Day 13 – Al and Ray’s Excellent Adventure: The Maple Leaf Edition:

Day 13 – Al and Ray’s Excellent Adventure Continues: Now with More Canada

Today we left Seattle behind and headed north to the land of maple syrup, moose, and politeness—Vancouver!

Crossing the border was surprisingly smooth, though the customs officer asked us more questions than Ray ordering dinner. “Where are you going?” “How long are you staying?” “Do you have any fruit, firearms, alcohol, or tobacco?” We passed—barely.

Once in Vancouver, we hit the hot spots: Granville Island (awesome), Chinatown (spicy), something called “Happen” (we’re still not sure what happened), Robson Street (fancy shops we couldn’t afford), Stanley Park, Prospect Point, and the iconic Lions Gate Bridge. Basically, we were on a sightseeing rampage.

The only downside to arriving in Canada on July 1st? It was Canada Day, and apparently the entire country decided to party in the exact same spot we were trying to park.

Then things took a turn.

Ray went to the restroom while I went to find parking. Simple task, right? WRONG. Every single spot was taken. So I thought, “I’ll just loop around.” Famous last words. One wrong turn and suddenly I’m not just out of Stanley Park—I’m practically back in Seattle. I call Ray and say, “Hang tight, I’ll be there in 13 minutes.” Google lied. I got stuck in traffic so brutal it gave me New York City flashbacks. Honking, chaos, and possibly a guy yelling at his steering wheel in French.

I called my buddy Jason in a panic: “I lost Ray!”. We had so many laughs about the trip.

Eventually, I found my way back—and there he was, cool as a cucumber, casually enjoying an ice cream cone and chatting up two women from Pennsylvania like a pro. No stress. No fear. Just Ray, his cone, and his secret weapon: the Tilley hat. I swear, that thing has magical powers—it’s like a Canadian love potion. He didn't need a wingman this time 

Later we checked into our hotel and had a fantastic dinner. I ordered duck with peas, mushrooms, spaetzle, and what I thought were mushrooms… but may have been a culinary mystery. Ray played it safe with chicken and red cabbage—and honestly, both were excellent.

We're calling it an early night because tomorrow’s another big day—exploring more of Vancouver and heading east to the promising land of Hope, Canada. Yes, that’s a real place. And yes, we are definitely going to make a lot of inspirational jokes about it.

Day 12 - The Ride to Seattle

Day 12 – Adventures in Tow-truck Limbo and Seattle Adventures

The day began just how everyone dreams their vacation days will: waiting for a tow truck! After about 20 minutes of staring at my stranded car and wondering if I should start charging it rent, I decided to call Geico.

Geico, ever the beacon of efficiency, said their entire system was down. No tow truck was coming. Not now. Not soon. Not ever. “Call back in a few hours,” they cheerfully told me—as if I was just casually ordering a pizza and not trying to understand my sad, wounded vehicle.

I told the guy on the phone, “Look, I’m not living in Idaho. I live in Florida. I just happen to be broken down in Idaho, which is very different. Like humidity vs. potatoes different.” I expressed (in my New York voice) that this level of customer service was not acceptable.

To his credit, he said he'd try to push through a tow request manually—kind of like magic, but with hold music. Miraculously, it worked! He got a truck scheduled, although it wouldn't arrive for another hour. So, I met Ray for breakfast. Eggs and yogurt with granola helped dull the annoyance.

The tow truck actually showed up in 40 minutes (a small miracle), and I met him over at the collision shop. The technician gave the car a long, dramatic look and said something reassuring like, “Well... it’s not completely destroyed.” Translation: the engine is still intact, so it might not be totaled.

He said they’d get all the paperwork to Geico by tomorrow, and Geico would take a couple of days to decide its fate. So no major updates until at least Friday. Vacation plans: still alive—for now. Next checkpoint: Seattle, Vancouver, then on through British Columbia. If the car lives, I have to get back to Idaho to pick it up.  If not… well, I get home and have to go car shopping.

With the car drama parked (literally), Ray and I grabbed our stuff and hit the road for Seattle.

The drive was gorgeous. We think we saw Mount Rainier… or at least a very fancy-looking cloud. Either way, there were some epic mountain views.

We rolled into Seattle smoothly—until about a half-mile from the hotel, when things got weird. The car in front of me moved into the right lane, so I followed, assuming we were making a turn. We waited. And waited. And waited some more. After 6 minutes, I said to Ray, “This is the world’s longest red light.” Finally, I tried to go around the car… only to discover we weren’t at a red light. We were parked behind a line of parked cars.  So yeah… I just parked behind parked cars for fun. 

The hotel was beautiful.  We had dinner at Daniel’s Broiler in the hotel. I had a king salmon caprese. Ray had the ahi tuna. Both dishes were amazing, and our spirits were restored.

Post-dinner, we cruised around a bit and ended up at Elliott Bay, a stunning waterfront area connected to Puget Sound. There was a walking path, tons of locals out and about, and several dogs that looked more put-together than we did.

We caught the sunset, soaked up some sun, relaxed and people watched for a while, and relaxed after a Long day. Tomorrow brings more Seattle sightseeing, and then... Vancouver!

Stay tuned. Hopefully, no more parked cars fooling me again.