My Canadian family drove south for the fourth of July to visit the American family. Granted we live in Vancouver and they live in Bellingham WA and it is a mere hour door to door but none the less when an international border is in between it takes on a whole new context. Plus we were going down a beautiful saturday morning just prior to a country wide party. We would never attempt such a silly feat if we didn't have NEXUS passes and urge anyone that ever travels across the border (there are an equivalent US/MEXICO and air programs as well) to get one - or don't and wait in the 3hr line up next to me.

Our crossing was 10 mins.
We actually expected a much longer wait ourselves, there is always one or more cars that get into the line up either by honest mistake or by trying to skip the other lineup all together and this unfortunately can add a half an hour or more to a relatively smooth operation... any way I digress... I just wanted add this in here as one of those things parents should definitely think about if they cross the border often. Trust me, $50 per person for 5 years is so worth it when there are kids are in the car.
We got the beach early, cleaned up the house and the beach front made some pre-meal things, then went into town to go shopping and peruse the the farmer's market.
Here are some snaps from our weekend... hope you all had a good time too...
One of our adventures was taking the tiny (18-20 cars) Watcom Ferry over to Lummi island, thinking that we would get off drive around the island and catch the next ferry back... Low and behold we missed that ferry by 3 cars so decided to kill the hour wait time in a local Beach Store Cafe a few minutes walk from the dock.
photos by me....
Just a reminder 2 more day to enter my children's smock giveaway over at my other blog! Kitsch in the Kitchen.
I have never crossed an international border by car. I appreciate the advice. I hope I can remember to do that if the opportunity should arise.
ReplyDeleteAlso, cool about the Washington ferries too.
Looks like your family enjoyed a good 4th of July.