Opinion: A beautiful country

Over the past 12 weeks, my wife and I have been blessed with seeing a significant amount of Canada from the ground level, and I must say, we have a beautiful country.

Starting with our honeymoon, we trekked nearly 4,000 kms from Southwestern Ontario to Prince Edward Island. We stopped along the way in New Brunswick and Quebec.

Shortly after I was hired to come to Lloyd, we travelled nearly 3,200 kms the other way through northern Ontario, Manitoba and Saskatchewan. We even got to Edmonton that same week.

The overarching theme of these trips and something that comes to mind every time we reflect on it is, we have a beautiful country.

My wife Amy and our dog Wrex stand on the sea floor outside a "flower pot" island in the Bay of Fundy (Dan Gray - personal photo )

The red cliffs of PEI's north shore - Dan Gray - Personal Photo

The red sands, Anne of Green Gables and Tulip farms in Prince Edward Island. The Bay of Fundy and Acadia in New Brunswick to the Matapédia Valley in Quebec gave us a greater understanding of the Maritimes on our eight-day tour.

For someone who has never been west of Wawa, Ontario, covering ground through the Canadian Shield, coming out into Winnipeg, Manitoba across to Yorkton, Sask, and now to our new home, not only is it beautiful, but oh my god was that last part FLAT!

We find our new home and surroundings gorgeous as we trekked north to Cold Lake and west to Edmonton, but it is going to take time for us to get over one thing. The ability to see for kilometres in every direction from out balcony, is not a view the Grand River valley of our hometown provides. Stoplights for miles here is stoplights for a hundred meters there, if your lucky.

From etched-out-by-the-sea flowerpot islands to the Appalachians, rock cuts denoting through roads to canola fields for miles, the sites of this country are second to none.

I spoke recently with many pilots from around the world at the Cold Lake Airshow who said it looks even better from the air, something I hope to see firsthand soon.

So next time you go for that standard drive of 200+ kilometres to get to anywhere significant, take time to look out the windshield, side mirrors and even the rearview when it’s safe, and understand how lucky we are to have a view like this.