THANKSGIVING WEEKEND ROAD TRIP

There I was, sitting at work at my computer, typing up some reports and I get an email from D&D in Richmond asking if we (Tanya and I) were coming back for the long weekend. I replied we were but were only staying until Sunday as Tanya wanted to spend Monday prepping for her week of TOCing. D&D replied saying they were going to the U.S. shopping near Seattle on Saturday and wanted to know if we could join them. I suggested they ask Tanya so Dev called Tanya right away and all she really had to mention was Seattle, shopping, and Forever 21 and Tanya was hooked.

Saturday morning came up and we all met at my parents' place to head down to the States. We decided to document our before and after with some photos...

Dor & Dev & Tanya & Me on our way to the States.

So, after listening to CKWX News 1130 and finding out that it was a 2.5 hour wait at Peace Arch and a 1.5 hour wait at the Truck Crossing, Dev told us about her sneaky route using 0 ave. to get to the Aldergrove crossing. The lineup wasn't as bad, but it took a while as 0 ave has to merge with the main road to get into the border line-up. After chatting for over an hour and watching a guy pee behind a telephone pole (yes, he thought the telephone pole would obscure him from everyone around), we made it to the border. I chatted it up with the US Customs officer mentioning we were heading down to do some shopping. Well, the girls were. I volunteered to drive and he asked why and I said my wife was with us and so he said "then you really didn't volunteer did you". =D Yeah, I'm pretty good at chatting it up with the DHS!!

So we headed down Meridian Road to Bellingham then caught the I-5 to Lynnwood to go shopping at Alderwood Mall. The girls made a bee-line to Forever 21, and I took a meander around the mall, buying a DX t-shirt and a belt.

5 hours later and the girls having rung up their credit cards to over $400, we headed back up the I-5 to the Seattle Premium Outlet Mall to do some more shopping. I ended up with a couple Nike toques for the upcoming cold winter of field work. The girls bought some shoes and Tanya found LeSportsac outlet which sells their purses 50% off retail prices. She bought 2!

We eventually made our way back to Cascade to grab some Jack-In-The-Box and back up to Canada which by that time was already 10:30pm. We got to the Peace Arch crossing and the Canada Customs officer lady asked us where we were from to which I replied Richmond/Nanaimo. She then asked if we were all Canadian citizens and I replied yes. Finally, she asked the total value of goods being brought over and I said about $550 (yes, we told the truth, it never pays to lie and get caught) at which point we were all prepared to be pulled over to pay duty/taxes, but she waived us on and that was it!! Wow, amazing!!!

All in all, a great day of a mini-road trip, fun, friends, food, and shopping.

Tanya & Dev & Dor & Me with our loot!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!