Oh Canada

After breakfast we left Snohomish and the Countryman B & B behind and headed north on WA-9. Traffic was ugly until we got north of Arlington and then it was pretty much one black PT Cruiser and the road until we hit Bellingham. There we jumped on I-5 and hightailed it to the border. Not many people heading into Canada on a Tuesday morning, there were two lines open at customs and we were number two in line for one of them.

So excited to clear customs that easily, we (meaning me) drove right past the Canada Welcome Center and then promptly zoomed by the exit for our hotel, realizing it only as we (meaning me) drove by the building. Is this a cool country or what? On the major highways you can go 100! Instead of backtracking we just headed into downtown White Rock for lunch. We ended up at a Japanese place where I discovered that it is really hard to eat flat, slippery noodles with chopsticks. While we ate at a table outside along the waterfront we were entertained mightily by a half dozen or so teen aged boys dressed up in wild and distinctly feminine attire (later explained to us a graduation rite where the girls dress the boys and parade them around town.)

When we finally did check in, the woman behind the desk said that they weren’t expecting me until tomorrow. Ooops, I made the reservation for the wrong day. Fortunately they were not full and could put us up for tonight. After settling in Gnorm and I enjoyed a Canadian 7UP on the small balcony of our room. Donna and I did a load of laundry as we waited for Jim, Linda and Jennifer to arrive. They got in with just enough time to catch a 1 hour nap before we went for dinner.

We met Donna and Jim’s 1st cousin-once removed at a local Fish & Chips place. His name is Jim as well and although he and is wife are regulars at this restaurant they didn’t know his name matched the famous singer for the Doors until we asked the waitress if he was there yet. The seven of gathered around a table in the corner of the place and heard stories from him and his wife Anne about their lives and the lives of some distant Morrison folks. Afterwards they invited us to their small neat apartment where we took pictures of each other and shared some more memories.