August 2, 2019
Coming to America
(Is it broken, or not?)
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Since we live on an island, the first step in going most places is to get on a ferry. (Ok, there is an airport, but flying from the island is often extra pricey.) As ferries go, it's normally BC Ferries. But Washington State Ferries (WSF) does operate a service from Sidney to Anacortes. We decided to give it a try, since it shortcuts the drive south from the BC Ferries terminal at Tsawwassen.
Using WSF is not exactly a no brainer. To start, they insist you arrive 90 minutes before departure. This accommodates their relatively inefficient boarding procedure, but also US immigration. And then, the ride is over three hours. You need to look on the while thing more like a cruise than a high speed transit.
There is often (but not always!) a gap between the horrible images you can build up from reading news reporting, and the reality of dealing with people in real life. So the dreaded US Immigration officer thought cycling Willamette was a great idea, and neglected to harass us about any contraband tomatoes we might have in our sandwich, or whatever.
The 90 minutes included a little time to be parked waiting to board, in a lot with a souvenir shop/snack bar alongside. The parking lot revealed a lot of those vehicle types that we hope do not pop up on the road when we are cycling: The classic motor home dragging jeep, and the vexatious boat on trailer were there, plus an increasingly common one - the Backroads support van and trailer. Backroads is sort of OK. At least, we have enjoyed browsing their slick catalogs, which contain ideas for places to go on our own self-supported efforts. But when Dodie tried to engage two "clients" about their trip, she was pretty mcuh brushed off with a "Go talk to the organizers". Of course, you will never get this from a self-supported cyclist. These folks might as well have been in a bus tour.
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The gift shop was also interesting, at least to this keen observer. It was all Canadian souvenirs, which makes sense, I guess. For US souvenirs, you need to be on the US side. It's a little confusing, since the ferry wants to be paid in $US, and by the time you hit the gift shop you have already passed US immigration. The shop did have some nice Canadian themed key rings. That is, key rings with indigenous art designs. It's a little sad that post confederation (1867) Canada has developed little in art or design and continues to appropriate stuff from the people who were here before that. Well ok, there were Rogers Chocolates,which are genuinely a Victoria thing, and maple syrup (at almost exactly 4x the grocery store price), and "Moose Droppings" candies. Now all that is truly Canada!
Also truly Canada was the large display of bulky knit wool sweaters. We normally call these Cowichan Sweaters, and indeed they are knit by local (to us) members of the Cowichan tribe. In fact in our sheep farming days we were well aware of quite low prices offered for fleeces, and of the fact that the government built the tribe a carding mill, but that we were excluded from using it. All that may now be in the past. These sweaters, anyway, were knit in Nepal from New Zealand wool. (Sorry Trish and Ken - we know people need to make a living down there too!)
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As happens each and every time we leave the Island by water, we remark on how beautiful it is in this part of the world. And then, each and every time, I write "So why are we leaving?" The answer of course is so that we will appreciate it all the more, and write the same darn thing next time around.
Over three hours on board pretty well guarantees that you will patronise the onboard food services. This is where BC Ferries, often criticized, begins to shine. On many sailings they have the "Pacific Buffet", which for $Can 23 or so offers all you can eat of quite creditable salads, main dishes, and desserts. Here on WSF I sent Dodie off to find a burger, but she came back having felt unable to actually buy the dubious foil wrapped offering. Instead she had a sandwich, some hummus, and water. $17. (That's $US, eh!). We know this will be a problem for us in the US going forward on this trip. There is good food somewhere in the country, we have heard. But most people subsist on dreck.
We had not brought our own snacks on board, because we expect the border guards to repel any dangerous bananas or cucumbers, or worse, oranges, we might try to invade their country with. We were surprised that our pleasant guard did not ask about any of that, and that we could have brought sandwiches along. That was actually accurate, because it turns out the customs/agriculture grilling only happens once the boat has landed. Now it was no more Mr. Nice Guy, as the officer wanted in to the van and berated me for trying to open the sliding door for him. "Step away from the door, sir. When I want your help/interference I'll ask for it". Once the door was open, they called in the dogs and gave the place a thorough sniff. Ha,ha, not a contraband orange to be found. Well ok, maybe they were looking more for cannabis, which is legal in BC and legal in Washington, but still a US federal offence. Makes sense, eh?
The dogs are not infallible, anyway. Last time, coming back from Germany, Dodie inadvertently smuggled an entire Leipzig Lerche (marzipan tart) past a dog at Seattle airport that had been triggered by the lingering trace of a tomato-mozza sandwich in a hand bag.
The whole impression from these border people was of sort of desperate paranoia. How much nicer to pass from country to country in Europe. Often they do not even bother with a sign.
Once set loose into America, the first main thing we noticed was native owned casinos. We think these are ironic, since in them the tribes are turning the tables (literally), pedaling tobacco, liquor, and greed back to the invading Europeans. The next thing of note was the volume of traffic. Even before reaching the Interstate we were engulfed by automobiles.
To perfect our experience, we stopped at Walmart. The store, off I-5, was two or three times bigger than a Walmart back home. And naturally, the number of distinct products was also two or three times greater. We would be hard pressed to really say what all these varieties were about, but we failed to spot anything that seemed as it would make our lives all that much richer. Ok, here's one example, where we can make a direct comparison to back home. Remember the maple syrup at Sidney? Here's what you can get at Walmart near Seattle:
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While the Maple Guild and Crown ones are flavoured maple syrup (why change that fabulous flavour?), the Magic ones are "flavored monk fruit syrup" which made me look up monk fruit. It's the fruit of a herbaceous perennial vine grown in China whose extract is used as a sweetener.
4 years ago
The subtitle for today's entry "(Is it broken, or not?)" is unique, because it does not refer as one might expect, to the state of the country. Rather it refers to the state of Avi's finger. Violet dropped a driftwood log on it yesterday evening. Today Laurie felt it was maybe broken, and we received text updates as Avi made his way through x-ray. We were speculating on whether Avi would be able to cycle or not. The report came back not broken. We expect he will cycle, but here on the ferry we are still speculating on how much inconvenience or pain he will have.
Laurie sent this photo. Ouch!
By the time we got to see Avi in person, the fingers looked a lot tamer. But we still do not expect he will be able to operate his front brake. Oh well, we have far to go each day. No room for a lot of superfluous braking!
Bonus impossible quiz. Laurie is wondering what this shrub in her yard is. Any ideas?
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lonicera_maackii
4 years ago
Great identifying, Bill!
4 years ago
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4 years ago
When we see the good and the beautiful we are also free with those comments. You should keep reading, and so benefit from an honest and unbiased coverage.
4 years ago
4 years ago
Kind and welcoming has been or experience, here, and actually everywhere!
Last night we did enjoy a place called "Bongo's", which has seating on sand and really superb Caribbean/New Orleans food at reasonable prices.
4 years ago
4 years ago
4 years ago