Well here's a thing. We have arrived in Bavaria apparently. I have yet to work out why but Leavenworth in the southern Cascades is a Bavarian village, approximately 8000km from Bavaria. If only I had brought my lederhosen! If I can work it out I will have to elaborate on this tomorrow, but after a long driving day and a bit of hassle at the border - why oh why did we keep those apples?!! - I'm a bit pooped to be honest.
But get here we did, in time for a Bavarian beer, in a Bavarian bar, listening to ... Nashville country actually. Nobody said this country is straightforward. And scoffing just a shared plate of nachos, having rather overdone the second breakfast in Bellingham to celebrate our release by the Customs and Border Protection staff (who were actually very nice, wanted to know about Scotland, and even let us bring our apples in).
So here we are. Somewhere east of Seattle in a village called Leavenworth, after a rather rude awakening as we crossed Stevens Pass at about 1000m above sea level, but more importantly at about 2ºC and in 2m drifts of snow! Nope, we didn't know it was a ski area. We do now. No real drama, the roads were dry and the sun shone all day. And down the other side of the pass the temperature had risen again by about 10º so we could enjoy our early evening beer in the sunshine in the open air.
So about that border crossing ... Having (stupidly) eschewed the easier but slightly longer option of crossing at Aldergrove, we arrived a Peace Arch at White Rock at the beginning of Interstate 5, late morning with no line up (thats a queue for those at home), but got pulled over to complete our I-94, which as far as I can tell is simply a tax, and where we possibly foolishly admitted to hoarding BC apples - all three of them. As it happened the "agriculture officer" (he really was called that) was the most charming man and having inspected our aforesaid apples and the cashew nuts we had forgotten about, satisfied himself they were indeed Canadian and bid us cheery welcome to the USA. All the time we were of course shitting ourselves! Then whole thing took nearly an hour, we were treated with nothing but friendliness, but it's amazing the impact border officials have on you bowels.
Serious coffee was then needed at the first available stop which turned out to be the rather charming town of Bellingham, and somehow, despite it only being about 11.15am, and having had breakfast before leaving Steveston, we (well, I) were ravenous. Cue omelette, spinach, mushrooms, hash-browns, fried onions and a biscuit (a scone). And as much strong black coffee as I could drink. I felt like Jack Reacher. Eat when you can is my new motto.
All of this excitement after a fabulous evening with Sally and Bob in Steveston. Champagne, Persian food, good wine and great company. We are making far too much of a habit of this. A quiet night tonight in preparation for more friends tomorrow and through to the weekend. And it looks like there is some lovely walking country round here. Boots on tomorrow! Or maybe a day on the piste?
Last few pics...
The happy couple outside the "Little Cheerful" in Bellingham
The happy couple outside a Hofbrauhaus in Bavaria (Leavenworth)
It even has a Nutcracker museum! That's a must for tomorrow. Yes, we are in the USA.
Turns out we are going up there!
Night night, or good morning, whichever applies.
Welcome to our side of the pond. Safe travels.
You have always reminded me of Jack Reacher Al. Your Bro 😜