The First Attempt...

As many of you know, the third of this month my boyfriend and I struck out for Alaska. Slowly, rather.
The first day we made our way up to Portland to visit his mother and sister. From there we went up to Alaska to spend the first night with my brother. Had a good time, everything went smooth and successful.

The second day, we made our way up to Bellingham, WA to visit his niece and her daddy. Nice guy. From there we went to cross the border. Not so smooth. But interesting.

You see, the border people are peculiar and specific. But no two are specifically peculiar or peculiarly specific in the same way. The guy we got as absolutely fixated on our car. First the usual - where are you going, where are you coming from, how long in Canada, what are you going to do when you get there, how long are you staying. Ok. Cursory questions out of the way, this one was fixated on the car. That's a lot of stuff back there, what's in there, any plants foods or animals, any weapons, any alcohol, any drugs. Well, you got a lot of stuff so we just want to have a look. Pull over there, give this paper to the folks on the other side. Long story short, our car got tossed. By Canadians. Very nicely done packed it up EXACTLY as they found it. On the down side, due to silly complications Chris wasn't allowed entry. So, before we even really make it INTO Canada - still in the border parking lot, we're told to turn around. From there we have to sit in ANOTHER line to exit Canada - crossing the border the other way. Even though we didn't make it out of Canadian Purgatory. So we get to the front of our line, hand the guy our paper that said Chris was denied entry so we're turning around. You know what he says? You got a lot of stuff back there. Pull into that parking lot and give this paper to the guy on the other side. That's right - our car got tossed AGAIN. By Americans. Everything EVERYTHING was rifled through, one of my earrings was still on the counter when everything else was put in (attention to detail fail), everything was shoved in mismash to where it didn't even properly FIT, AND they broke one of our fishing poles! I need to contact my father to see if it can be repaired. AMERICANS! I was ASHAMED of being an American that day.

So we turn around and go camp in Birch Bay. One night in a hotel, two in a tent. Tent was more fun. And cheaper. I have many pictures but not much to say. We managed to scare off four couples that tried to move into the area beside us. The fifth couple stayed and were super uptight. Kept giving us dirty looks so Chris started antagonizing. Flashing them. Making faces. It was funny. Sleeping on the hard ground sucked when I tried to sleep on my side. Partly because of the cold - super hot day turned to COLD night - and partly because of the hard ground the first night I didn't sleep so good. The second night we got out another blanket and I laid on my back. I slept SO well. Apparently I woke up to barking coyotes and didn't even remember.

After two nights camping, one night in a hotel, and one night with my brother - that's today! Today, we woke up, broke down our site, and I took Chris to the Amtrak in Bellingham. Unfortunately, he has to do some family stuff in Arizona before flying up to Fiarbanks. I have to go on without him. So from here it's just me. And that's the next entry!