Ode to a Donut shop...

I'll be leaving my beloved country later today. It'll be good to be State-side in terms of gas and hotel room expenses, but there's something deep within me that I love about this country. Yesterday was a good last day as it involved a beautiful drive through some spectacular scenery and some unexpected blessings.

INFO CENTERS... Canadian communities, large and small, all have info centers for those visiting the area. They're a gem as I make my way through the northern expanses looking for logging items. Yesterday, I had one of my most memorable visits when I stopped by one such center in Salmon Arm. Long story short, I ended up spending over an hour discussing international development with one of the workers there--I think she was ready to talk about something other than 'tourism' and I was ready just to talk to someone.

PAUL BUNYAN... Struck out early on when I stopped by a major logging museum and...they were closed! Who closes a museum during the summer? This is not the first time this has happened on this trip (it also happened in northern California). I'm wondering if this might be because of the state of the economy and budget cuts. Anyway...

Although the day started off slow searching for the giant lumberjack, I did find the Blue Ox Pub which made up for a lot. I had a lengthy conversation with several of the regular patrons and even tried a Blue Ox Burger (pretty good by the way). Nice way to end the Canadian leg of the trip.

LODGING... Monday night I did not have a good night's sleep. I was temped to write about this yesterday, but decided instead to hit the road and forget the previous night's shortcoming which included an over-priced room, paper-thin-walls with crying babies next door, and neighbors who couldn't seem to remember which room they were in and made numerous attempts to enter my room (yes, my room was locked, and yes, it was annoying).

Having said that, last night I hit the jackpot! I have stayed in many a questionable room on this trip, but somehow I stumbled across the Lake Country Inn just north of Kelowna. A reasonably priced new room with a memory foam mattress and sound proof walls. Very nice night of sleep.

CANADIAN CULTURE... Last but not least, I feel as if I'm really starting to blend in. Not that it's too hard to blend in up here, but if you should ever wonder how well you understand Canadian culture, make a stop at Tim Hortons. In regards to their coffee, they simply explain that it's...

Not so much held

as embraced.