Week 19: Eat Poutine in Canada

There comes a day in a man's life, when he has to look himself in the mirror and say "just how committed am I to my own madness?"

Today was not that day, but it very well could be this week.

Today's guest Drawer, Luke, hit the scene with a splash, pulling out what's probably the 2nd most expensive thing in the hat.

At this point I think the hat needs calibration

The result of course.

Fuck

Here we are, the first of the travel challenges finally emerges and its on the busiest weekend of the month.  I have but one day available for this challenge  Sunday.  Mothers Day. 

It can be done, I can fly to Seattle, drive to Vancouver, eat Poutine, drive back to Seattle, and fly back.  All in time for work on Monday.

The question is, am I completely fiscally stupid enough to do it?

Only time will tell ...

Thursday Update:  Always Choose What Makes for the Better Story

If you listen closely you can hear the moaning of frugal people everywhere

So here we have it, on Sunday I will arrive in Seattle at 10 AM.  Depart at 7:30 PM.  In that 9.5 hours  I will need to rent a car, drive to the border, cross the border, find a place to eat, eat, cross the border again, and drive back to the airport, return the rental car, and fly back.

I'm sure it can be done, but if anything goes wrong, I could be stuck in Seattle, and forced to hear an unbearable amount of "I told you so's".

You could la la la la la
And you could lie to all your friends
But you can't take that stuff to Canada
You can't take it anywhere
-Low - Canada

Sunday Update:  And Here We Go


So, the adventure begins.  I have recruited a trusted navigator to be my eyes and ears from afar, to inform me about flight delays, weather, border crossing wait times.

The drinking gallons of coffee was his idea though

Phase 1 complete:

Add caption

After some may de-icing, which is completely ridiculous we were off, and a mere 3 hours later touched ground in Seattle.

Then it was a quick jog to the rental place where I picked out my mighty steed.  Now since I was going to be crossing the border twice probably within an hour, this might arouse some suspicion.   So, to avoid any undue conflict I should probably pick the most inconspicous vehicle possible.

Mission Accomplished

Phase 2 was completed and the race was on, I set off down the I5 across the beautiful pacific northwest, racing against the ever ticking clock.

Very green

Then Phase 3, I arrive at the Canadian border, the big question mark.   I figure I'll tell them I"m in town for a day and want to get some poutine, easy as pie right?

Funny it doesn't look foreboding

Turns out that was a big no.  I explain my purpose, perhaps not very well, and they don't buy it.  So I get to spend 20 minutes talking to two very nice, but very skeptical customs agent.  It felt like I was being interviewed for a job, senior executive in charge of not going to prison.

After answering many questions and showing them, this very blog, I was allowed into their great country.  Now 30 minutes behind the clock I set off across the also very green Canadian country side.

Coming soon on Fox:  the gameshow that's sweeping the nation. 

Canada or Iowa?

Then a short math filled drive of computing Kilometers from Miles, I arrived at the first place I could find that served poutine.  A fast food restaurant.

If you never had fries before, you'd probably go to McDonalds right?

And Bam, maybe the most difficult challenge left is done.

Pictured: the most expensive meal I've ever had

Verdict?  Salty, and it burned the shit out of my mouth.  Otherwise good.

So the story pretty much ends there, without much excitement, I returned to America crossing the border with no problems at all.  So pro-tip for all you smugglers, its the Canadian customs you have to worry about.

Birthplace of the morbidly obese

Made it back to the airport with an hour to spare, then turned out to be 2 hours as the flight was delayed.  Came back to snowy crappy Colorado, and dreamt of the days before I lost my mind.

Thanks for listening everyone.