COVID hasn’t sapped Canada of its friendly side

Above : Kokanee Springs Resort features an 18-hole golf course. (Photo/Dan Webster)

For the first time in more than three years, my wife and I drove north to Canada. It was a couple of weeks ago, before this current wave of sweltering heat descended upon us.

I was a little nervous because it seemed like such a hassle, thanks to COVID. We had to go online ( ArriveCAN ) to complete a form, and even though we’d done so, had vaccination cards, proof of our booster shots and valid passports, I wasn’t sure we’d be allowed to cross over.

But I was concerned for nothing. The border agent was friendly and, after checking our documents and asking a few questions (no, we had no guns), he let us through.

We headed for Crawford Bay , a small arts community that is situated up the east side of Kootenay Lake – about a five-hour drive from Spokane.

And the stay was most everything we’d hoped for. Yeah, my wife had injured her foot so we couldn’t play golf. And the mosquitoes were too bad to spend much time in the outdoors anyway.

But living up to the stereotype, every single encounter we had with Canadians was friendly. Even personable. And certainly reassuring.

That was the case in all our eating outings, whether at Red’s Bakery (great pastries and espresso), the Rockwood Café (great Asian dishes) or the Black Salt Café (even if the mosquitoes were a pain).

It was true at the Kokanees Springs Resort , where a guy in the golf shop let me drive a golf cart – free, mind you – both to get a feel for the course and to enjoy lunch at the nearby restaurant. (I can’t imagine that ever happening on a golf course in the U.S.)

It was true at the Crawford Bay Market, and at the place we stayed for two night, the Wedgewood Manor . When stupidly I lost the key to our cabin, the woman – Rebecca – not only gave me a new one, but she said the problem was her fault because she’d given me the wrong key code in the first place.

Yes, as my wife says, it’s not that stereotypes are never true, it’s just that they’re not always true. And the nine – I counted them – encounters I had in Canada all conformed to the notion that the people there are friendly to a fault. Which is what I mean by reassuring.

And then there was our return to the U.S. The agent wasn’t exactly rude, though he did make me open the car trunk to check for … what, contraband?

Our first stop for gas was even more eye-opening. After pumping in just enough fuel to get me back to Spokane, I went into the station/market to use the restroom. As I headed toward the men’s room, the woman behind the counter, who was on the phone, looked up at me and barked – there’s no other word for it – a single word.

“Occupied!” she said, without looking even slightly in my direction.

Yep, I thought, welcome back to America 2022.