Vancouver is hemmed in by an arc of mountains on three sides, and Georgia Strait (part of the Pacific Ocean) on the other:
Those of us who live here know that, but it's not always obvious. Today it was. Returning from Victoria on the ferry, my family and I were driving through Tsawwassen when we noticed how clear the day was. And all the mountains were fresh with snow.
From the Mount Baker volcano in the U.S.A. to the southeast, to Mount Cheam near Chilliwack in the east, to Golden Ears in the northeast, to the North Shore ski mountains, it was an unbroken line of blue and white, snowy peaks across our entire line of vision, unobscured by cloud or haze, each crisp and ominous. Our city is a flat little oasis in rough, beautiful country.
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Reinforces the feeling of annoyance and arbitrariness at the horizontal line that runs across the middle of the flat area.
Yeah, the world would be perfect if it weren't for the Americans. Their culture, their politics and even their border ruin everything.
Well, if the Americans had had their way, the border wouldn't have been there at 49°N at all, but perhaps at 54°40'N, north of Prince George and Prince Rupert. So it's arbitrary, but could have been arbitrarily much less in Canadians' favour.
I'm glad you posted this. I was just reading an article on The Province website talking about how Vancouver is "no fun" city because we have no New Years Public event. People proceeded to comment by bashing Vancouver left and right. It makes me crazy, because we are SO lucky to live in such a beautiful place. Being from the prairies I am thankful every day I look out my window and see those mountains.
Normally I'm the first one to slap down American culture or politics but in this instance my intention was the opposite. Washington State seems to have so much more in common with BC than (say) Alberta does. There's definitely something to the notion of Cascadia.
I should probably point out that back in the days of that dispute, the British wanted the boundary at 42°N, which is just north of today's California border. The current location isn't a bad middle ground, is it?
In a world of sensibly-constructed borders, there probably would be a Cascadia, but then again, there's something to be said for the crazy hodgepodge that the U.S. and Canada are today, east-to-west nations in a north-to-south continent. Maybe it's helped us avoid some of the clannish sectarian conflicts we see between more "logical" countries.
"54-40 or Fight!" One of the only things I remember from Grade 10 Social Studies.
Also, Albertexas united against Cascadia? Too scary to contemplate.
(When I moved back in February one of the first things I said was "Wow. I'll never get sick of those mountains. Not ever." They were in fine form agan today. My mother-in-law commented that the mountains always made her feel claustrophobic. I guess they're not for everybody, but boy, I sure think they're gorgeous.)