I love my country. Like, a lot. I’ve been known to cry at tourism commercials for Newfoundland and Labrador (honestly, have you seen those ads?), and any time our national anthem plays at public events (especially medal ceremonies during the Olympics, especially when the Olympics are in Canada—for the two weeks of the Vancouver games, I was a blubbering disaster). I have been so overwhelmed by the mountains out west and Canadian Shield up north that I couldn’t even speak, and my heart goes all pitter-patter when I’m on a flight coming home and descending into Toronto. I love my country.

So when I heard that Pamela MacNaughtan of Spunkygirl Monologues was launching a Canadian blogger roulette series, in which each of us were to write a post listing what we think visitors should experience in Canada, of course I was in. And when she tagged me to follow up, my mind set to coming up with the things that truly define Canada for me. Picking enough wasn’t the problem—it was narrowing down the list that proved to be the real challenge.

But I did it, and so here they are: The 5 things that say to me, This Is My Canada.

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