In this day'n'age, with the Internet always so there, able to be referenced at a moment's notice, you feel its absence when on the road, in a car. (No, I don't have an iPhone/Blackberry/what-have-you to do this on the road...plus we were traveling in areas without service!)
On our last road trip (this last weekend actually, the pictures are here), Metro and I had a number of questions/speculations. This time, we wrote them down. And now, I'm going to share them with you, because perhaps you'll enjoy them too.
Some were generated purely from the geography:
- Anarchist Mountain in BC's Boundary Country...were there really anarchists there? What's the story?
- Boundary Creek Provincial Park in Greenwood. Check it out. Looks nice.
- Why is the town of Salmo called Salmo? Was there a Mr. Salmo? What did he do?
- No Tresspassing signs -- does putting one up an prerequisite for being able to actually shoo people from your land? If you don't have one up, can you still oust people you don't want?
- Roadside crosses -- there was an anthropological study done on these (at least one). Look it up. What a weird phenomenon. When/Where did the practice start?
- Fudge as a tourist attraction -- This one has always bothered me. Hell's Gate for years had nothing to do once you got over to the other side other than to buy and eat fudge. Is this just a Canadian tourist stop/trap phenomenon, or do other countries subject their tourists to it as well?
- Are there such things as grasshopper breeders?
- What is the difference between an alpaca and a llama?
- What is the story behind the zuccamelon again?
We've not gotten around to looking any of these up, so feel free to offer up any resources. Or regale us with your own questions that niggle...
Lori
5 comments:
"The Llama is roughly twice the size of the Alpaca and the Llama has a very coarse outer coat over a softer inner coat as opposed to the alpaca which has a very fine, single coat. In addition, the Llama produces far less fiber per animal than the alpaca despite its much larger size. This is because the Alpaca was domesticated and carefully bred for over 5000 years as a luxury fiber producing animal. The Llama has been bred for the same amount of time as a pack carrying animal."
Thanks to a Facebook friend, who quickly googled this link: http://www.mountairyalpacas.com/llama.html
http://osoyoosmuseum.ca/agriculture_zucca.htm
The zucca melon appears to have been a flashy, flavourless thing used in wartime as filler for things such as pies and jams, fruit in Canada being harder to get during the Second World War. After the war, demand died out. The plant could reach some four feet long and weigh up to 300 pounds!
Sorry--"fleshy"--not "flashy"--Although I have met people who are both.
Wonderful photos. I don't know where you get the energy and time to do so much great stuff online! AND work full time.
I've looked at two "Back Roads Of..." books recently (Vancouver Island, and Interior BC) and they're full of trivia like how tiny towns got their names.
What are you talking about? I blog far less than I used to...
I wish I didn't work, but had oodles of cash of course, so that we could just road trip all the time, and check out all the little towns along the way!
:D
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