The City of Bridges

Anthony says, "this feels a lot more like the United States than I thought it would."  He thought it would just feel like a part of Canada that he had never been in before, but he says he feels like it is really a foreign country.  I always think of the gun issue, but I don't think it is that different, except we did go by Fort Lewis and there were a bunch of people on the bridge over the freeway with signs saying "Thank you to our troops" and American flags flying.  Mike asked one of the naval reserve guys, "are you connected to the base?" and he just stared at him.  And of course, when we were crossing at Peace Arch, "children of a common mother" nothwithstanding, Mike said a warm "hello" to the border guard, who did not deign to return the greeting.  We joked that we should ask him if he could take our picture as we entered the USA, but we didn't dare.  I wonder what he would have done.

As always, it took a long time to get going, but once we were on the road, eating chips (Holiday Mommy has arrived!) and Cheezies, it was fairly smooth sailing.  Joyce (Mike's mom) said the traffic is always bad in Seattle and her words were prescient because we were part of the hoards of drivers  heading south along the I-5.

We plowed on to Portland and had a HUGE American style meal at Elmer's -- William and Mike slurped down steaks with great gusto.  Mike thought he could tempt me with the peach crisp, but I was stuffed with all the chips and only had a bowl of soup and a salad, which was more than I could manage.

Then off we went to Powell's City of Books, purportedly the world's biggest book store (even though I know there are other claimants).  It is right in the heart of Portland, which is a very charming city with lots and lots of bridges.  In fact, it is KNOWN as "the city of bridges".  I could have spent days in the store, which has a blue room and a purple room and a green room -- in fact, the whole rainbow(!), all holding new and used books focused on different subjects and by every author you can imagine. They give you a map when you first enter the store and every colour of room has a couple of knowledgeable and friendly people who can help you and know what you're talking about.  What a joy for a book lover.  I bought an armful and had to tear myself away before I spent the whole Disneyland budget in what could be called Jean's "happiest place on earth".

William has been saying how much hotter it is in the United States and how much faster the cars are going and how much quicker it gets dark here, but he wants me to say he loves it.  Mike is really happy with the GPS.  We got a little lost but the woman was very patient and kept trying to help by giving him new routes.  If I had been navigating, I would have gotten louder and faster as I realized we were off course, but the GPS voice just figures out a new route and acts like you're doing exactly what she said all along.

We were going to go to Washington City Park after the bookstore, but when we came out, it was getting dark and so we've come back to our hotel to rest and read before our trip continues tomorrow.  We are going to get to California tomorrow and spend the evening in Crescent City, in the heart of the redwood forest (I think).