Tomorrow is Canada Day, and I figured what better way to gear up for our national celebration of Canadian culture than with a bit of local pride?
It’s an easy little game, and it’s fun too! Plus it has the added bonus of giving everyone some ideas for tourist destinations they might never have thought of. Just list off some of the amazing things that you can reach within a 20 minute drive from your front door. I’ll go first;
Within a 20 minute drive from my front door, there’s…
- one of the seven wonders of the world
- two casino’s
- an amusement park
- wine country
- a canal where “the ships climb the mountain”
- a historic carousel
- a beach that Rush wrote a song about
- “The Screaming Tunnel”
- the first capital city of Upper Canada
So where do I live? St. Catharines, Ontario of course! We’re right next to Niagara Falls (hence the casinos, amusements and wonder) and Niagara-On-The-Lake (our former capital) — all within a quick 20 minute jaunt.
Who’s next?
Within 20 minutes drive from my house there is:
-a museum, archives and art gallery in one building
-many historical sites(like Cabot tower where Marconi received the first trans-Atlantic wireless message!)
-a world class Geo-Centre
-the most easterly point in North America
-Memorial University
-a beautiful sheltered harbor
-the downtown area with many historical buildings and George Street(which is said to have the most bars per square foot in North America)
Just to name a few.
I live in St. John’s, Newfoundland & Labrador!
I live in the same area as Jim and I agree. We also have beautiful blossoms in May and the view of coloured leaves along the escarpment is breath-taking! Couponmom
I used to live in St. Kitt’s and I must admit that I miss the part about being close to all of the cool stuff!! Now I am in Cambridge, still only a drive away but miss all of the fun stuff like Grape and Wine, Port, etc
within a 20 minute drive of my house, I have
-countless museums (including the museum of Civilization and the War Museum)
-Parliament Hill
-the Supreme Court
-Embassies upon embassies
-the Rideau Canal
-a Casino
-a Gazillion other tourist attractions and government sites
within a 5 minute walk from my house, I have
-the beautiful Gatineau Park
-access to an endless set of intertwining bike paths
Guess where I live? (on the QC side of the river though)
Great idea….made me think how amazing my area of the world is. OK here we go:
Over 20 indoor hockey rinks, double that for outdoor rinks
the highest liftlock in the world for moving boats/watercraft
petroglyphs
world class bass fishing, world class canoe areas, cruises
the Canadian canoe museum
Mann cup/Minto cup lacross champs, junior A hockey (most NHL players from one Junior team.
world class boating/waterways
great local and four provincial parks, six plus conservation areas
amazing hiking, walking and cycling trails (trans Canada trail)
outdoor and indoor theatre
one of the largest free outdoor summer festivals in the world with two shows a week followed by a great fireworks display
one of the largest outdoor country jamborees
horse racing, car racing (three venues)
music, art, Spring(maple syrup), summer(aboriginal), fall festivals
great shopping and restaurants, fantastic hotsauce from the three habaneroes…..and so much more.
Mine’s the same as Jim and couponmom’s. I live in Niagara Falls, not St. Catharines though.
My family is from a small village about 50 miles north of Kandahar. My family came to Canada under refugee status after the Soviet invasion. There was nothing in my village in the 1980s, less under the Taliban. I mean NOTHING— no shops, no milk, no buses, no restaurants. We barely grew enough food to survive.
Things are getting better; some villagers now have TVs, and there are regular buses passing to Kandahar.
Thank God Canadian soldiers are there to help us build a country.