What should I do in Canada?

[Miss_Min]

So, here's a thing, next month I will be spending some time on various bits of the Atlantic / Gulf of St Lawrence / Bay of Fundy (WHY DO I HAVE TO GO THERE?) coasts of Canada. I have never been to Canada before (I'm British, I can understand and speak a reasonable amount of France-type French but have no idea what Quebecois sounds like). I've only ever visited the USA briefly, so answers that work for North America in general are also useful. What should I do / eat / buy?

I will have two days of complete touristy freedom in Quebec City, and then I'll mostly be working in other places with occasional chances to e.g. nip to the shops or go out for dinner (most of my meals will be provided through my work so I don't need to go forage all my food).

I will definitely buy some maple syrup (but is real maple syrup a thing you can buy for half the price in a supermarket instead of somewhere tourist-focussed?), but are there other things made from/with maple syrup that don't normally get exported, that I should look out for?

What other touristic shit should I buy? What should I buy for my sister's kids that says 'exotic foreign stuff from the cool auntie?' What artwork or jewelry should I get for my house and myself that says 'incredibly well-travelled and tasteful grownup'? (If I wanted a carved wooden dick, they sell a lot of them in Spain, and I would probably have one already. Thanks.).

I imagine I'll go to at least one Tim Hortons somewhere, they seem to have wifi - it feels like I've visited a McDonalds in every country of Europe looking for wifi, so a bit of variety would be nice. Anywhere else that's particularly Canadian? And what's so significant about Tim Hortons anyway?

[HAHA WHOOPS wrong account. will leave it here anyway.]

[GamingRAM]

I've never been to Canada, so umm....

Beaver Hats I guess?

[Headchef]

drink maple syrup while playing ice hockey

[jordancoles]

Eat poutine, mainly

Try it a few times at different places or you might be disappointed

[ven]

Buy a sword
Go to this place in Quebec
Follow the northern lights (only the green ones, not the blue and definitely not the yellow)
It's where the magic portal is located
Take pics for us please

[Trappin]

I've spent time in BC and Alberta on 4wd road trips. Canada beyond the city and suburbs is wild, raw and beautiful.I watched a food-raging momma grizzly destroy camping tents, camp caravans and food coolers. They know the sweet treasures that lurk within food packages. They will destroy a car trying to get at a candy bar accidentally left on a passanger seat, unscrew lids and lick mayonnaise out of jars (watched one do that trick) The fishing is crazy good. Beachcombing fun abounds. You've likely not seen so many stars in the night sky. Bay of Fundy looks like a great place to hike and have some fun. So, yeah, Canada is an outdoor wonderland

Swag and local customs. Buy smoked salmon from a rural roadside indian store. Alder wood smoked. Inuit indian handicrafts, Canadians brew great beer, so microbrewery. There's some sort of funky traditional mulled wine drink in Quebec worth trying.

Pro-tip: equal parts white cane sugar, brown cane sugar and water. Heat until almost boiling, but dont let it boil. Add one tiny drop artificial maple extract flovor. Congratulations, you've just made maple syrup and saved $30 dollars - as if some ginger haired piker born and raised in Sussex would know the difference,

[MagicManICT]

Pro-tip: equal parts white cane sugar, brown cane sugar and water. Heat until almost boiling, but dont let it boil. Add one tiny drop artificial maple extract flovor. Congratulations, you've just made maple syrup and saved $30 dollars - as if some ginger haired piker born and raised in Sussex would know the difference,

You can tell the difference. It's not subtle, and if you can't, then your palate is horrible and probably can't tell the difference between beef and lamb.

[ven]

Canada beyond the city and suburbs is wild, raw and beautiful.I watched a food-raging momma grizzly destroy camping tents, camp caravans and food coolers. They know the sweet treasures that lurk within food packages. They will destroy a car trying to get at a candy bar accidentally left on a passanger seat, unscrew lids and lick mayonnaise out of jars

The thing with Canada is that it's a RPG game but we're the NPCs in it. Expect animals to behave like an average haven griefer.
Every time you hear that a moose or a bear wandered into Vancouver it was actually a high-level player trying to kill the end boss.

[Trappin]

Pro-tip: equal parts white cane sugar, brown cane sugar and water. Heat until almost boiling, but dont let it boil. Add one tiny drop artificial maple extract flovor. Congratulations, you've just made maple syrup and saved $30 dollars - as if some ginger haired piker born and raised in Sussex would know the difference,

You can tell the difference. It's not subtle, and if you can't, then your palate is horrible and probably can't tell the difference between beef and lamb. :ugeek:[/quote]

You've not met the Sussex pikers I've met. Hint: they ain't made of lamb.

>>>>>van, the rpg thing is funny. Luckily I spawned in the Canadian noob zone.

[jordancoles]

I've spent time in BC and Alberta on 4wd road trips. Canada beyond the city and suburbs is wild, raw and beautiful.I watched a food-raging momma grizzly destroy camping tents, camp caravans and food coolers. They know the sweet treasures that lurk within food packages. They will destroy a car trying to get at a candy bar accidentally left on a passanger seat, unscrew lids and lick mayonnaise out of jars (watched one do that trick) The fishing is crazy good. Beachcombing fun abounds. You've likely not seen so many stars in the night sky. Bay of Fundy looks like a great place to hike and have some fun. So, yeah, Canada is an outdoor wonderland

I've lived in BC, Ontario and Alberta and I've visited Newfoundland for 2 weeks so I have a pretty decent understanding of the different areas at this point and yeah, pre much the more west you go the better the weather and the cooler the scenery.
If you like the outdoors, go west as far as you can.

Newfoundland is colder and it has a decent amount of bugs, mainly black flies. Fishing is a big thing and you can see boats all over the place. St. Johns is cool, the place is built on a hill pre-much. One highway to get to everything in NFLD and tons of rocky areas.

Ontario is 'grey' and that's the best way I can describe it. Super humid summers, TONS of mosquitos and some rocky areas but not many until you hit the highways going North. Thunderbay is where shit starts to get interesting in Ontario... high hills in the clouds and waterfalls and shit. Ontario is where you'd go for housing but not so much job opportunities unless you go to the bigger cities like Toronto.

Alberta is the sunniest place in Canada I swear to fucking god. Like 340 days of sun per year it's actually insane. I missed the rain after living there for 10 months. Windy literally all of the time, but even in the winter it's usually a warm wind, which is nice. Get a haircut if you're planning to move to Alberta, unless you enjoy eating it for your entire walk. Tons of open space in Alberta and it makes you feel really small. You can drive on the highway and see for miles in any direction.

Manitoba/Saskachewan are shit and you miss out on literally nothing when you drive straight through without stopping.

BC is by far the best place in Canada. Mild temperatures all year and it doesn't snow much, if at all. Slightly humid right now but nothing like Ontario. It rains a lot here in the winter and by a lot I mean all the time. My last house literally got 100% of its water supply from collected rainwater, so... Yeah. Grizzly bears here and jellyfish and probably some poisonous snakes... Black widows too but they're little bitches that rarely ever bite humans unless you sit on one or something. Stoner capital of Canada is in BC as well, so if you're into that, prepare to become fully immersed in that