GBS & Vancouver picoreview

[annathepiper]

As expected: Alan is still pretty, Séan can still sing, and Bob still plays a wicked smokin' fiddle. ;)

I am full of nummy fish, and had a most pleasant time staying over with gerimaple and darthfrog, and eating dinner along with them and elfmaid. solarbird and I also had lunch with our friend Oliver.

Gorgeous weather. Abnormally long border crossing going north, and the odd experience of a surly Canadian border guard vs. a friendly one (and a relatively short crossing) coming back into the U.S.

I looked for my friend Deborah Fredericks' new novel, recently published through a Canadian press, but did not find it in the bookstore I checked.

Much longer post later!

Comments

[poodlgrl.livejournal.com]

They must be cracking down.

I've been to Canada twice in the past 6 weeks (Victoria once, Vancouver once) and both times I was asked new & different questions, and waited longer than ever (except maybe right in the months post 9/11). The trip back seemed about the same. I found the best thing to do is to have a recuperating 3 legged dog, fresh from the vet! You get the pity-quick-entry!

[annathepiper]

Not sure... our friends up in Vancouver did say that it was a long weekend for them, so that may have had something to do with it. Also possibly us crossing on a Friday afternoon as well. But they had half of the lanes closed as we crossed the border yesterday, and with that big of a backup of cars, I could kind of buy the guy we got being surly.

Rather more annoying than the border crossing was Mapquest diverting us off 99 over onto a lesser arterial in its directions to my friend's house. :P We lost a BUNCH more time because of those screwed up directions.

But we got there, and missed neither the dinner nor the show, so it was all good. :)

[chamois-shimi.livejournal.com]

Mapquest should always be taken with a grain of salt. In Kansas it routed us off the main drag, toured us along residential streets for a couple miles, then took us back to the main 4-lane road, and made us turn left across it 2 blocks later. Whee. In Colorado, it told us to get off the interstate at exit 217 (or whatever number it really was), go straight through the light, and... get on the interstate at exit 217. Buh.

[annathepiper]

Oh, we were already wary of Mapquest, but this was a particularly spectacular "WTF?!" thing with them. We don't know the routes up into Vancouver well enough to have figured out what else to do, though--and by the time I realized, "Well, gosh, I should call Geri," we were already close enough to her house that getting alternate directions wasn't really an option.

Sigh. :)