The prospect of the US elections this fall makes me (like many of my US friends) think about Canada.
I went hiking there for two weeks with friends from California (sort of – one was from Britain, one from the US, and the third from Australia) in the summer of 1995. We hit two weeks of rain except for one day where it also hailed. Our planned week long backpacking trip needed major revisions. We tried to do overnighters on the trail, but it is not much fun to spend long nights in a tent while it rains all night (and morning).
After that, we went for day hikes in the area during brief respites. Whenever the rain stopped, I got my camera out.
At night, we mostly car camped under a tarp and spent hours discussing the problem in what positions one can move a given rectangular tarp by tying it to four given trees with ropes.
It turned out that most of our arguments were wrong. Neither the weather nor the endless mathematical disputes had any negative impact on our friendship.
A likely cause was the excellent Canadian wine.
So maybe there is hope, after all. Next summer?
The Inner Frame 