May 25, 2022
“This land was made for you and me.” This is a line from the song by Woody Guthrie. In the 1960s, Canadian folk singers, The Travellers, changed the lyrics to include Canadian locations. The theme of our cross-Canada journey this year is: This Land. Although we won’t be visiting all the places mentioned in the song, we will see as much as we can.
Our first stop in our journey coincidentally was New Denver, BC, the location of the Japanese internment camp during WWII. We saw a sign for Kohan Reflection Garden, and we are never ones to miss a Japanese garden, so we stopped. However, we had not made the connection that this was the location of an internment camp most Canadians are familiar with.
During WWII, innocent Japanese-Canadians were forcibly removed from their homes and sent to remote internment camps. This was a deplorable event in Canada’s history, and one we should not be too eager to repeat. Fear can be used to justify all sorts of atrocities. These past two years have shown us how quickly people can be turned against each other through weaponized fear.
The Kohan Reflection Garden is located along Slocan Lake. At this elevation, spring had just begun, and the blossoms were a wonderful tribute to all the beautiful Japanese Canadians who suffered.
Also located in town is the Nikkei Internment Memorial Centre. Unfortunately, it was after-hours, but we were able to peak through the fence. The community center and 3 cabins for internees are all that remain of this appalling chapter.
This land. Our land.
Never forget. Never repeat.
Atomic Pod 
Wow! So pretty and serene. I cannot believe how much snow is on the mountains this year. Looks like a lot more than normal.
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Yes. It has been a very cool spring.
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Who knew! Beautiful gardens but very sad this is part of Canadian history. Thank you for the education. Happy trails!
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Thanks, Lynne. Yes, it was beautiful, but so sad.
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Paul&Lisa WOW , thanks for these , keep posting .
I guess my age is showing but I’d forgotten this was your Blog , the first few I was wondering who are these Atomic Dudes….LOL. What clued me in was seeing Poppy and then the tiny A/S badge by the blog name, I never forget a pretty dog ;-}} . Any way enjoying your photos and descriptions , have fun .
LenK
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Thanks Len. I haven’t kept up with the blog over the years. I wasn’t well our last year south in 2019-2020, so I didn’t feel like writing. I also got lazy when I got onto Instagram. It was just easier to post pictures without a commentary. However, I will try hard to update the blog this summer. Hope to see you down the road!
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Lisa, Paul and Poppy, it’;s good to see you are on there road again…. and journaling your adventures too! You visit such interesting places and document them so well. We aren’t traveling anymore, sold the A/S two years back and just last week turned our seventeen year old Silverado Duramax back to our dealer with 246,000 on it. I guess we really are settling down! We’ll live vicariously through your adventures.
Keep on rolling, your best travels are ahead of you, around the curve in the road
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Your Airstream was a showstopper. I bet your still miss it, but they can get so cumbersome pulling them around. For this adventure, the Airstream is parked at base camp, and the little motorhome is our beast of burden, much to Poppy’s dismay.
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Knew about what happened to the Japanese/Canadians, nice to see the pictures.
Sent from my iPad
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Hello Lisa and Paul, thank you for your poignant commentary about New Denver and its sad history. It is a good reminder for all of us to realize how easily social manipulation can move a whole country into committing atrocities. We did it in the U.S.A. in WWII and came close again just a few years back during the Trump Muslim Ban. We all need to keep on our toes to keep our country’s humanity on the right track. There are factions within our power structures lurking to capitalize on opportunities to spew their evil spawn. Too easily the innocent can find themselves swept up and become paqqrt of doing the wrong thing.
Keep on truck’n…..
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Thanks Tom and Sandi. We can’t forget our history.
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