Date: Tue, 15 Oct 1996 11:47:30 -0600 (MDT)
Subject: Aloha from Canada! (Message #4)

Greetings once again!  Yesterday I crossed the border for the 17th of 18 
times on this trip.  I am now in the city Canadians call Hogtown or 
simply T.O. -- Toronto.  It's the largest city in Canada (in terms of 
metro area population; in central city population, Montreal is largest).  
But since I just got here, I'll have more to say in my fifth and final 
message in about nine days.

Anywho, I left off my journey in Calgary the day of the standoff at the 
bus station.  From there, I went to Banff, perhaps the most beautiful 
spot on the continent.  Banff is a quiet tourist town.  Just last week, 
the federal government announced a moratorium on new development in the 
park.  This will likely drive Banff's already high real estate prices 
even higher.  There are many fine trails leading from the town.  The park 
has done a good job of making the town pedestrian-friendly.  

The highlight of this mountain trip was a climb to the top of Sulphur 
Mountain.  (Yes, there really was the smell of sulphur at the base.)  I 
walked up the foothill the entire way from the level townsite.  I decided 
to have breakfast on the way up, something pretty rare with me, since I 
was already running out of steam on the hilly street.  So, got to the 
base and tried to find a place to leave my coats.  There was no coat 
check, or even a coat rack in sight.  So implemented a scheme.  I went to 
a secluded area of this fancy resort hotel and "forgot" my coats by the 
pay phones.  By the time I returned, they had been found by staff and 
hung up in housekeeping.   Shhh...

So, set off to climb the mountain.  It was a very nice day.  The trail 
was rated "moderately difficult."  Supposedly it would take two hours.  
There was a tramway on the mountain which was free to those going down.  
The mountain offered a great variety of scenery.  There was a small 
waterfall about halfway up.  The trail wasn't especially difficult except 
at the zig-zag portions where some snow (melted and otherwise) from the 
previous weekend had to be negotiated.  It got very treacherous near the 
top under the tramway where the vegetation had been cleared, providing no 
protection against erosion.  There were a couple of spots where I nearly 
had to get down and crawl.  (My walking stick was rather inadequate.)  At 
one particularly poorly maintained crossing of the tramway, I resolved 
not to look down, which served me quite well.  Although I did not miss my 
coats at all along the trail, it was very cold and windy at the summit.  
All in all, I made the trip in an hour and thirty-four minutes, which I 
thought was a good time for a novice climber.  There was a wooden walkway 
to the top of another mountain, but I decided to save that for another 
trip.  Anyway, what kind of adventure is it to walk up a mountain on a 
wooden deck?  (Of course, a rock climber might say the same about my 
ascent of Sulphur Mountain on a trail.)  Upon disembarking from the 
tramway, I remarked, "Well, anyone can BUY a round-trip ticket..."

I next passed through Calgary and Edmonton again, stopping at the World 
Waterpark once again.  Yes, that eighty-five foot, eighty-five degree 
drop does give pause even the third and fourth times through.

I stopped briefly in Lloydminster.  Lloydminster is right on the 
Alberta-Saskatchewan border.  They erected a series of 110 foot "sights" 
along the border, like the sights on a gun.  Naturally, I had to stand on 
the border and take pictures through them.  The locals say the trick is 
to live in Alberta where the taxes are lower but work in Saskatchewan 
where the benefits are better.

Arrived in Saskatoon during the U.S. presidential debate.  I had been 
listening to the debate on the bus using my shortwave radio.  It sounded 
to me that Clinton won, since Dole kept stumbling over words.  Did Dole 
look as bad as he sounded?  Probably not, so people who watched it on TV 
probably didn't think he did as poorly.  

I didn't think Saskatoon was quite as vibrant as Regina.  It seemed like
just a big prairie town, an oversized Fargo or Sioux Falls.  In any event,
got a car and headed for Prince Albert National Park.  The park is a very
scenic venue where the prairie gives way to the northern lakes and
forests.  The park village of Wakesiu Lake was nearly deserted.  The only
person I saw was the postmaster.  I did, however, manage to spend a few
hours on the park trails.  The glaciers did a fine job carving out the
area.

The next day, there was a spectacular fire in Saskatoon.  It was only by 
happenstance that I found out about it, but I was able to be on the scene 
rather early on and videotape most of the progress of the fire.  An early 
1900s furniture warehouse was completely engulfed in flames.  
Firefighters nearly had it out by 7:00 a.m., but there's a big difference 
between nearly having it out and having it completely out.  They couldn't 
send people into the wooden building to finish the job.  After the fire 
spread to the front, there was no saving anything.  At one point, the place 
I stayed the first night had to be evacuated.  The fire was so tremendous 
that it was sending off tornadoes.  

