Our neighors to the norph (part 1)

Canada, land of varied syrups, ice related sports and Alces alces. Crystal had never been to America's great white top hat (I just made that up), so we planned our trip about a month ago. Friday morning we rose from the dead of sleep at a coffee dependent 4:30am. All our things were packed the night before and Macy was staying at la maison de Hattan for the weekend. The above mentioned coffee came with some breakfast biscuits from the WaWa down the road. By the time we made our way to ninety five it was 5:30am and the highways were just waking up.

Around Fredericksburg, VA (6:30am) we started to see the morning commuters in full force. Thankfully our destination was off the well worn path of the cap city commuters. We exited 95 bound for Winchester, VA care of 17 north. The hilly country that is the home to the seventeen is a pleasant contrast to the toothpick pines and lifeless barriers of the modern highway. It ultimate finds its end in Winchester, a big town with small town undertones. We always stop at the apple farm market to grab some cider and a fresh baked muffin before transitioning to 522 north and such was the case on Friday. Berkeley Springs, WV is the only other town worth mentioning on the trip. It has the kind of small town charms that I can appreciate, but would not be sustained by. The rest of the trip after 522 is dead highways bordered by walls of trees, nothing but the same thing repeated into infinity.

So what does one do for ten hours in a car? In order to keep my mind for the ten hour trek, I accumulated a weeks worth of podcast that I would normally listen too at work. I could list some, but most are listed in the "fun links" section to the right. We also picked up America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction and The Tipping Point on CD (ultimately making their way to my iPod). America was some high quality humor that in some cases required a love of all things American history (me), but could still be appreciated by the history haters (Crystal). We never got around to The Tipping Point, but it is on my book to do list.

When we finally arrived at the border there was a line of cars waiting to cross. It took about a half hour in line before we it was our turn to have a chat with the border guard. Crystal had prepared stacks of identification leading up to our trip, in fear of being turned away at some strange Canadian whim. When the big moment came at the guard booth he simply waived us through, no ID required. Our hotel was only a mile from the border crossing so we went there first to unpack our bags and get a quick shower.

Nice and clean, with a fresh pair of clothes, we got in the car to start our evening at the falls.

I'll continue our tale of the north in the next post. Sorry about the lack of post last week, just got busy, but I should be back on a three post a week schedule this week. Pictures from Canada coming soon, most likely tonightish. The picture on this post is just a place holder.

Update for Pics: here