A Cross-Border Culture Trip

BC’s largest metropolis—Vancouver—has a stateside counterpart with the same name: Vancouver, Washington, an outdoorsy city on the Columbia River. Both are named after Captain George Vancouver, a British Royal Navy explorer whose Pacific Northwest meanderings knew no boundaries. 

Likewise, BC and Washington State share a valley with a similar name. On the Canadian side, the Okanagan Valley is spelled with an “a,” while in Washington State it’s Okanogan with an “o.” Both are European spellings of an Indigenous word with multiple interpretations including “place of water” and “rendezvous.” Each meaning is fitting as, historically, Indigenous communities from both countries gathered annually at Osoyoos Lake, which spans the border, for fishing, trading, and ceremonial feasts called potlatches. 

In fact, British Columbia and Washington are located on the ancestral lands of hundreds of Indigenous nations, each with their own languages, traditions, and stories. More than 200 First Nations weave a rich cultural tapestry in BC, connecting visitors to the land through Indigenous cuisine, cultural celebrations like powwows, and carving, weaving, and storytelling traditions. Washington State’s 29 federally recognized tribes also share their traditions through festivals, museums, art galleries, and cultural centres.

As a writer, one of the hardest adjustments about living in Canada is remembering to add a “u” to words like colour and honour. The extra letter is a nod to the country’s British roots, and its prevalence on menus and billboards adds a bit of flavour to a meal or drive in BC. (For more fun, peruse grocery store aisles, where products list descriptions and ingredients in English and en Français, Canada’s official languages.)

Where the U.S. has dispensed with the “u”, Canada has gotten rid of the dollar bill. In its place we have the loonie, a gold-coloured coin featuring a loon, a bird that symbolizes northern wilderness. Canada phased out the dollar bill in 1989, betting that wide circulation of coins (rather than paper bills) would be more practical and cost effective. The two dollar bill soon followed, replaced by a $2 coin called a toonie that features a polar bear. The U.S. has large silver or gold dollar coins, but they’re not widely circulated. 

While Canadian bills are colourful—red 50s, green 20s, purple 10s, and blue 5s—bills in the U.S. are predominantly green. No matter. In our modern, virtually cashless societies, travellers are more likely to use their phones to pay for purchases.

Because the landscapes are so similar, BC and Washington catch, grow, and harvest similar foods—fresh salmon and lingcod, sweet orchard cherries and peaches, and forest flavours like foraged mushrooms and tender fiddlehead ferns. We also share a craft beverage culture, whether we’re sessioning IPAs at a craft brewery, contemplating latte art at a local coffee roaster, or sipping terroir-driven whites, rosés, and reds at a boutique winery.

But we put our stamp on these indulgences. BC is so crazy for spot prawns there’s a festival celebrating these large crustaceans every May, while Washington goes all in on oysters and Dungeness crab. And while Seattle arguably created coffee culture and its jargon of styles and sizes (hello, Starbucks grande latte with oat milk), Vancouver answers back with JJ Bean, a fourth-generation, city-wide coffee chain that roasts its own beans. 

Edged by the ocean, surrounded by dramatic mountainscapes (including active volcanoes), and awash in the misty calm of coastal rainforest, the Pacific Northwest connects residents and travellers to nature. In addition to dozens of provincial and state parks, BC and Washington are home to a combined 10 national parks (seven in BC and three in Washington).

Even in the cities, nature is front and centre. When Vancouverites aren’t running in Stanley Park or hiking on the North Shore, they’re mountain biking, rock climbing, or skiing in the nearby resort towns of Squamish and Whistler. While pickleball is Washington’s state sport (yep, it was invented on Bainbridge Island in 1965—you’re welcome, tennis), you’re just as likely to see Seattleites hiking in Discovery Park or strolling the paths in the Washington Park Arboretum. Issaquah and North Bend are Washington’s answers to BC’s Sea-to-Sky Highway resorts; smaller towns with an authentic community ethos. It’s no wonder outdoor gear giants originated in the PNW. REI was founded in Seattle in 1938, while Arc’teryx began in Vancouver in 1989.