Life In A Northern Town

We live just south of the 49 parallel North. What does that really mean? In short, we live closer to the North Pole than the equator. According to a good read, approximately 13 million Americans live north of the 45th parallel – or 4% of our population; that number jumps to 600 million, or 10% of the world's population.

1,270 miles. That's how long the section of the U.S./Canadian border is which is formed by the 49th parallel. A 20-foot wide clear-cut demarcates the line along with 912 survey markers, two of which are shown at the left, dividing Blaine Washington from Surrey British Columbia. As the world's longest straight international boundary, this section of the border runs from the Lake of the Woods (Minnesota/Manitoba) to the waters of the Pacific (Washington/British Columbia).

We're still short our official ID that would allow us to return from a visit to Oh Canada, so for now we gaze upon the land north of the 49th parallel from across the border.