Lots of traveling this summer

[fenchurch]

(or what I've been up to in the past month or so)

To catch up a bit... first up was the trip to Canada the weekend HP7 released (all our copies of the books have been Canadian editions and we didn't feel a pressing need to change for the last one). We've discovered we really love using the Alder Grove border crossing. It seems to be popular with Canadians, so there's generally quite a lineup southward in the mornings when we're going north, and northward in the evenings when we're coming back south. Even better, Langley is just across the border and has really been booming lately, so if we just want to run up for a shopping trip, it's only about a two and a half hour drive now (instead of the nearly four hour drive we've sometimes had when we went into Vancouver proper).

There's now a CostCo in Langley, which is where we snagged the book and scoped out some of the Canadian foods we like that are available in bulk packaging there (although we didn't pick up anything else this time), then we headed over to Safeway, where we were even able to use our Safeway Club Card to get the discounts on some wonderful Canadian foods: Bird's Custard Powder (can't make Nanaimo bars without that!), Canadian Kit-Kats (made with GOOD chocolate), Canadian Lea & Perrin's Worcestershire Sauce (unlike the American version, it does NOT contain high fructose corn syrup), and All-Dressed flavor potato crisps.

It's always fun to declare this stuff at the border when we're heading back home... we listed off everything we could think of that we'd picked up, and the border guard glanced into the backseat and announced, jokingly "Hey! You didn't mention the Tim-Bits! Did you think I'd take them from you?!?" Hee!

Mmmm.... Tim-Bits...

After that, I had a quick overnight trip to my dad's place north of Spokane, so that I'd be on the correct side of the state the next morning for an appointment with an orthopaedic surgeon down in Colfax (about two hours south). There's a pair of orthopaedic surgeons there that are, quite frankly, so good at what they do they can afford to live in the middle of nowhere and people will come to them. They do general OS stuff, but they specialize in exactly the sort of shoulder injury I've been dealing with since the car accident. I'll go into it a bit more later, but the upshot of my visit is that I'll be having surgery on the shoulder in September sometime (it would have been sooner, but I won't be able to drive for at least a month afterward, and I've got this trip to Louisville and Atlanta coming up at the end of August).

Next up was another trip to the other side of the state about a week or so later for my dad's induction ceremony as the new postmaster for Fairchild AFB. About a five or so hour drive, so not too bad and the ceremony itself was rather interesting... the oath given is apparently the same one that Benjamin Franklin took when he was installed at the first Postmaster (and includes a promise to defend the Constitution against enemies foreign and domestic, the same as the military oath). My dad is actually a bit of a history buff, so he's done a bunch of reading on Benjamin Franklin and the origins of the post office... and has quite a collection of some of the stuff the post office has issued commemorating Franklin's life (of course, my dad also has everything they've put out about Abigail Adams, too, because he's a bit of a fan-boy when it comes to her).

The weirdest and coolest thing for me, though, was driving onto Fairchild AFB. I lived there as a child from 1980 until 1983 and hadn't been back since. It was amazing to see the changes, but to also see how little had changed and the whole thing was just a tiny bit surreal. I drove by my old house, which no longer has a giant maple tree in the front yard (although I'd heard about that already), which was the tree I sat under while watching the huge ash cloud from Mount St. Helens slowly cover the sky on May 18th, 1980. One of the things I noticed right away is that none of the houses had nameplates on them, something that was always standard when I was growing up (it used to list name and rank of whoever lived there). Apparently that was one of the first things the new base commander did when he arrived earlier this year... had them pull down all the nameplates. It really makes sense though, I mean, if someone with ill-intent managed to get on base, they were essentially giving them a treasure map to where the best high-ranking targets lived!

Of course, I've already talked a bit about the rather sudden trip down to Utah for the funeral... I ended up being home for a bit less than 18 hours between coming home from my dad's place and leaving for that one. It was definitely too much driving and made me realize that I definitely do not want to go to my high school reunion next weekend, after all. There are a few people I wouldn't mind reconnecting with, but I've found ways of tracking them down online, so it's not as urgent that I go. I only attended that school for two years, so it's not like we're talking about lifelong friends I've lost contact with. OTOH, I was really happy to see that the whole thing was going to be fairly informal... for the adults, a pot-luck gathering on Friday night at the school with a small fee at the door to help pay for the costs and then a bring-your-own-picnic deal the next day at one of the local lakes for people to bring their families. Still, I really can't handle that much driving all in a row (since I'd be leaving for Louisville two days after coming home from the reunion if I went), and airfare to Spokane is way too high to justify.

