The day had been a bit stressful; dealing with the unknown always is. Had a good exit review with the folks at the Burlington, WA KOA – then it was time to pack up for our time across the border. With the blessings of our boss, we had made arrangements to leave the yellow rig stored at this KOA, and rented a car for our trek to Canada.
Over the years we have had so many major hassles with the border crossings – the yellow rig just is not well received at the Canadian border. The major issue seems to be the Canadians concern that we are ‘stealing’ work from Canadian citizens. Last year they requested documents that do not seem to exit (per the KOA legal experts), so it was decided that this season we would simply go in as KOA employees on holiday.
In reality, that is just what we are . . . for after dragging that 38 foot of trailer around since mid-March, a few motel rooms with unlimited hot water for showers is in indeed a ‘vacation’! Add the luxury of getting to eat out for a few days; and we call that a pure holiday. True, five reviews to do in the process, but we will also get to see lots of beautiful country as we drive between the parks.
Picking up the car went without a hitch and we were soon headed north. We breezed through the border with only a bit of a ‘language’ issue. The border guard couldn’t understand Roger’s Oklahoma ‘english’ and he couldn’t understand her Canadian 'twang’.
Having planned for delays, and having none, put us in Canada about 3 hours prior to our reserved ferry sailing of 7:00 p.m. Drove around a bit until we found the “abc Country Restaurant” and it seemed a pretty safe choice for an early supper. Got a bit of a shock when we ordered ‘unsweetened ice tea’ only to be told they had none . . . only sweet tea! (Thought I was in Virginia again!)
I was so shocked I looked at the waiter and said, “You are kidding, right?” He assured me he was not. He then stated the only ‘unsweetened’ tea they had was ‘regular’ tea, and it was definitely not iced. Although both Roger & I have taken ourselves off carbonated diet drinks, we opted for a known and ordered a couple of Diet Cokes.
Roger’s meal of fish & chips . . . and mine of a bacon cheddar steak burger – complete with a side of wonderful homemade onion rings hit the spot. Frankly, our bodies haven’t ingested that much ‘grease’ in months. . . not since our last Del Rancho sandwich, anyway!
We lingered as long as we thought we could, then decided to head on to the ferry to Vancouver Island, arriving about 5:30. Thinking we still had another 90 minutes to kill, we delighted to find that there was a possibility of room on the 6:00 p.m. sailing, so our wait was short and sweet. Even lucked out and got one of the newer ships and our car ended up parked right by the elevator.
A very smooth sailing of about an hour and a half – and we were even treated to a pod of Orca whales frolicking alongside our ship, right outside our window.
Life is good, but then it got better! Drove off the ferry at Swartz Bay and headed south towards Victoria, looking for a likely motel for the night. Spotted a Super 8 that looked promising, but they only had one room left . . . and it was a smoking room. We declined and headed across the street to the Quality Inn, built in the English Tudor style.
When Roger came back to the car with the room key, he smiled and said, “There is a Basset Hound behind the registration desk.” He then handed me the key card and it said “Waddling Dog Inn”. Sure enough, the little sweetie was still on duty when I stopped to say hello. It made our day!
The interior of the inn is just as charming as the outside, and one gets the feeling that you’ve landed right in the middle of an old English hunt club. Pictures of Bassets, Basset figurines, even iron work Bassets on the exterior window sills, and best of all, a real live Basset!
We 'officially' met "John" the next morning. . . and learned he is actually "John the fourth", with a personality all his own. His owner tells us that he definitely appreciates the finer points of 'napping' - which is probably why we are such fans of the Basset Hound. They truly fit our chosen life style.
No comments:
Post a Comment