Kamloops

I'm just wondering if anyone else doubts the authenticity of Kamloops. I mean the whole area. Is it real? The first time I came down the trans-Canada highway into that dry dusty valley I was struck by a notion that has never left me. As you drive along the road you are framed in by hills whose soft folds and giant wrinkles that remind me of the folds and creases of a stiff wool blanket crumpled carefully. Beside you a river meanders its way down the valley. It looked fake to me immediately and yet oddly familiar. A feeling I couldn't understand, having grown up in such a different part of the world. I had never seen trees so sparse. These were not the thick woods of my youth.
And then the train appeared. Riding the rails between the highway and the river, it seemed to be heading straight for me. It struck me that this is just an oversized train set in someone's basement. They didn't have enough trees to cover everything and so they have spaced them out until they make more.