There are lots of things even along North Carolina's coast that remind me of Canada.
The first is the nearness of open tracts of land. I was always impressed when I lived in Halifax, Nova Scotia that we could leave the city and be in what looked like wilderness in ten minutes.
This scene to the left is along the marshes that are part of the 158,000 acres of Croatan National Forest which weaves in and out of our small settlements in Carteret County. While the Tideland Trails pictured are well maintained, they take you away from civilization quickly.
The next thing which reminds me of Canada or at least my time in Nova Scotia is our nearness to the water. Just as in Nova Scotia, nowhere is very far from the water. In fact if you consider height above sea level, Carteret County is probably closer to the water than Nova Scotia. This map of the area will give you a good idea of why water is so much a part of our lives.
There is more to Canada than Nova Scotia so perhaps the next reminder of Canada is the most important. While I spent considerable time in Toronto and Montreal and visited Edmonton, Calagary and other Canadian cities, one of the things that always impressed me the most was small town life in Canada. We lived for years in a small village in New Brunswick. We did not even have a lock on the front door of the house. I had to install one when we moved out in 1984.
My travels in western Canada and other parts of the east convinced me that Canada's heart was still in its small towns. Perhaps Canada is a more urban place these days, but in my memory the small towns have the warmest glow.
It is interesting that I have written that the Crystal Coast of North Carolina is the last stand of small beach towns on the east coast.
Finally on this cool evening in late October, the shiver that I got as I walked out on the dock reminded that Canada is still alive and pumping cold air down through the continent. It might not be the most famous export, it is one we can count on to visit us each year.
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