The Highs and Lows of the Pacific Northwest

Yesterday was a day filled with ups and downs, excitement and exhaustion, laughter and annoyance. You can read the details on David and Joe's blogs. I'm too tired to spend a lot of time describing our excursions with well written prose, so I'll just include a timeline of the day.

• 6:00 a.m.: Rise and Shine
• 7:00 a.m. Chat with Lynne before she heads out to work
• 7:30 a.m.: Start thinking a quick trip to the border would be fun. Decide to go to the Peace Arch Park. Should be easy to find, after all it's at the border.
• 9:00 a.m.: Say goodbye to Garry and head north on Interstate 5
• 9:20 a.m.: Take the Peace Portal exit, but it doesn't seem to go anywhere that looks like a park
• 9:25 a.m. Ask Google for directions and follow the directions driving parallel to I-5 on back roads.
• 9:30 a.m.: Back on the freeway and faced with a fork in the highway - to the left and up a ramp or straight ahead. Google says go straight
• 9:31 a.m.: Look up and see a sign that says Peace Arch on the ramp we didn't take and realize we are headed to the border.
• 9:32 a.m.: Slow down and start looking for a U-turn or someway to turn around to no avail
• 9:35 a.m: Cross some yellow zone while waiting in line at the border, set off some alarm, and annoy the agent.
• 9:37 a.m.: Explain to the Canadian border agent that we made a mistake and don't want to go to Canada.
• 9:39 a.m.: Drive through an opening in the barricade and join a long line of cars waiting to cross into the U.S.
• 10:00 a.m.: Waiting in long line of cars
• 10:15  a.m.: Talk to several Customs and Border Protection officers while waiting in the long line. Both explained how to get to Peace Arch Park once we got back over the border
• 10:30 a.m. Set off another alarm because my car blocked the view of a camera or something like that. Explain why we are in line to cross into the U.S. without passports. Answer several questions about where we are from, why we are so far north, and where we were born.
• 10:35 a.m.: Get sent to secondary inspection point, instructed to leave keys in car, walk past other cars being searched, and go into building to stand in a line.
• 10:50 a.m.: Hand over our driver's licenses to an agent, and sit on a bench to wait
• 11:15 a.m.: Still waiting
• 11:30 a.m.: Finally cleared to return to the U.S. after a few more questions, our licenses are returned.

Final thoughts: Never did get to see the Peace Arch,  frankly don't really want to now.

• 1:00 p.m.: Arrive at Mavi & Bob's place, get a tour of the house and see all of the work Mavi's been doing painting and building. Tell her our border story, and hear about her nanny job and her dogs. Eat yummy snacks prepared by Mavi.
• 2:00 p.m.: Hugs goodbye to Mavi

Final thoughts: It was great fun to see Mavi and see her doing well. I know it's been hard for her leaving family and friends in San Diego, but she is making a great home for Bob and herself and living her life to the fullest. Very proud of that Mavi, girl!

• 2:30 p.m.: Pull into the parking lot for the Boeing tour and museum (The Future of Flight)
• 3:00 p.m.: Tour the really really big facility where 747s and other really big airplanes are built and assembled. Learn lots of stuff about airplanes
• 4:30 p.m.: Walk the through the museum and gift shop (which seemed bigger than the museum) and learned more about flight and planes

Final Thoughts: Airplanes are really big.

• 5:00 p.m.: Leave Boeing and hit major traffic
• 6:00 p.m.: Still in traffic
• 6:45 p.m.: Drive around Seattle looking for a parking place
• 6:55 p.m.: Arrive at Doc Maynards Saloon in Pioneer Square to go on the 7:00 Underground Tour
• 7:15 p.m.: Listen to a funny rendition of the history of Seattle
• 7:30 p.m.: Walk through musty tunnels under the streets and sidewalks of Seattle looking at the original storefronts, and leftover debris from 100 years ago.

Final thoughts: I love old relics and the history surrounding them. The added humor and stories from our guide made this a perfect tour for me.

• 8:00 p.m.: Walk 10 blocks to Pike's Place avoiding aggressive panhandlers. Look at the Big Wheel, but decide not to ride it.
• 8:30 p.m.: See that everything is closed, so walk back to our car

Final thoughts: Yeah, nothing here.

• 9:00: p.m.: Drive to Space Needle
• 10:00 p.m.: Go up to the top of the Space Needle, take photos, ooh and aah.
• 11:00 p.m.: Leave Seattle, hit a lot of traffic

Final thoughts; Seattle traffic is worse than San Diego traffic, but the view of the city lights is spectacular from the Space Needle at night.

• 12:00 a.m.: Driving
• 1:00 a.m.: Driving lots of road work
• 1:30 a.m.: Detour in Portland, bridge is closed for repairs. Take a 20 mile detour around the outskirts of the city
• 2:00 a.m.: Back on I-5 with Joe driving
• 3:00 a.m.: Joe driving in the rain
• 3:30 a.m.: Roll into the parking lot of our motel in Eugene.
• 4:15 a.m.: Decide there is no way we will be able to go to the Lassen Volcanic National Park the next day.
• 5:00 a.m.: Lights out and everyone trying to get as much sleep as possible
• 10:30 a.m.: Drag out of bed
• 12:00 p.m.: Check out and hit the road for Sacramento

Final Thoughts: Driving until 3:30 in the morning sucks. I get really grumpy and I'm not much fun to be around when I don't get enough sleep.