Oh, Canada!

Day 15

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Packwood, WA to Burnaby, BC

308 miles

In spite of a prediction of rain overnight, our string of rainless days held up in Mount Rainier. In fact, our campsite was dusty as we packed up and climbed in the Odyssey. It was with mixed feelings that we drove out of Ohanapecosh Campground. We certainly felt like we were leaving too soon. Put Ohanapecosh on the list of places to visit.

Today’s drive up I-5 was mostly an ugly one. The skies were overcast and grey. The vegetation was plain. The buildings along the frontage roads and in the “exit towns” were cluttered and apparently sans zoning. The one bright spot was Bellingham, just south of the Canada border. Perhaps it was because some sunshine poked through the clouds just as we arrived in Bellingham, or maybe it was the very excellent shopping experience we had at a Fred Meyer store, but Bellingham made a nice impression on us. We stocked up on as many things as we could think of in America knowing that prices would be higher north of the border. We paid $2.919 per gallon for gas. After crossing the border, it was $1.179 per liter. Ouch!

The first thing we noticed about Canada was inferior roads. I-5 literally becomes a 4-lane, low-speed highway with numerous at-grade intersections. The next thing we noticed was the metric system. The third thing we noticed was high prices. Prices and values were easy to calculate because the U.S. and Canadian dollars were just about on par—today a Canadian dollar was worth $1.03 American. For their sakes, we hope they get paid more than we do!

The border crossing went quickly. The agent asked Frank about a dozen questions, including where we were going, how long we would be there, when we would be back in Maryland, and where we had driven from today and how many miles it was. He twice asked if we planned to leave anything in Canada and if we had any firearms. He then photocopied our passports and welcomed us.

Our destination was a campground named Burnaby Caribou Recreational Vehicle Park that looked very nice online and lived up to that impression. It is the most manicured, neatest, cleanest campground any of us have ever been in. Although RVs were packed in what was essentially a blacktop parking lot, there was grass and manicured, very tall, columnar, evergreen shrubs between campsites that lent a feeling of privacy from neighbors who were only a few feet away. Our string of good luck with campgrounds continues! We cooked a spaghetti dinner, did laundry and blogged before retiring for the night.

Tomorrow: Victoria