Back From Canada

Just got back from a 17-day trip across the U.S. and Canada; hence the lack of any new posts. Incredible scenery in nine states and five provinces. This journey inspired a few friendly criticisms of Port Angeles in particular and American border cities in general.

Everyone is worried that the new passport regulations will ruin the economies of border areas by jeopardizing tourism. Whether or not this is a valid fear, there are things we can do.

Canadian money: Too many Port Angeles merchants don’t accept it. We’re clamoring for more tourists, and we have tourists streaming in from British Columbia and we don’t accept their currency. What's wrong with this picture? Everywhere we went in Canada, people accepted American currency; it didn’t matter if we were in the tiniest hick town hundreds of miles from the border. Maybe we could make Canadian tourists more welcome by accepting their currency. Guilty merchants — you know who you are. Let’s try to be part of the solution.

Customs agents and people skills: hopefully that phrase isn't an oxymoron. I have no way of knowing whether American customs agents go out of their way to keep Canadian tourists out of the country, since they can't very well keep Americans from returning home (can they?). But when we crossed (finally!) the border from Michigan into Ontario, the Canadian customs agents were the rudest collection of arrogant SOBs I’ve ever seen. This doesn’t seem to me like the best way to attract foreign tourists, but what do I know?

I've personally never had a problem crossing into Victoria, but I've heard unpleasant encounters described by other people. Obviously both countries need to keep terrorists and smugglers out, but this can be done without treating every tourist like a suspect. Remember, we want to ATTRACT tourists, not keep them away.