The Canadians are coming, the Canadians are here!

They look like us, talk mostly like us, dress like us, drive the same cars we do on the same side of the road, smell like us (I believe, though I have no personal experience), and most importantly for Grand Forks merchants, shop like us, but more and better.

As a point of reference, Grand Forks, ND is approximately 80 miles from the Canadian border.  For those of you, like me, who confess to knowing very little about Canada (except it is the origin of all things hockey, the greatest sport EVER), you are driving into the provence of Manitoba when you drive into Canada up route 29 from Grand Forks.  Grand Forks is approximately 140 miles from Winnipeg, a bustling metropolis of approximately 600,000 in Manitoba.  Have I been to these places?  No, but I will so make sure to tune in to future blog entries for the play by play experience.

An important set of factors have come together to make Grand Forks the shopping destination for a growing group of Canadians these weekends.  In order to fully understand and appreciate the phenomenon of every third car, at least, in the Target and similar shopping establishment parking lot (aka Wal-Mart and Sam's club where I DO NOT venture for OBVIOUS reasons, oh how I wish for a Costco), having Manitoba license plates, I need to digress into a short story containing some personal, trivial, historical, geographical, and current events related information.

So, I've always liked Canada.  I don't know why really.  I think it may be started when I discovered hockey, the coolness of hockey, and that hockey comes from Canada.  This was made clear to me when, throughout my entire childhood, my sister and I attended Blues hockey games with my Dad.  My family had season tickets for over 20 years.  Back when they still sold programs, we would buy one when we entered the Arena, before they moved to the Kiel Center (bleh) and we would memorize the players' names, ages, numbers and where they were from.  This was my awakening to the origin of hockey.  First, almost none of the players were from the U.S. and most of them were from Canada with a few from Sweden or Finland or Russia thrown in for good measure. Brian Sutter was the captain of the blues for a long time and he and his 5 brothers played in the NHL for years, often against one another and they are from Canada.  Viking, Alberta to be exact.  So I developed a soft spot for Canada for bringing us all these awesome hockey players and the game itself.

In 6th grade, I went on a two week camping trip with our P.E. teacher to Ontario.  I remember driving for miles and miles and then taking a tiny plane into some of the most beautiful woods and lakes I've still ever seen.  We stayed in cabins at the end and the beginning of the trip for one night and the rest was spent canoeing, portaging, and camping.  It was exhausting, and rained a lot, and I wasn't a fan of "showering" by jumping into the river in my swimsuit and then lathering up with Dr. Brown's.  I also got violently ill on the drive home and remember falling in and out of consciousness in a tent in a roadside campground.  I remember the teacher apologizing for my appearance when he returned me to my parents even more emaciated than I started.  In spite of the illness, I had a good time and was impressed with how beautiful and untouched Canada was.

Then, during my youth, my Grandparents drove us up through parts of Canada during some of our summer rides (see earlier posting about my grandmother's 101 birthday in August for more on these trips).  So, we drove up from Wisconsin, sometimes through the UP of Michigan into Ontario and Quebec down back into the U.S. at Niagra Falls and Maine.   At the wee age of 10 or 12 the things that stuck with me about Canada during these trips, were the amazing lack of people, the huge amount of wilderness, and that they didn't use miles to measure speed but rather kilometers.

So, this is the extent of my Canada knowledge, except for a trip to Montreal after my senior year of college with some friends - I went to college in Boston and it was just a hop, skip and a jump away, and we could make a stop at Ben and Jerry's in Vermont along the way as well as LL Bean in Freeport, ME for some shopping.

Throughout all of these experiences with Canada, one key piece of information was impressed upon me: for Americans, Canada is relatively cheap.  For most of my life, the exchange rate was such that you could get two or three Canadian dollars for one US dollar.  However, during the Bush Administrations, this all started to change (coincidence?  I think not....) and now, the exchange rate is about 1 to 1.  So, this means that it is less expensive for Canadians to come to the U.S. and buy, well, everything.  And do they.  It explains some of the development and conveniences that we have here in Grand Forks.  It was surprising to me that a community of only 50,000 - 60,000 would have a Target, Lowe's, Sam's, Wal-Mart, Furniture Row, Best Buy, Old Navy, Bed Bath and Beyond, Pier One, Starbucks (2), etc.   I have a much better understanding now that I have spent a few weekends in a row in town and seen actual traffic and all of the parking lots at these places as well as at the fast food restaurants nearby packed.  Moreover, I understand why there are so many hotels and motels in town - folks actually make the trip from far enough away to warrant a sleep over, if you can believe it.

So, now I'm very familiar with Manitoba license plates, as well as North Dakota and Minnesota.  And, for the most part, I am very appreciative of their support of Grand Forks merchants because their expenditures enable them to stay open for my convenience too.  Meanwhile, I'm trying to figure out how to use my proximity to Canada to obtain prescription medications at a discount since my so called health insurance here is the WORST I've ever had and I am paying over $200 a month for basic prescriptions to enable me to breath and function.  If anyone out there has suggestions or experience with this, I'd welcome your advice and/or information.  Hell, eve if you don't know anything about this topic, I'd welcome a comment to this post so that I know you're out there!