Crossing the border again.

Last day in Van. I got up and met Jarrod and we both walked down to pick up the car. Hertz failed me on two counts this time around. The first was that the car didn't have sat nav and the second was that it wasn't quite as big as I thought it was going to be. We got a GMC Envoy, it was brand new (only 41 km on the clock) which was a small consolation but since I was so in love with the sat nav I couldn't be turned. Anyway we got a map in the end so we will make sure we don't get lost somewhere in BC later on.

We met up with Dean and Michelle first up at the West 4th board shops. Michelle was buying some new pants. Then we carted everyone up to MEC again so I could finish buying stuff there. Met up with Deb and Ryan who be at Big White also.

About an hour later we were done and some quick sightseeing was in order. My plans of using the GPS to find everything was gone but we managed to get to a very cold Deep Cove. I'd seen it better but today it was rather cold and slightly windy. Then we headed up Mt Seymour. On the way up it started snowing pretty hard out; quite cool. The boys were pretty stoked. We went up to the CBC carpark and did the full on tourist thing of getting out and throwing around snow! Everyone does it once I suppose! Then it was back down and off to Mt Baker.

We decided to follow advice and head to the Sumas border crossing, it was meant to be less busy and it was. The only delay was when Bruce and Jarrod decided to take photos at the border and had to get there cameras checked for incriminating photos.

The Mt Baker highway seemed really remote, just farm land. We managed to get to the office in Maple Falls just before it closed and carried on to our accommodation in Snowater in the dark.

It's a total palace really. Everything we need, heaps of room, flat screen tv! It's park of a "gated community" and has shared facilities like pools, and squash courts. I plan to head down to the river and do some exploring later too. Totally glad we paid extra and didn't stay in a dingy old motel. I guess we are just getting soft in our old age!

First day of snowboarding tomorrow!