For close to three years I had been sharing an office at the University in South Korea with a Canadian woman from Vancouver Island who had been telling me over and over how beautiful her hometown was and how I should visit.

About a year after my father died, bringing me back to the states, she too had returned to her home town … but for a job.

The road trip I did which started in Chicago, followed I-90/94 to Glendive, Montana, and then headed northwest to Glacier National Park, and then cut straight north to Calgary, and then west on Canada’s Route 1 (see my clickable map) was all about getting a chance to visit her in her hometown.

One of my friend’s favorite things is walking her dogs along the beach… can you blame her? WAY better than along some city street

It’s hard to NOT understand why she loves this place so much, it’s gorgeous and restful and the air is so free of pollution that you can a mountain over a hundred miles away

Note my friend (above) who is standing at the base of the tree with her two dogs, it will give you a sense of the size of the trees around here

A few weeks later a high-school friend of mine from Seattle came to visit, and I took him see where my Canadian friend lives