Last week, The New York Times declared Canada as the top place to visit in 2017.
Naturally, Canadians were blushing as red as the maple leaf with the recognition.
But hold on, other than mentioning our national parks, a handful of natural attractions, and Ottawa and Montreal, Canada was reduced to being described as "cosmopolitan cities, barely explored natural wonders and everything in between."
Hey man, there's a LOT to see and do here.
Especially off the beaten path, in smaller nooks and crannies of our wonderful country — places like Florenceville, N.B. or Vulcan, Alta.
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Check out our list of the most awesome obscure places in Canada, and add your favourite in the comments below.
Torrington, Alta.
Eileen Mak/Flickr
To visit The Gopher Hole Museum, of course. About a 90-minute drive from Calgary, you can visit 71 tiny, taxidermied gophers in costume.
La Manche, N.L.
Ernest Ackermann/Flickr
This former tiny fishing community on Placentia Bay boomed with the discovery of lead ore in the 1850s. But after a century, the town faded away. Today, the gorgeous area — which includes an abandoned mine — attracts hikers and snowmobilers. Go to Hidden Newfoundland for more awesome places.
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Florenceville, N.B.
Andree Lau
A pastor has built a real-life Noah's Ark in this New Brunswick town. It's two-thirds the size of the one mentioned in the Bible, and is run as a Bible school and retreat centre.
Florenceville, N.B.
Potato World Facebook
Since Florenceville is also the birthplace of French fry giant McCain Foods, drop by the Potato World museum.
Narcisse, Man.
Manitoba Conservation
For a few weeks, anywhere from 50,000 to 75,000 red-sided garter snakes come out of hibernation to mate. And you can see it all in Narcisse.
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Cap-Egmont, P.E.I.
benedek via Getty Images
Édouard Arsenault spent years creating a village of houses made of 25,000 glass bottles. Read more about The Bottle Houses.
Michelle Butterfield
Michel Viatteau/AFP/Getty Images
Canada is also home to nearly one million citizens of Polish origin. Wilno is Canada's oldest Polish settlement, having been set up in 1859. There's now a heritage museum, and six other buildings to tour that shows what life was like back then. In this photo, well-wishers in traditional Kaszub costumes greet Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk in 2012 in Wilno.
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Frank, Alta.
Mike Lyvers via Getty Images
In 1903, an entire mountain came down in a rockslide that buried the mining town of Frank and killed at least 90 people. Take an awe-inspiring trip to the site where boulders are as big as school buses, and learn a bit of the slide's history.
Drummondville, Que.
Deborah Baic/The Globe and Mail via CP
It’s considered the birthplace of poutine — though it’s always being contested by three other nearby small towns. It even has a restaurant that trademarked poutine.
Dougall Photography via Getty Images
Since the 19th century, aboriginal people have believed in the lake’s healing powers.
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Kimberley, B.C.
Henry Georgi via Getty Images
Home to Canada’s largest free-standing cuckoo clock and a shopping plaza meant to look like a miniature Bavarian village. The cuckoo clock is guarded by a man called Happy Hans who pops out every hour and yodels. No joke.
Cap LeMoine, N.S.
Neil Harvey/Flickr
Joe’s Scarecrow Village is a Cape Breton landmark. Joe Delaney started it in the '80s when he was trying to protect his garden from crows. The scarecrows now number 50, including likenesses of Ronald Reagan and the band KISS.
Watson Lake, Yukon
Government of Yukon
Located at Yukon's gateway and along the Alaska Highway is the Sign Post Forest. An American soldier posted a sign to his hometown here in 1942.
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Government of Yukon
It’s now a tradition for travellers to add their own. The forest now has more than 72,000 signs
Ste-Flavie, Que.
Centre d'Art Marcel Gagnon
From 1986 to 2003, artist Marcel Gagnon created more than 100 life-sized sculptures in reinforced concrete, looking like they're coming out of the sea.
Vulcan, Alta.
Barcroft via Getty Images
Originally named after the Roman god of fire, the town has embraced everything "Star Trek." The USS Enterprise welcomes visitors to Vulcan.
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Jeff McIntosh/Canadian Press
Actor Leonard Nimoy who played the Vulcan named Spock even visited the town in 2010 to be part of its annual parade.
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A mural dedicated to Star Trek, just off the main Vulcan street.
Barcroft via Getty Images
Many of the towns businesses have run with the Star Trek theme. Here two generations of Star Trek fans eat at the Enterprise Restaurant, watched closely by Star Trek: Voyager's sexy Seven of Nine.
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Sainte-Anne-de-Sabrevois, Que.
Domaine Pourki
You can sleep in teepees on the water thanks to Les Chalets Domaine Pourki.
Domaine Pourki
The floor of each teepee one has a removable glass opening to watch the fish below.
Pingualuit Crater Lake, Northern Quebec
NASA. Courtesy of Denis Sarrazin.
It's said to be the purest freshwater on earth. Plus, just look at that thing.
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Qualicum Bay, B.C.
HuffPost Canada
The Free Spirit Spheres allow you to stay in the world's coolest friggin' treehouses.
Hope, B.C.
Jeroen van Luin/Flickr
The Othello Tunnels are a legacy of incredible construction feats in the 1900s. Five tunnels were carved through the Coquihalla River Canyon as part of the Canadian Pacific Railway's Kettle Valley Railroad.
waferboard/Flickr
Walking through the giant rock arches make you realize how much work and sacrifice went into the railway using ladders, ropes and suspension bridges.
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Moose Jaw, Sask.
Tunnels of Moose Jaw
Originally built in the 1900s to run steam power in the city, the tunnels of Moose Jaw became the underground home of persecuted Chinese immigrants. Later, it was used for bootlegging with rumours that infamous gangster Al Capone hid out here.