Comments

[sandy-s.livejournal.com]

Sounds like you've been busy! I don't blame you a bit for deciding not to drive further next weekend for your reunion.

And I totally understand the surreal-ness of visiting a place you used to live...and wondering who now lives where you used to!

What are Tim Bits? *is curious*

[fenchurche.livejournal.com]

And I totally understand the surreal-ness of visiting a place you used to live...

For me it was especially strange since I'd never really had a chance to visit places I'd lived as a child. Just one of the side effects of growing up on military bases... you generally have to have a good reason for them to let you on the base in the first place! One of these days, I would love to go back to Guam... and I'll probably try writing ahead to the Base Commander's office to see if I could get a visitor's pass to go see my old house.

What are Tim Bits? *is curious*

They're essentially doughnut holes... sold at Tim Horton's, which is a Canadian chain. But they've got some fun variations, so some of them are filled and they've got apple fritter doughnut holes and so forth.

[rosiewook.livejournal.com]

Dang. That is a LOT of traveling! I don't blame you for not wanting to hit the road yet again.

I'm glad that you found those orthopods. So do you get to recover at a B&B, or something? :)

Hooray for Atlanta! Can't wait to see you.

[fenchurche.livejournal.com]

I'm glad that you found those orthopods. So do you get to recover at a B&B, or something? :)

Ah, that would be nice. We're not sure exactly what we're going to do. There's a hotel in town, and I've got a certificate for a fairly nice discount (the doctor's office handed it to me on my last visit... they have enough people coming from out of town for surgery that they were able to get a good deal), but if I can handle the five hour drive home, I think I'd prefer to do that. We may just wing it and see how I feel after the surgery. There's always the chance they'll keep me overnight (since I tend to have bad reactions to anesthesia), but if I'm up to a bit of travel, there are lots of towns with lots of hotels all along the route home.

I'm getting really excited about the trip next week! I finally reserved a car last night, so I can quit worrying about how I'm getting down to Atlanta from Louisville! Now I just need to decide exactly when I'm going to drive down...

[thebitterguy]

Wait. Lea and Perrin's has HFCS in the States?

Barbarism!

[fenchurche.livejournal.com]

Yes. It's disgusting. I swear they put the stuff in EVERYTHING here... it's one of the reasons we head across the border a few times a year to go grocery shopping.

Technically, it's not as bad as it used to be... more and more companies are cluing into the fact that people aren't happy with the overabundance of HFCS, so you can actually find items that will have it listed right on the label that they're HFCS free. Plus there's more and more organic food option popping up in regular grocery stores. But still, for some of the big name brand stuff, it takes a run to Canada to get what we want.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Is there actually some secret law that says every single foodstuff in the USA must contain HFCS do you think?

[fenchurche.livejournal.com]

I think it has to do with subsidies for corn growers, making the stuff REALLY cheap. I don't know how much longer that's going to last though, what with more and more farmers switching to growing corn for ethanol.

[djonn]

I was going to ask how far north of Spokane -- the family farm where my mother grew up is just south of Colville -- but given that he's working at Fairchild, probably he's not that far north.

As for Colfax, the most I remember about Colfax is that it had a gas station -- which was important one particular summer when I was about six. Mother was driving us up to the aforementioned farm one June, in a classic lime-green VW microbus, and we were going through the back of beyond south of Colfax when we blew a tire, right at the bottom of a hill just as we were coming to a little bridge. Fortunately, someone came along, helped Mother put on the spare tire, and so we got to Colfax and the gas station with not too much delay. But to this day I remember the hill, and the bridge, and the tire, and the gas station in Colfax.

[fenchurche.livejournal.com]

Actually, he lives a bit north of Elk... just over the border in Pend Oreille County. So, not as far as Colville, and over a bit to the east (he's not far off Highway 2 heading up toward Newport, rather than 395). I think his commute is about 45 minutes from there, but he really likes where he's living and he really likes the position there at Fairchild, so I suspect he'll keep up the commute until he retires.

There's still not a whole lot in Colfax... while I was there, I heard people talking about heading into "the city," by which they meant Pullman (to give you a bit of an idea).

[marsterslady.livejournal.com]

You have been so very busy. I've never been to Canada, and your descriptions of places and foodstuffs makes it sound even more enticing for me. :) I want Tim Bits and good chocolate Kit Kats! ;-) I'll think of you when I go there someday and pick those things up.

