O Canada!!

I knew Scott and Steve had woken up before me, but I didn’t want to get up because I didn’t want to leave. We were on a little bit of a time crunch (or so we thought) to catch the ferry off the peninsula. I finally gave in and woke up, to find that the weather was still beautiful. It was nice feeling this kind of solitude and then only having to hike 1.5 miles back to the car. We were back to the car by 7:30 AM which gave us over 4 hours to get to the ferry. We had to retrace our steps most of the way, but then we got Port Townsend by 10:45 AM. This actually worked out to our advantage and got an awesome breakfast at the Bay View Diner. I got the largest omelet of my life and was super full after finishing it. We made fun of Stingy Scott for going with the 1 egg breakfast when the 2 egg was only $1 more. After breakfast, Scott and Steve went on a very brief geocache mission before we drove up to load on the ferry.

The ferry ride was pretty cool; I really like the concept of it. It’s always fun to be out on the open water, but this is actually a productive trip because it is getting you somewhere. When we got off the ferry we headed for the Great Big Place to the North, Canadia. The drive through Puget Sound was pretty cool, and it also followed the Ragnar course, which was awesome because I would really like to do that one day. Finally we made it to the I-5 which was our last road in America. As we approached the border, Steve started getting a little nervous since he was driving and therefore the one who had to talk to the border patrol. I could have cared less because I decided to treat myself to a drink at the gas station since I didn’t have to drive. I was actually excited to get into Canada at that point.

There was a little bit of traffic at the border, but Steve nailed the interview. He was given a little bit of a hard time, but stuck to his story and we moved on without a problem. Once we got into Canada, everything changed. Not drastically, but everything was a little different. The street signs were slightly different, the HOV lane was in the right, and the speed limit was 100!!! (km/h) We finally got into the residential area of Vancouver and shortly after we crossing the bridge to downtown (or city center as they called it.) We found our hotel, which was actually really nice and right in the middle of the city. The view in our room was freaking amazing. We saw the city, mountains, and bay all from our beds. The first thing that we desperately needed to do was shower and shave. Once we got down with that, it was time to hit the streets and feel the beat of the city. We ended up eating at the Winking Judge and had a few pitchers there. I decided to get the first round of drinks on the night and got Manhattans for us as we played a game of pool. After a few pitchers, none of us were really playing that great. From there we asked the waitress where a good place to go out was and she told us about Granville St. The first place we went to was The Factory, and it was the place that did us all in. We were getting very creative with our drink orders and talking to the bartenders and a few other people about what we should do while in Canada. The most creative drink of the night was a Hand-Grenade. Now I had a Hand Grenade in New Orleans (compliments of Joe Gallo), but this was completely different. It was a glass with 2 shot glasses balanced in the rim. Red bull was added to the glass and one shot glass was filled with Tequila and the other Jagermeister. Scotty got cocky and ordered 5 since the guys we were talking to told us to order it. It was definitely a turning point in the night.

We then wandered around a few other bars and met a bunch of people from Australia. Steve and I made a couple trips to Megabite Pizza and eventually made it back to the hotel. Scott was all ready asleep and Steve cuddled up with him, but then somehow passed out in the same bed as me. Oh well. First funny night in Vancouver was a great success. ULTRA day 25/39: COMPLETE.

JM