O Canada (Part Four)

A synopsis of my latest road trip in four parts:
Day 4: Woke up, packed up, drove northeast deeper into the Coastal Mountains of BC on the Duffy Lake Road past Pemberton to the Fraser River gorge in Lillooet, then followed the Fraser River south through the gorge and Hell's Gate to the town of Hope in the broad fertile Fraser River valley between the North Cascades and the Coastal Mountains, then turned east back over the North Cascades (on the Canadian side this time) to the Okanogan valley where I recrossed the border back to home.
Impressions:
#1 - British Columbia has been blessed with more gorgeous scenery than seems fair. It should have shared just a little of its abundance with other areas. (A nice mountain range through Nebraska and Iowa would have been just about right.) But really, it took 4 hours to travel about 75 miles - what with having to stop every mile or two to drink in the new wonders that would appear around each corner. Breathtaking vistas would open up majestically over every incline, each one somehow even better than the last. This was the wild untouched wilderness splendor I had traveled to see. Row upon row of jagged peaks frosted with snowfields and laden with massive glaciers, waterfalls plunging noisily from all sides, thick tracts of dark evergreen forests opening up into wide windswept meadows full of purple and blue lupine. Then there were the lakes - blue mirrors reflecting back the alpine scenery for God's enjoyment. Words can never quite capture intense beauty and even photos can't grasp it all, I guess you had to be there.
#2 - Hitchhiking is very prevalent in Canada, much more common than in the USA. Every small town I passed through, there would be a few hitchhikers looking for a ride to somewhere. Some were travelers, some appeared to be locals. Unlike last year when I visited Canada, I did not pick anyone up this trip (my vehicle was full of stuff and besides, I don't really like the smell of patchouli). I'm beginning to think that Hitchhiking is part of the Canadian psyche. If you don't want to spend money on your own means of transportation (healthcare, national defense, etc.) then hitch a free ride at someone else's expense. Or it could just be that taxes have made gas really expensive ($50 to fill a 15 gallon tank not even completely full).
#3 - Thank God for the USA. Rick Steves cites one of the benefits of foreign travel is the development of a worldview that allows each person to feel more like a citizen of the whole world rather than just one nation. He's right to some extent, it does let me know where people are coming from and the factors that shaped their views. I tend to appreciate my country more every time I travel outside of it. I really do enjoy the American style of living. When I visit developed countries in Europe or elsewhere (the kind George Soros, Michael Moore, and many others who would like to shape our culture and values so esteem), I always come away thinking that American culture and values still are the best (not perfect, just better). When I recross the border and step (or drive) back onto US soil, I always feel a sort of joy and relief. I feel a gratefulness for the unique heritage I have here in my country. (Still I'm planning on revisiting both Canada and Europe as often as possible as well as other places in this beautiful world where we live.)