That’s the theory, anyway. Reality, for most of us, is more about beaches, barbecues and baseball tournaments. And that’s how it should be at the height of summer in Canada’s astonishing, fantastic, unbelievable province. Life is for living, after all.

Whether dipping a paddle in some magnificent lake or river, pitching a tent and listening to wind in the canopy or the boom of surf, strolling the seawall — or just kicking back on the patio with a craft beer from one of B.C.’s three-score breweries or wine from one of 160 vintners while grass-fed Nicola Valley steaks or Fraser Valley Portobello mushrooms sizzle on the grill — is there a better place or way to spend the August long weekend?

Most residents are by now a tad desensitized to that ubiquitous Super Natural B.C. brand. We hear it so often from marketers and politicians, who often appear to take personal credit for the province’s marvels. And yet, the label’s true.

We inhabit one of the most diverse places in Canada, and not just in terms of ethnic, social or cultural variety. The greatest ocean on the planet surges against 27,000 kilometres of stunningly beautiful coastline, seething among 6,000 islands. Mighty rivers reach thousands of kilometres into the Interior, all the way to the Rocky Mountains where cornices of snow mark B.C.’s eastern boundary. Between lie deserts, prairies, muskegs, canyons, caldera, lava flows, boreal forests.

B.C. occupies only 10 per cent of Canada’s land area but is home to more than half of its vertebrates and vascular plants and three quarters of its bird and mammal species. The biggest living things dwell here, Western red cedar and Douglas fir on land, blue whales and basking sharks in the sea. We are graced with a province of superlatives. Wettest, driest, hottest, coldest, highest city and lowest highway, biggest salmon, highest waterfall, highest lake, highest dam, tallest totem pole carved from a single tree, oldest life forms — 9,000-year old glass sponges — and even a giant drowned volcano, Sgaan Kinghlas, off Haida Gwaii.

As the popular Lonely Planet guide for visitors says of our landscape: “the words spectacular, breathtaking and jaw-dropping only go so far.” Who would argue with the thunderstruck enthusiasm? Happy B.C. Day. Amid the camp-outs, family gatherings, barbecues, ball games, picnics, Frisbee sessions and wilderness treks, spare a moment to be grateful for what you’ve got.

Published by The Vancouver Sun.
Saturday July 30th 2016.

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