At the small border crossing from Montana into Canada, they take things seriously. We had to wait in a cold room for what seemed like a long time, but probably wasn’t. It turns out there was concern that we would be looking for work in Canada, given our sketchy story of being unemployed and moving from Illinois to Florida by way of Canada. Finally, we were let through and, as you know, we had a great time visiting our neighbors of the north.
Of course, it was much easier to get back into the States. After waiting in traffic a little bit, Niall talked sports with the border patrol officer (he had lived in Gainesville for awhile in our favorite neighborhood, the Duck Pond!) as we breezed on in. Below is a photo of the Peace Arch in the beautiful, international (no passport or visa necessary to hang out within its confines) park that stands at the border crossing between the two countries.
Onto Seattle.
On our way, we stopped at the beautiful straight Deception Pass, which separates a couple of islands from each other in northwest Washington. Pauses like this during these long drives are so worthwhile.
A few weeks ago, I called up my old roommate Suni who lives in Seattle, hoping to make plans to see her briefly when we arrived there. I hadn't talked to her in a long while and hadn't seen her in eleven years or so. She was so kind and offered us a place to stay! We gladly took her up on it and ended up spending a few nights in her lovely home (the first house we had entered in a month) as we explored Seattle.
It was amazing to reconnect with her, as well as meet her partner and their kids, not to mention experience the luxury of a house.
Niall did a mini photo shoot for me and Suni, as we were catching up.
It was pretty exciting to spend time with the kitty of the house. Manuel was a complete sweetie.
Seattle is a really fun and beautiful city to spend some time in.
We started our exploring at Ballard Locks, which provides a link for ships between the salt water of Puget Sound and fresh water of Ship Canal.
I could spend all day watching the boats.
And the fish. There’s a fish ladder there, to help fish navigate the locks and get from the salt water to the fresh water. Usually, salmon are born in rivers, spend their adult lives in the sea, and then go back to their birthplace to spawn.
Fascinating.
Then, we went to Gas Works Park (above and below) for its beautiful view during the magic hour before sunset. It is an interesting park because it’s at the former site of Seattle’s Gas Light Company’s gasification plant.
Clearly, we had an excellent first night visiting Seattle. I’ll tell you more about our adventures there soon! There’s so much to share.
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