We took a quick trip across the line today into Washington State. Given the 'orange' feeling in the air, we expected some delay at the border and readied ourselves accordingly. We made sure there were no forgotten bags in the car, and all was easily visible. Passports at the ready, we popped over to the Pacific Border Crossing (otherwise known as the Truck Crossing).

A few random thoughts - the American flags were all at full staff, while the Canadian ones were at half mast. Not really sure what the 'right' thing to do here, but I would suspect that the flags should be at a respectable half mast at least until the dead were fully counted. That may sound harsh, but I was quite surprised to see the American flags up.

There was a commissionaire on the US side directing traffic into the lines. He looked like a real gruff old guy as he signalled cars into each queue. Then, suddenly, he reached into his pocket revealing a dog biscuit which he took over to a car with a dog in it. He spent about 5 minutes talking to the people in the car and seemed to just be enjoying the chat. We opened our window and my friend called out to ask where our biscuits were. I think we made his day, so he came over and started chatting to us and told us a couple of fairly racy jokes to make us laugh.

Going through the Customs, we were met by a thorough but friendly border guard. He joked with us when we told him we were on a shopping trip, asking if he should call Visa to let them know we were on our way in.

Not many trucks waiting in the commercial lot though, which surprised us. But considering the Port Of Vancouver is stuck behind a strike line, I guess it's the nature of the business right now. (which by the way is the bane of my existence at work right now as I work on getting 6 containers released about as effectively as running in quicksand)

While we certainly are at a higher level of security right now, and with good reason, they have seemingly perfected the system. Or at least today. While it may have taken a few minutes longer than in the past, I think everyone seemed to feel it was just part of the adventure.

Off we went but the trip was for naught. The store we were looking for was closed on Sundays, so it ended up just being a drive today. Well, maybe just a little bit of a Fred Meyer stop, but that was mandatory for the sugar cookies.