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Published: April 20th 2009
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In the Cascades
Route 2 follows the Skykomish River on the way up and the Wenachee River on the way down (going east). We decided to take a short road trip to British Columbia, a western province of Canada. Upon a friend's recommendation, we headed to the turn of the century town of Nelson. We drove from LaConner across Steven's Pass (the North Cascades Highway is still closed due to snow), and then north through Coulee City and Grand Coulee. The basalt cliffs along Banks Lake were spectacular!
We then cut across the Colville Indian Reservation (on a mountain road that the GPS pretended not to recognize for several miles) and then north, this time to the Canadian border, crossing at Danville, a very small town. The US and Canadian houses were only several yards apart, but one cannot walk across the invisible border without being arrested!
This was a very unpleasant start to the Canadian part of the trip: The immigration officier was very suspicious, and very thorough....questioned why we came that way, what time we had left home, why we didn't have proof of marriage with us (???), why we didn't have more cash on us, why we didn't have a print-out of our hotel reservations....and so on....and THEN (15 minutes or so into her interrogation) had us park the
car, and get out. She went through my purse (item by item...wondering aloud why I my expired license along with my current one in my wallet...!) in front of us, and then had us wait inside where we could not see the car while she went through it. After another 15 minutes, we were allowed back to the car, where she showed us the apple I had forgotten we had in the trunk and told us that she was supposed to make us go back into the States to dispose of it and come back through (and go through all the same procedures I assume), but that she would dispose of it since we were running late!
She had also found the health club ID of the former owner of car left in the glove compartment and questioned us about his identity. By the time we were allowed to continue on, we didn't even want to go to Canada....
I know that people try to use the small border crossings to sneak things through, but this seemed to be a little more suspicion than necessary, considering our demographics...
We arrived in Nelson just at dusk, checked into
Ghostly orchards in Cashmere on Highway 2 in eastern WA
The trees were all grey and went on for miles...still winter there our hotel, and went down to restaurant to have my birthday dinner...today we walked around this well preserved town, which was built on the edge of a lake and spreads up the hillsides...There is a young, hip population here, attracted by jobs in extreme sports, along with studies at an Oriental medicine school, art school, and a college. Many cool shops and places to eat....The town is ringed by mountains, and the lake at the foot of town is deep green....There is still snow on the mountains and the higher hills. We crossed a couple of passes on the way here where there was still much snow.
Nelson photos: http://kootenay-lake.ca/lakeside/Nelson/heritage/
Tomorrow we head for Banff...and the Rockies.
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Maggie
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Happy Birthday!
I'm sorry the lady at the border was unpleasant but I'm glad you had an enjoyable birthday dinner. Love you!