Bob Has Been Everywhere, Man. Elbows Up This Summer.

Bob has been thinking a lot lately about that phrase everyone keeps saying:

“Elbows up.”

And maybe that does not just mean hockey.

Maybe it means this summer Canadians should remember what we have right here at home.

Because honestly, why are we racing across the border when we live in one of the biggest and most beautiful countries on earth?

Bob has stood beside the mountains in British Columbia with an old Sony camera hanging off his shoulder thinking there is no way this place is real.

Bob has driven through the Prairies where the sky is so big it looks like somebody forgot to crop the photo.

Bob has watched storms roll across Lake Superior.
Driven the Cabot Trail.
Stopped at roadside craft shops in Northern Ontario.
Photographed little towns, grain elevators, oceans, fishing villages, and roads that disappear into the horizon for hours.

And every single time Bob thinks:

“Why are Canadians always trying to leave Canada in the summer?”

This country is enormous.

You can spend your whole life traveling Canada and still not see it all.

Meanwhile everybody rushes to airports to stand in line somewhere else while half the people online cannot even point to Saskatchewan on a map.

This summer maybe it is time for Canadians to travel their own country.

Go camping in Ontario.
Drive through Quebec.
See the mountains out west.
Visit the East Coast.
Stop at the roadside diners.
Photograph the weird giant statues.
Buy snacks at gas stations in towns you never heard of.

That is real Canadian travel.

And you know what Bob likes best about traveling Canada?

The stories.

The woman running the tiny restaurant in the middle of nowhere.
The guy at the campground telling fishing stories.
The roadside museum that looks like it has not changed since 1974.
The grain elevators standing like castles in the Prairies.
The old fishing boats on the Atlantic coast.

These are the things you remember.

Not standing in an outlet mall parking lot somewhere.

Bob also laughs because people online act like you need expensive new camera gear to document your travels.

Most of these photos were taken with older Sony cameras and kit lenses while Bob wandered around Canada like a documentary photographer looking for the next story.

Because the truth is Canada already gives you everything you need.

Mountains.
Cities.
Road trips.
Lakes.
Storms.
Wild landscapes.
Street festivals.
Historic towns.
Endless highways.

This summer maybe Canadians should put their elbows up a little and remember this country is worth exploring too.

You do not need to leave Canada to find adventure.

Sometimes the best trip of your life is waiting somewhere on a two-lane highway with a Tim Hortons coffee, an old camera, and a sign pointing toward a town you have never visited before.