Day 10: Washington to Canada

I woke as usual this morning, to the wretched sound of that stupid ‘Tik Tok’ song that’s so annoying it’s an excellent alarm tone. Where was I today? Spokane, Washington. I’d remarked to myself coming into the city last night that it was the first time I’d driven specifically to a city without knowing the first thing about it. Driving down the long street to the motel, I got a pretty good look at what was on offer. And after a really really bad hotel room and sleep, I decided to do what I needed to do and get the heck outta dodge. I did some laundry, ate some Cheerios around the same time 22 children and their families decided they wanted Cheerios also, wrote the update to the blog and packed more ice into my excellent cooler and got on the road.

Today’s “mission” was to get into Vancouver, crossing the Canadian border in the process. This would mean that I’d literally have to drive across the entire state of Washington (don’t confuse with the District of Columbia city!) and then up through southern Canada into Vancouver. The route would take me close to Seattle, but if I had any hope of reaching Vancouver before nightfall, I couldn’t afford to go in. So basically I sat back and drove from Spokane all the way to North Bend, a town high above Seattle about 30 miles east, where I got a quick bite to eat and book an hotel. Despite my best efforts, my Verizon MiFi wouldn’t work across the border and Meteor’s extortionate data roaming charges meant that I’d be internet-less from when I left the US. Money came into the equation again and I opted for the cheaper Howard Johnson chain hotel outside Vancouver as anything in the city itself was pretty expensive.

I got to the border crossing just before 5.30pm and joined the queue for about 45 minutes to enter. At the crossing I was asked all about myself (much more so than when coming through Chicago a week prior!) and after examining my flight details and complimenting me on my organisational skills (he helped himself to my map and itinerary too by the sound of it!) I was on my way, Passport stamped. First impressions across the border? Pretty bland. As I got into Surrey and up through to Burnaby where I’d stay the night, things improved. The speed limits are a bit mild and it’s all metric so the MPH dial on the Fusion was useless – there’s a KPH dial too but it’s minuscule. Finally reaching the hotel I was surprised to see what looked like a liquor store underneath housed a lovely room upstairs. After freshening up I decided to head into town and get something to eat. After making a mess of navigating the city in the rain (oh did I mention it rained the entire time since crossing the border?!) I took in the view from Stanley Park and came back to the hotel. Overall a pretty bland day – hopefully the weather will have improved enough for me to explore Vancouver properly tomorrow.