....lots of Americans!!!

Bigprairie1 · Aug 29, 2009

I can't help but notice the amount of U.S license plates I have seen around here locally on Southern Vancouver Island. They include Georgia, Tennessee, Florida (about 3-4), Maine, California, Oregon and of course Washington State...which I seem to see about every 15 minutes.
Its all good tho' and its nice to see the 'cross border' tourism and visitation continue these days. Hopefully these folks take back some good memories and good opinions of their experience up here in Canada.
All good, just sharing.
BP

lowkee · Aug 29, 2009

Re: ....lots of Americans!!!

Do people have a poor opinion of Canada now? I grew up in New England and don't recall really anyone who hated Canadians or really had anything bad to say about anyone from there (or the country as a whole). Heck, New England and Quebec are almost sister areas for tourism. I always enjoyed hearing the French(ish) accent when shopping locally. If it weren't for the different currency I would forget Canada was a different country, as the people seem just about the same, even in mannerisms.

rbh · Aug 29, 2009

Re: ....lots of Americans!!!

nope, its just that the canuck buck has been so high on the exchange and the economy has been in the tank.
and beer is going up again!
rob

Bigprairie1 · Aug 29, 2009

Re: ....lots of Americans!!!

lowkee said:
Do people have a poor opinion of Canada now? I grew up in New England and don't recall really anyone who hated Canadians or really had anything bad to say about anyone from there (or the country as a whole). Heck, New England and Quebec are almost sister areas for tourism. I always enjoyed hearing the French(ish) accent when shopping locally. If it weren't for the different currency I would forget Canada was a different country, as the people seem just about the same, even in mannerisms.

No Lowkee, not at all. What I mean is that sometimes the rhetoric we both get into from time to time with each other is best replaced by the real deal...at least thats the way I see it.
We were over on Salt Spring Island today in the (Canadian) Gulf Islands and I'm sure they were a few hundred yanks there both by land and sea. The marina had about 2 dozen or more U.S boats moored up and thats not including the visitors 'by land'. Absolutely beautiful day...nice and warm (75-85?) and hardly any wind. Perfect for a being on deck with a couple of cool beers and it was good to see everyone enjoying it, I know I did.
All Good
BP

puddle jumper · Aug 29, 2009

Re: ....lots of Americans!!!

Up the north end of the island we have not seen to many people from south of the border. Most of the Americans we are seeing, come up in there big boats. We are still down from last year.

P3_sailor · Aug 29, 2009

Re: ....lots of Americans!!!

It could be that the people are visiting from that far away but I'll bet a lot of them are military folks stationed in Washington. I'm one of those people myself. I have Florida plates on my truck. I plan on taking my family up there while I'm stationed here. Have to get those passport cards first though. My kids want to go to the big treehouse thing you guys have, I think it's in Vancouver.

ShaneCarroll · Aug 29, 2009

Re: ....lots of Americans!!!

lowkee said:
Do people have a poor opinion of Canada now? I grew up in New England and don't recall really anyone who hated Canadians or really had anything bad to say about anyone from there (or the country as a whole). Heck, New England and Quebec are almost sister areas for tourism. I always enjoyed hearing the French(ish) accent when shopping locally. If it weren't for the different currency I would forget Canada was a different country, as the people seem just about the same, even in mannerisms.

Well, down here in Florida, the common consensus is most Canadians don't know how to drive. I'm not saying all Canadians, just about 85% of the ones that come down to Florida in the winter. I'll be doing the speed limit, and out of nowhere a Grand Marquis pulls off a side road right in front of me doing about 10mph. Right before I eat their rear bumper, I see Canadian license plates. Other than that, all of the Canadians I have met have been great, just please take the old ones back.

tashasdaddy · Aug 30, 2009

Re: ....lots of Americans!!!

Shane, Tampa, St.Pete, Clearwater have been that way for 50 years. i used to spend summers with my Aunt and Cousins there. "town of the living dead"

HappierWet · Aug 30, 2009

Re: ....lots of Americans!!!

tashasdaddy said:
Shane, Tampa, St.Pete, Clearwater have been that way for 50 years. i used to spend summers with my Aunt and Cousins there. "town of the living dead"

FOSSILVILLE

skargo · Aug 30, 2009

Re: ....lots of Americans!!!

HappierWet said:
FOSSILVILLE

God's waiting room.

adamjr · Aug 30, 2009

Re: ....lots of Americans!!!

skargo said:
God's waiting room.

you beat me to it.

adamjr · Aug 30, 2009

Re: ....lots of Americans!!!

rbh said:
nope, its just that the canuck buck has been so high on the exchange and the economy has been in the tank.
and beer is going up again!
rob

I can live with most of that but beer going up, THAT'S an OUTRAGE

tallcanadian · Aug 30, 2009

Re: ....lots of Americans!!!

I see a lot of American license plates here too in Newfoundland. Seems as many as last year. I always feel sorry them because I know of the long drive they ventured on to get here and then get caught up on the ferries that run between here and Nova Scotia. It's been nothing but caos this year. They break down, bad weather, run late, one had a fire on it. I feel bad for anyone who has to cross the gulf.

brianvolt7 · Aug 30, 2009

Re: ....lots of Americans!!!

