canada 2007 - day 6

In the early hours of the morning, we cleared out the refrigerator, cleaned up the time share, and packed our junk into our bags. I figured if we left by 8:30 we could arrive in Seattle with time to spare for a quick run by Trader Joes. We stopped off at Shannon Falls, one of the highest waterfalls in Canada, to have a quick look and photos. This is a popular destination because it is right off highway 99 and an easy hike to the base of the falls. The road to Vancouver was slower than before thanks to several construction delays. My parents wanted to have Dim Sum in Vancouver, so when we arrived at Happy Valley around noon, we had a 30 minute wait because the place is so popular. The food here was very good and I think this was the first meal we had out that was actually worth what we paid. On the road again, we figured it would be a quick drive to Seattle.

We couldn't have been more wrong. We took a different border crossing since the last one was so slow, only to manage a crossing that was even slower. The road through Aldergrove wound up taking us 3 hours as we went slowly insane listening to my dad exponentially lose patience in the back of the car. I called Caroline to let her know we would be quite tardy for our dinner reservation and she said she could move the reservation later for us. My parents said that we should just cancel our dinner and have dinner with them and then drop them off at their friend's house. By then I was determined to get them to their destination and make our dinner at Cascadia.

Eventually, we found my parents' friend's house in a rabbit warren of residential roads and bade them farewell, speeding off to downtown Seattle. By sheer luck, we gnabbed a precious parking space at 8:20 pm on a Friday night in bustling Seattle. We changed out of our grubby clothes into something more appropriate in the front seat of the car and walked into Cascadia for dinner. We were so excited to be on our own! Dinner was perfect - ten times better than anything Whistler had to offer and yet more affordable. Caroline called when their basketball game was over and we arranged to meet at Cascadia for dessert. When I requested the check from our server to settle up before our friends arrived, she told me that it had already been taken care of.

Sneaky Caroline and Erin had already arranged to treat us to the dinner! It was so sweet of them, but we felt incredibly guilty. After a week in Whistler, we decided to splurge a little on a good meal, but we wouldn't have done so had we known Caroline's plan. We figured it was their was of thanking us for shooting their celebration the previous month - except that was our gift to them. When the two showed up, we admonished them for their cheeky surprise, but thanked them for being so generous. It was really nice to sit down together and catch up over dessert. Erin and Caroline are two friends we admire and love, because they are awesome individuals and such a pleasure to be with.