Someone posted a thread on the US board about giving advise to tourists who will be vacationing in the area you live in. I can really relate to what this Canadian wrote because I also live in "fly-over" country in the mid-west in the US......

Author: diddl_maus
Date: 04/30/2005, 11:28 am
I check the Canada board regularly but I get the impression that people think there is nothing between Toronto and Jasper/Banff. Nobody wants to know anything about where I come from. But I still check.

Come on people! There are lots of great places in the central provinces and states. Please don't overlook us.

I think they never heard of Kakabeka Falls. Or the Lake of the Woods.
Or Winnipeg. Or ...

Good one Bob Brown !!

The secret is that there are lots of interesting places with beautiful scenery, good restaurants, and fine accommodation - but MANY FEWER TOURISTS - who usually go after the well known, over-advertised locations.

Jorr - are you the guy from Fargo who does "Freaky Friday Rants and Raves" on the US board?

By the way - our main holiday last year was to Manitoba - even did a trip report on it here - and it was one of the best holidays that we had. But most of my friends said - "Going to Manitoba? Why? Do you have family there??"
Sad, really.

I think it's similar to tourists who go to Greece and flock to Athens/Santorini/Mykonos as if there's nowhere else.

Are you in Fargo, Jorr? I love the Dakotas.

You know it's a funny thing. When I tell people I'm going to Hawaii or California the inevitable response is 'Oh, nice'. When I tell them I'm going to Toronto they say 'Oh, business?', when I say I'm going to Winnipeg they say 'Family?' and when I say I'm going to Newfoundland, (where my sister lives), they say 'Why?'.

Canada is a diverse and huge country.

It's unfortunate that most Canadians do not explore the beauty of the land
and it's inhabitants.

Most tourists start with visiting the cities. In the end, it turns out to be the people and the environment that make the most dearing impression.

If this is the case, then Provinces like Manitoba, PEI, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland would certainly be on the top of the list.

I am from Brandon Manitoba but live in Toronto. The prairie provinces for me are a special place.

The distances are vast. Winnipeg at the eastern end of the prairies to Calgary at the western end is 800 miles. Each province has two major cities where the majority of Manitobans, Saskatchewanites and Albertans live in. As farms got larger, towns have died out and the young moved elsewhere.

The Northern parts are pure wilderness. The southern parts range from flat to rolling and the skies are wide open. In late summer and the fall, the wheat and canola fields wave to and fro.

There is much history to be experienced. The praries were once an inland sea - their fossils remain. The land was shaped by the ice age. Buffalo roamed the land in the millions sustaining the native peoples and grizzly bears alike.

How the the land was settled by Europeans, the names of towns, the way cities were developed and the immigrants who came Britain, Ontario, Quebec and from eastern Europe and workers from China to the development of the CPR and the history in far off lands.

When I visit a small town, I always stop to see the memorial to the Great War and look for a namesake on the long list of names.

The winter past times are hockey and curling and there will always be a rink nearby.

The scenery along Highway 2 in Southern Saskatchewan or driving up the Turner Valley in Alberta is worth the effort of driving to these "out of the way places".

The way to experience Canada is to become interactive - get out there, be friendly and inquisitive - take in new adventures such as canoeing, fishing or searching for the best sunset over a lake all to your own.

Borealis, yes I do the Freaky Friday Rants and Raves. I am not from Fargo but I live in the area. People in northern Minnesota and North Dakota have a connection to central Canada. I have seen shopping centers which fly both the American flag and the Canadian flag.

HogtownJim, we have the same problem as in Manitoba. As farms got larger, towns have died out and the young moved elsewhere. ND had a negative population growth for ten years. There are beautiful areas for tourists such as the Lake of the Woods and others which are overlooked because they are in the "mid west". Another point for tourists to consider is that prices in the midwest are much cheaper than in the east or west. I would bet that a beautiful hotel in the Lake Of The Woods area is half the cost of the same hotel in the Toronto area.

The best place to stay and experience the Lake of the Woods is in Kenora Ontario which is the prime cottage area for Winnipegers. Renting a cottage for a week, sailing, canoeing or cruising is a good getaway and likely far cheaper than staying at the Four Seaons for a couple of nights.

Yes, to all.

And the beauty of the prairie itself, both Canadian and extreme Northern USA is one of those unsung perfections to me. Wide open and moving with life as far as the eye can see.

And yet people will fight over and live to maintain 700 square feet of something that is "desireable".

The longer I live the more I see that very smart and good people can still be so colored and formed by others opinions/likes/popularities that they really can not see with their eyes- what actually exists out there any longer with any true reality.

This space and these places are the treasures of the continent.

and no one ever ask about Saskatchewan-
of course most Americans dont even know where it is.
I will be in Goodwater Sask this summer-town of maybe 20 - maybe I could do a trip report about it.

< People in northern Minnesota and North Dakota have a connection to central Canada.>

Actually, Jorr, central Canada is Ontario and Quebec; Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta are West; and British Columbia, despite being as west as you can get is ... well, it's BC. To confuse things more, in the West they call central Canada the East, completely ignoring the four Atlantic provinces.

But you're right about the bond among those who live on the Great Plains. I grew up in Saskatchewan and Manitoba, and when I saw the movie "Fargo," my first reaction was "It's Manitoba with guns." The winter scene with a road that can only be distinguished by a line of telephone poles was incredibly evocative.

Whenever I go to the Winnipeg Folk Festival—another of those best-kept secrets—I'm always amazed to see that every fourth licence plate is from North Dakota or Minnesota. But I guess it's not surprising at all.

C.

Actually Cluny, if you drive about 30 to 40 km (18 to 25 miles) east of Winnipeg on the Trans Canada, you will see a sign that says "The Longitudinal Center of Canada".
That means that half of the country is east of that line and half of it is west.
For Ontario, especially the south-eastern part of Ontario to call itself "central' is an extreme case of navel-gazing myopia. Toronto and area are actually in the southernmost part of Canada, and are as far east as Florida is (just check a globe and you'll see).

To be geographically correct, Ontario, Quebec and the Maritime provinces are all in the east part of Canada. Most of Manitoba, plus Saskatchewan, Alberta and B.C. are in the west part of Canada, and the Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut are the north.

The real (geographical) center of Canada is somewhere on the west side of Hudson's Bay in Nunavut.

Actually, the only people who use the term "Central Canada" are Albertans ranting about how Ontario and Quebec control the country.

HogTownJim I'm with you, the reason we keep coming back to Canada from the UK for vacations is basically the warmth and friendliness of the Canadian people plus the wonderful scenery. Hope to make Newfoundland next year for our main holiday, if collegues say 'why?' thats for them to find out as I am sure we wil have a fab time!