.

We drove all over BC and the Yukon this time last year, on our way to and from Alaska. We found the people to be super friendly, the country beautiful (jillions and jillions of trees, unfortunately acre apon acre is being killed by the bark beetle. Good news is that they are logging off the dead trees and replanting), lots of critters to see (at least in BC, all we saw in the Yukon was one lousy squirrel). Lots of history to see (Barkerville in BC is not to be missed, and of course Dawson City in the Yukon). One big thing that we learned is that BC stands for Bring Cash. Everything is expensive there! Last year a gallon of regular gas was over $5.00!!! And booze, for those who like it, was just as bad. A 1.75 liter jug of no-name vodka, that I could get in CA for $9.00, was a whopping $49 in BC. So go on the wagon, but go, it is a great place.

ps: I would love to keep Terri Clark...

All of Canada is expensive, its all about taxes. If you think BC is expensive, go East. I think gas is around $1.20 a litre (might be more now - dad heard it being 1.50 at one stage - YIKES) cdn. Smokes, booze, etc... all the fun stuff is heavly taxed!!!

Not to mention the wages are crap, so if you make say 100k (an example) a year, your total tax that the gov't takes (depending on province) but will be in the 48.2% (last time i lived in Canada).

Just a few years ago, the highest tax bracket in Canada was when your salary was 60k plus... Since then, they changed the rules to be 100k plus. May sound like a lot, but your actually better off making less money then being in the high tax bracket.

Then add on all the taxes one has to pay, in the east, its HST (provincal sales tax plus GST), and when I lived there it was tax on tax that came out to be like 15.2-15.8% (8% pst, total bill, then charge 7% gst that sum).

Canada is all about the taxes.

Its why i now live in a tax free island far away from any snow and cold!!!

Originally posted by 'NightHiker" :

"I use to live between Seattle & BC and have made frequent trips there."

Would you say that it's a big hassle when you cross the border into British Columbia and vice versa ?

LW.

Do they accept US dollars over there ?

LW.

Would you say that it was a big hassle when you crossed over the border into B.C. and vice versa ?

LW.

BCH;

Yes they accept US currency there (and gladly) just expect your change to be in Canadian.

Getting in and out of Canada is fairly simple, just have your US passport handy along with a drivers license and similar identification for all of your party. By no means take any firearms into Canada; they really frown on that sort of thing. Canadian Customs folks are usually super nice, very efficient, and helpful to those who are open and honest about their business in Canada.

We traveled by ferry from Washington to Victoria BC last year and it was a great experience. As was our travel from Haines Alaska to White Horse and back to Skagway. Extremely nice folks all around, and some terrific eating as well.

BC and the Yukon are beautiful as are the Rockies in Alberta.

I use to cross the detroit/windsor tunnel daily for a few years.

Boy do I have some stories!!!!