Will your surgery require much of a hospital stay? I'm sorry you're still having difficulty.

[fenchurche.livejournal.com]

Well, for us Canada is juuuust close enough to make it a day trip... we can zip up there in the morning, spend a few hours and then zip home. It's kind of fun to be able to just head out to a foreign country for a day, though!

As for the surgery, it's supposed to be out-patient, but they've been known to keep people overnight, so I'm not sure how that's going to go.

[marsterslady.livejournal.com]

I do hope for you that it ends up being out-patient. Eesh, a month without driving, though.

[fenchurche.livejournal.com]

That's going to just about kill me. It nearly drove me insane when I couldn't drive for the month or so after the car accident... even with spending some of that time in enough pain that I wasn't remotely interested in driving. I can't imagine what it's going to be like with only one arm out of commission and a perfectly good arm tempting me to be evil and hop in the car (I think they want me to avoid driving so I don't get in a situation where I HAVE to use the left arm).

I'm going to plan ahead though and maybe even arrange to have someone drive me to the local bento restaurant and come back an hour later to pick me up... just so I can be out of the house by myself from time to time, because that was possibly the worst part.

[gillo]

some wonderful Canadian foods: Bird's Custard Powder (can't make Nanaimo bars without that!), Canadian Kit-Kats (made with GOOD chocolate), Canadian Lea & Perrin's Worcestershire Sauce (unlike the American version, it does NOT contain high fructose corn syrup), and All-Dressed flavor potato crisps.


With the exception of the last item these all sound British - Birds' Custard Powder is made in Banbury, about half an hour away from here.

You have sweetened Lea and Perrins? Eeeek! That sounds all sorts of disgusting. No wonder you cross frontiers for the real stuff!

I can relate to the oddness of going past a house where you lived as a child - at one point we lived in the grounds of Staffordshire Police Headquarters, and it always feels odd passing there and seeing they've sold half the houses off and turned some of the others (I think) into offices.

[marsterslady.livejournal.com]

You have sweetened Lea and Perrins? Eeeek! That sounds all sorts of disgusting. No wonder you cross frontiers for the real stuff!

I use Lea & Perrins so often. I can't imagine it tasting different (and better!) than it does. I simply must try it without the corn syrup. I didn't even know it had it in it until fen said this.

[gillo]

I assume the corn syrup sweetens and thickens? I don't see wht it could add to Worcester sauce that could be positive, but I don't have a bottle to hand to see if there's an alternative added in the original version.

I don't quite understand why cheaper American chocolate is so different from cheaper British and European chocolate, but there really is a huge difference there too.

[marsterslady.livejournal.com]

I don't really taste the sweetness, and it has the consistency of soy sauce - it's not really syrupy to my point of view, but maybe I would think so once I tasted it lacking in the sugar. I really want to try it.

[gillo]

On my two visits to the US I was struck by how much sweeter many things seemed to be, especially in Alabama and Georgia for some reason. It's probably a cultural thing. I did read somewhere that many commercial foods have become much sweeter over the last few decades, because it give a sugar rush, even in savoury products and makes the purchaser keen to buy again. That seems plausible, but I have zilch in teh way of actual facts to support it.

[fenchurche.livejournal.com]

Mostly, it just really sweetens... in fact, it's almost hyper-sweet. Even worse, I can't stand the taste of the stuff. Which sounds a bit like a tin-foil-hat-wearing thing to say, but I can really taste the difference... it was such a relief to finally figure out what that awful aftertaste was. I'd almost gotten used to everything tasting like that before I realized what the problem was.

As for cheap American chocolate, well... not only do they sweeten it with corn syrup instead of sugar, but they also load it up with wax (or paraffin or something similar). And some of them are merely "chocolate flavored" rather than really chocolate, meaning that most of our regular grocery store chocolate is pretty foul. Probably not a bad thing, really, because it means that I have to spend more money on the good stuff and I'm much less likely to eat a lot of it. :-p

[tomte.livejournal.com]

Still, I'm pretty sure it's against the commandments to mass-produce bad chocolate. (You heard me, Hershey's people!)

Thanks again for picking us up a Canuck copy of the last HP book. As Earthworm Jim might say, "It's groovy!"

[gillo]

It strikes me as a bizarre thing to do, though presumably our L&P has dextrose or some such in it.

My first trip to the US was ten years ago and I took a load of Cadburys stuff with me. It was as if I'd taken luxury goods, the way people swooped on these delicacies! It's the waxiness of US chocolate, like Hersheys, which puts me off.