I next spent a day in the 'Peg, Winnipeg.  Got to catch up on my mail and 
laundry and also spend an hour or so at the Winnipeg Art Gallery.  The 
WAG is built of fine Tyndall stone -- even the freestanding chimney is 
Tyndall.  But the museum is small enough that in order to accomodate the 
two special exhibitions which were there, nearly the entire permanent 
collection had to go into storage.   The hottest political issue in 
Winnipeg last week:  Whether recycling boxes should be left on the street 
or alley ("back lane" in Canadese).  

There was an interesting series on Manitoba Indians running in the 
Winnipeg Free Press last week too.  If I'm lucky, perhaps I'll make it to 
northern Manitoba sometime in the next year.  Some of the Indian Reserves 
seem to be war zones, where the people don't enjoy the same civil 
liberties as the rest of Canada, let alone the U.S.  The series described 
one reservation where the Mounties search every bag coming off every 
arriving vehicle and seize anything that can be used as an intoxicant, 
including cleaning fluid and mouthwash.  This particular community of 500 
people has had 2500 person-nights in its jail so far this year.  More 
than half of the young people are said to be addicted to gasoline fumes.  
To further complicate things, townspeople believe in "bogeymen."  As a 
cure, the RCMP has proposed assigning a Mountie there full time -- as a 
basketball coach.

From Winnipeg, passed briefly through Lake of the Woods and then along 
the North Shore of Lake Superior.  The lakes were very nice looking this 
time of year with most of the leaves having turned but not yet fallen.  I 
spent two night in Sault Ste. Marie.  This is where the Soo Locks permit 
passage from Lake Superior to the other Great Lakes, bypassing the rapids 
of the St. Mary's River.  SSM is also the home of the Worst Diner in 
Canada, where I unfortunately ate the Worst Chicken in Canada.  It had 
the texture of ribbons, and the place's atmosphere was enhanced by the 
arrival of loud drunks.  I had a much better time crossing the border to 
check out the Michigan Sault Ste. Marie.

You know, one thing I don't miss about the U.S. while I'm up here is the 
ridiculously cute call letters on radio and TV stations.  In Canada, all 
call letters start with CF, CH, CI, CJ, CK, or CL (government owned ones 
with CB), so there is nothing like KARE, WOW, WBOB, or WUSA.   CITY seems 
to be the limit.   Hardly anything funny at all.

I then headed for Niagara Falls, passing through Hamilton, Ontario, 
center of the Golden Horseshoe, and home of noted lyricist and 
musicologist Gene Lees, who just happens to be a member of this mailing 
list.  :)   Niagara Falls is truly one of the wonder spots on earth.  I 
took at least three rolls of film there and about an hour of video, 
checking out the falls from many angles.  Free enterprise seems to 
dominate the falls, with attractions that ought to be public domain 
belonging to private vendors.  It's too bad the governments of the two 
countries don't declare the place an International Park.  There is an odd 
assortment of vendors on the Canadian strip -- the Guinness Museum, JFK 
Assassination Conspiracy Archives, and places selling t-shirts you'd wear 
in Minneapolis only to attract mayhem.  

I decided against a trip on the famous Maid of the Mist, which sails 
right into the water coming off the falls, but I did walk close enough to 
get wet.  I also took some close up video of the Maiden voyage.  The 
falls are beautifully lighted in the evening.  I ascended the Skylon 
Tower for a better view.  Altogether I walked across the Niagara River 
six times on Sunday.  I have a theory about cops.  At the highest 
echelons, they are very polite, even deferential.  Chieves are basically 
politicians, of course.  As you move down the cop food chain, they seem 
to get ruder and more arrogant.  At the very bottom, you have these 22 
year old border guards who probably work part-time for $10 per hour 
screening pedestrians on busy weekends.  Always nice to come to Niagara 
Falls and be ordered around like a peon.

Yesterday was Thanksgiving here, so crossed the border into Buffalo, 
where it was Columbus Day, also a holiday.  Buffalo seems to be greatly 
underrated.  They have some magnificent architecture in the downtown 
area, as well as a fabulous shoreline on Lake Erie.  Their massive City 
Hall is perhaps the finest Art Deco building I've ever seen.  

Which brings me to Toronto, Canada's version of New York City.  I 
actually found a lot of businesses on Yonge Street open on Thanksgiving 
evening.  Here's hoping that the nice weather lasts the rest of the week 
and that Madonna's baby doesn't turn out to be the Anti-Christ.

Tony in T.O.


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