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Wednesday, August 13th

We woke up at Casa Lindsey, and for once, just took our time getting ready to make our way to Canada to drop Emily off, and get used to the new morning rythyms that comes from living with five (and occasionally six, and up to eight) other people.

As I took my shower, Emily began planning our route to the Great White North, and came up with a little trip that would be our first real "driveabout" in Washington. With all my paperwork ready to cross the border, we began our trip up WA 9.

The drive began with a short drive through downtown Bellevue, my nre (albeit temporary) home, into Kirkland. Talk about your Deja Vu. I'm very good with learning directions and landmarks very easily, and quite quickly, and from the last trip up, I remembered most everything. Downtown Bellevue, Kirkland form the Freeway, snippets of Redmond. At least now that Iwas here, I wouldn't feel totally newby-ish.

We headed towards Woodinville, and eventually escaped into rural Washington. Mount Baker loomed ahead of us, but sadly, remained totally obscured by clouds. One thing about Rural Washington. If you get into the smaller towns, like Snohomosh, or Fall City, you'll notice a LOT of little local places still around. No sign of a Wal Mart, or a McDonald's or even a Dairy Queen (wow, I'm NOT in Texas anymore). You see small mom-and-pop burger joints and shacks and stands. Very 1950s, and hopefully, they'll never go away.

The drive took us through mroe and more rural Washington and into a mountain valley, with trees on either side goign straight up. We wound our way around the nooks and crannies when suddenly the area opened up into Lake McMurray and Big Lake. Reminded me a lot of the Lewistown Narrows in Pennsylvania. Mountain on one side, Susquehana River on the other, and houses and rod crammed in where they could put them.

We entered Sedro-Woolley (Home of the $25 Cat Spay (No kidding! They had a sign!)) and stopped at a Little Dairy Queen (In Texas, this makes you a City). And things in Sedro Wolley are so laid back, well....they're so laid back we didn't get our food for almost 30 minutes. And we were the only ones there. And it was a a looooooong 30 minutes.

Betcha Sedro-Woolley is the pot capital of Washington.

We drove out of Sedro-Woolley closer and closer to Canada. WE made a quick stop by the Lake Whatcom Railway, but they were closed for the season (a new phrase I'm getting used to up here...they have SEASONS here). We continued down the valleys and mountain passes until the area opened up just before the town of Nooksack (::giggle::) where we got out, and swtiched driver's seats. Odd rule when crossing the border - the owner has to drive the vehicle in. So we switched sides much to the consternation of the lady who came out to figure out what we were doing, and headed northward to the border in Sumas.

The Canadian Border in Sumas

Welcome to BC!

Driving the Border

On the other side of the border, we took the truck on a wquick trip down Avenue 0 just to say we could, then made our way into Vancouver to see

jessie_c who had let us borrow her apartment last year, sight unseen, without actually even being there.

Logging on the Frasier River.

We made our way to Burnaby, rested up a bit, then went off on the "Mama Jessie's Looking At Places From High Up Tour" which didn't do much for my fear of heights, but was visually stunning.

Burnaby Mountain

Jessie and me at Hollyburn Ridge, looking over Greater Vancouver

Mount Baker looms over Vancouver.

After a quick tour of the town, we hit a White Spot for dinner, spent time talking American Politics, and finally, Emily and I went back to her place, and went to bed.