Day 287, 17 April 2013, Vancouver to Seattle (Washington), then joining the Empire Builder Amtrak train for a 46 hour trek across America through seven states (Washington, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin and finally Illinois). Ok, Ok. Trek might be too harsh a word... For the sake of a few extra dollars, we did elect to have a sleeper compartment - which actually includes all our meals. As the slogan of Beaver Creek, Colorado goes... we're "Not Exactly Roughing it". Frightfully early morning in Vancouver - the alarm went off at 5.10 am and we flopped around like untrained seals for a short while trying to figure out what was going on. Then the phone rang with the wake up call. Aaarrrgh! On a positive note, the room next door definitely got a jump on their sightseeing today. Super trip from Vancouver to Seattle - not sure if the tragedy at the Boston marathon has made them upgrade their security, but we definitely got the third degree by the US Customs and Border Control as we left Pacific Central station in Vancouver. Not quite sure what to make of travellers who appear to be well fed and dressed, yet have been on the road for 9 months and are planning to spend 2 months in the US of A. When he asked what we were planning and where we were going, we did of course have all the details to hand... There are some questions you just shouldn't ask. The trip down to White Rock - the official border with the USA was very quiet. It seemed like folks were nervous about the crossing perhaps. In fact the biggest weapon the customs gents wield is one little word. Why? It goes like this... Where are you going today? Random customer answers... Seattle. Then the border guard says, "Why?" Even perfectly innocent folks were floundering for answers... Of course when we said Chicago, it bamboozled the bloke so completely he just checked our stamps and moved along. Most excellent. Into Seattle we noticed a few things immediately - life just got cheaper! We had 5 hours to explore and walked to Pike Place Market through the dodgy part of town. Sad fact of life that the ritzy neighbourhoods don't generally have the central railway station in the middle. We did however see our first mission / soup kitchen in America. We've also been panhandled by all colours and creeds - though I suspect I committed a social faux pas... One man held out his collecting tin and said, "Spare change?" - I said sure! - and took some. Kidding, kidding! Calm down. The finances aren't that dire, yet. The market was a melange of sights, sounds and flavours - great buskers, thousands of tulip blooms for sale, lots to eat and drink. We made do with the remains of our breakfast packs from the hotel and bought some locally smoked fish to go with our bagels and cream cheese. The fellow pictured above had a great chat with his parrot while we were there - lots of cute little tricks - man says "weeeeeeee" and the bird says "boom" just like a falling bomb. He even let a little girl hold the bird. We're pretty sure he had his fingers and toes crossed. We ventured down to the waterfront for a brief stroll around then it was back to King Street Station - way too excited and keen to get on the Empire Builder - 46 hours all the way to the Windy City (that's Chicago apparently... just found out from the ticket collector). Also found out that wifi does not always live on Amtrak - so you won't be reading this for a few days. Chin up - just think of the fun of catching up.
PS - Just got back from dinner - all very social - 2 total strangers guaranteed at every meal - Have just found out about the oil mining life in Williston, North Dakota. Minus 60 degrees, heated clothing, $50,000 for 10 weeks work. Drugs, guns, too many people, too few houses. Interesting. Excellent food served given pelting along at 80 miles an hour. During dinner we passed through the Cascade Tunnel, bored under the Stevens Pass in the Cascade Mountains. With 500 ft overhead and sitting over 4000 feet above sea level, the tunnel is the longest in the USA at 7.8 miles. It took so long to go through we were all fooled into thinking it had gotten dark - right up until we popped out into twilight. Enough light to see the stunning mountains, rivers and snow - still in Washington State at bedtime - we will reach Spokane at 1.30 am (birthplace of Bing Crosby) before crossing the state line to Montana. With all the snow around we can see where Bing got the inspiration for White Christmas!