ShaneCarroll said:
Well, down here in Florida, the common consensus is most Canadians don't know how to drive. I'm not saying all Canadians, just about 85% of the ones that come down to Florida in the winter. I'll be doing the speed limit, and out of nowhere a Grand Marquis pulls off a side road right in front of me doing about 10mph. Right before I eat their rear bumper, I see Canadian license plates. Other than that, all of the Canadians I have met have been great, just please take the old ones back.

Wow, doing the speed limit where I come from will get your bumper eaten, going to work at 75 and I am bailing out of the way all the time to let people by at 90. Sacramento foothills I am half way to Tahoe but work in West SAC.

scipper77 · Aug 30, 2009

Re: ....lots of Americans!!!

ShaneCarroll said:
Well, down here in Florida, the common consensus is most Canadians don't know how to drive. I'm not saying all Canadians, just about 85% of the ones that come down to Florida in the winter. I'll be doing the speed limit, and out of nowhere a Grand Marquis pulls off a side road right in front of me doing about 10mph. Right before I eat their rear bumper, I see Canadian license plates. Other than that, all of the Canadians I have met have been great, just please take the old ones back.

You should drive on the QEW some time!! that thing is like the canadian autobahn. You won't think of Canadians as driving slow anymore.

HappierWet · Aug 30, 2009

Re: ....lots of Americans!!!

brianvolt7 said:
Wow, doing the speed limit where I come from will get your bumper eaten, going to work at 75 and I am bailing out of the way all the time to let people by at 90. Sacramento foothills I am half way to Tahoe but work in West SAC.

Yep, There's a lot of people living in the Pocono Mountains that commute to either Philly or NYC and they have NO patience for drivers who are only 10 or 15 over the limit.

H.F.S.

I drive fast and tow fast but when I am doing 70 in a 55 and get passed, no not just passed....blown passed, by someone who thinks they're a NASCAR star.

Course I get a lot of laughs when it snows

brianvolt7 · Aug 30, 2009

Re: ....lots of Americans!!!

The ones that make me nervous are the Porsche Cayenne makeup appliers that believe they need a couple of lanes to perform their art work at 90.

Bigprairie1 · Aug 31, 2009

Re: ....lots of Americans!!!

tallcanadian said:
I see a lot of American license plates here too in Newfoundland. Seems as many as last year. I always feel sorry them because I know of the long drive they ventured on to get here and then get caught up on the ferries that run between here and Nova Scotia. It's been nothing but caos this year. They break down, bad weather, run late, one had a fire on it. I feel bad for anyone who has to cross the gulf.

...you should check out our Ferries TC...we just got a couple more new ones (see pics). Really nice ships. I took these on a recent business trip over to Vancouver.
That said, I don't think we see the weather here that you guys get out there with the Atlantic moving in on you plus our crossing time is only about 1-1/2 hrs...all on the sheltered Georgia Strait so it ends up to be a pretty predictable trip.

I think the BC Ferry system is now the world's largest in terms of daily volume of both people and vehicles moved...but it's not cheap, unfortunately.

All good
BP

tallcanadian · Aug 31, 2009

Re: ....lots of Americans!!!

Bigprairie1 said:
...you should check out our Ferries TC...we just got a couple more new ones (see pics). Really nice ships. I took these on a recent business trip over to Vancouver.
That said, I don't think we see the weather here that you guys get out there with the Atlantic moving in on you plus our crossing time is only about 1-1/2 hrs...all on the sheltered Georgia Strait so it ends up to be a pretty predictable trip.
I think the BC Ferry system is now the world's largest in terms of daily volume of both people and vehicles moved...but it's not cheap, unfortunately.
All good
BP

That's awesome BP. Nice ships. We recently got a new one and already it has had two fires on it, and once it crashed into one of the docking ramps. The main problem I have over here with ours is, it's part of the Trans Canada Crossing. You would think with the volume of traffic they could improve on a very poor service. Our cost of living is somewhat higher than the rest of Atlantic Canada because of frieght charges. But sometimes our freight is held up for days. By the time vegetables, for example, reach the stores, they are about spoiled. I'm tired of buying brown lettuce at 5 dollars. And our crossing takes 7 hours. I would love to see privatisation(spelling?) of the ferry service. Get 2 or 3 private companies to get boats in here. Compete with each other. Keep fares down, have better service...maybe.

Mike Robinson · Aug 31, 2009

Re: ....lots of Americans!!!

tallcanadian said:
... Our cost of living is somewhat higher than the rest of Atlantic Canada because of frieght charges. But sometimes our freight is held up for days. By the time vegetables, for example, reach the stores, they are about spoiled. I'm tired of buying brown lettuce at 5 dollars. And our crossing takes 7 hours. ...

Sounds like living here Buddie! We're about 7 hours from the mainland too but we only have about 6000 people so we only get one ferry. It's fairly new but has been plagued with problems. Lately it has been getting crab gear wrapped around the shafts.

....lots of Americans!!!

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