Three of my kids flew in from Australia to join with my Canadian partners two children. We were a little worried about how they would get on, but we needn't have as they got on famously. In no time at all they were talking about music, the superiority of Australian fast foods and trying to work out just what each other were saying. To date, togs, ta and jumper appear to be favourites.
As we Aussies outnumber Canadian's on this trip I am sure that we will soon have them all talking very good strine.
After an exchange of Christmas presents and a introduction to Canadian beer and chicken wings the aussie kids hit the fart-sack to have a well earned sleep after their long flight. We spent the night at White Rock a lovely seaside town which is only a few minutes drive from the United States/Canada border.
Early the next morning we crossed into the United States at the Peace Arch crossing. We probably waited 15 minutes in the car line to get to the actual checkpoint. The US Border Security guard was taken back a little by the number of passengers in the Uplander van. As my kids had flown into Vancouver they had to pass through US immigration. So we were told to park the van and move inside to complete the registration.
We were directed to a parking lot by a gun-toting guard and everyone was ordered out of the vehicle and we were told to place the keys on the windshield. We moved inside the small building to be confronted by a long line of predominately asian people who were waiting to have their US visa's cleared.
I had forgotten my wallet and wwent back to the car to get it where I was stopped by a border guard and questioned about what I was doing. I was then escorted to my car to get the wallet. Sniffer dogs were being lead around the cars by handlers, poking their noses into wheel wells and along the sides of the vehicles.
I headed back for the long line and wait. The guy who processed us was very polite and accommodating which was a pleasant suprise. My three children were fingerprinted and photographed and I then had the privilidge of paying $18 for their entry into the USA. It was with a degree of relief that we left the building and exited the border crossing with freshly stamped passports.
So the real roadtrip south began.
Washington State was lush and green with tall trees and mountains, oh and rain, lots of it. We stopped at an Arby's restaurant to give the Australian kids their first taste of American fast food. The results weren't very complimentary.
It was a happy car that headed south as stories were told and iPods were switched on between bouts of DVD's. The kilometres were chewed up as we sped through town after town. Now you would think the highlight of the day would be the beautiful countryside or perhaps even some of the quirky Americans we spotted along the way.
But no. The highlight of the day and it appears the trip was the dead body they spotted beside the road on Interstate 5. We were caught in a huge traffic backlog the cause of which was and accident on the other side of the road. There must have been a fatality in the accident and the man was laid out on the road with a rough shroud thrown over him. We were going slow enough for them to have a good look and instead of fear or sorrow there was only curiousity and intrigue. In no time at all everyone was speculating on what had occurred. Almost the first words to their friends and family on the phone were, "guess what we saw a dead body." Charming!
We stayed at a town called Roseburg, Oregan on the first night. There was nothing particularly special about the place, just one of hundreds along Interstate 5.
An early start the next morning, well as early as can be expected with five young adults, I thought we did well to be on the road by 0830.
The day passed pretty much the same as the day before, lots of towns beside the road, some spectacular scenery in Oregan and a lot of traffic flashing past either way, hurrying no doubt to get to where they were going to spend New Years Eve.
The highlight of day two was a visit to the town of Weed, Oregan. Yes no misspelling, there is a town called Weed and boy do they cash in on it. Oncce again there is nothing special about the town except for the name and you have to get off the Interstate to visit it, but it appeared a large proportion of tourists do just that. A multitude of souvenirs filled the shops cashing in on the name which apparently comes from the town's founder. Or was it just a great marketing ploy cooked up at a town meeting years ago?
Just outside of Weed we spent time dodging various sized tumbleweeds that were blown everywhere by the strong winds. One attached itself to the car and was a decoration on the hood for many kilometres. We hit snow country as the three Aussie kids hadn't experienced snow before.
It was really a poor excuse for snow, just a small melting drift but it was enough for my son David to cop some down his pants and a snowball in the ear. Girls one, David nil.
We went into the high country as we deviated off Interstate 5 on our ay into Nevada. The road went from multilane highway to sigle lane road through farming communities. The trees were laden with snow, it was as though we were back in the Rocky Mountains again.
We arrived at Reno just after seven pm. It is a large gamling town but nothing at all like Las Vegas no strip of garish lights and fabulous casinos. That isn't to say that there isn't bright lights and large casino's in Reno, it is just that there isn't that many and they are spread out.
We checked into the Pepperemill Hotel and everyone was amazed by the size (900 rooms) and the bright lights. Our New Years Eve countdown had began.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment