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Close Encounters of the Canadian Kind

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Exploring Canada's east and west coasts on small ships for a deep immersion into the wonder of the country's ancient heritage and nature.   Captain Russel Markel, owner of Outer Shores Expeditions and the lovely schooner Passing Cloud with writer Toby Saltzman. WEST: On Outer Shores’ Passing Cloud “Hishuk ish Tsawalk, Hishuk ish Tsawalk, everything is interconnected.” The words, softly spoken with spiritual veracity by Nuu-chah-nulth elder Denis St. Claire, reflected the spirit of our jaunt to Benson Island, a remote isle at the wild, windswept edge of Pacific Rim National Park. Perched on a rock in a clearing amid towering cedars and spruce with deer grazing nearby St. Claire, who is legendary on Vancouver Island’s west coast, as an archeologist and ethnographer, explained: aeons ago, this village in the Broken Group archipelago was populated by the Tseshaht people who thrived by foraging and fishing in a symbiotic relationship with the land and sea.   After...
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The Agawa Canyon Tour Train rolls through Ontario's scenic wilderness

Ride the AGAWA CANYON Tour Train for a jaunt through Ontario’s scenic wilderness that inspired the Group of Seven painters. By Toby Saltzman ALL ABOARD! The conductor whistles as the Agawa Canyon Tour Train started to chug north from Sault Ste. Marie for a scenic ride into northern Ontario’s Algoma region.   The rush of thrills surprised me, as I’ve experienced some of the world’s greatest trains, including the Orient Express, the Ghan, various European routes and, in Canada, the Rocky Mountaineer, Via’s cross-Canada Silver and Blue and Ocean to the Maritimes. Seated beside vast windows in the dining car, watching steel and paper mills whiz by – echoes of the Sault’s industrial past – memories flashed through my mind of my classrooms – as a child and, later, as a teacher – invariably graced by images created by the Group of Seven between 1918 and 1923.   Years later, I would admire their original works at the Art Gallery of Ontario, hoping to one day see their...
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