For our first anniversary, Ajey and I went to California – it was quite an ambitious vacation – San Jose, San Fransisco, LA and then Las Vegas. No, this is not a trip down memory lane – I actually remember very little of the trip – but there is a point to bringing this up here. Back then, we were with quite a large group – cousins, friends, friends of friends – and one of these people, for some weird reason, would eat only at Denny’s. For some weirder reason, we all agreed to this culinary blackmail! Unsurprisingly, a week later, we were thoroughly sick of Denny’s – so much so, that we haven’t eaten in one since! Until now, first place we ate at in Seattle?? Denny’s!!

Driving to Vancouver from Seattle takes about 3 odd hours, and it seemed like we were at the Peace Arch border crossing in no time at all! There was a large number of cars – a wait of almost 45 minutes, but the park itself is so beautiful! Manasi and I actually got out of the car to take pictures and stretch our legs as the traffic crawled by. After the muggy heat of the Midwest, the cool sea breezes were so very welcome!!

Crossing the border!!

After all these years and so much international travel – the one thing that is sure to spike up my anxiety level is Immigrations and Customs – can be any country, doesn’t matter!! Same here – as we drove to the Immigration booths, a number of cars ahead of us handed over what looked like a bunch of forms! We didn’t have any forms – just our passports and green cards – cue panic attack!! Let’s just turn around and head back now, no way they’re going to let us in!! Well, we didn’t really need anything else – and they did let us in!! Wait, that was almost too easy – now I’m convinced we’re going to have a hard time getting back!!

And this seems just as good time as any to introduce Coco, the monkey – Manasi decided we needed a mascot for this vacation, and Coco did a wonderful job! From keeping Ajey alert at the wheel, to holding up the Canadian flag – Coco was in his element!! Watch out for more adventures of Coco!!

Driving in Canada now!! The landscape didn’t see any different from what we had seen in Seattle, but the houses we passed certainly looked different. Couldn’t put a finger on it for a while, and then, bingo!! The houses here were similar to what we had always seen in Grenoble – definitely a French flavor here!! Our hotel for the night was in North Vancouver, and we could see downtown in the distance as we crossed one of the most gorgeous bridges I’ve ever seen – the Ironworkers Memorial bridge!!

And then, our hotel – a Hogwartesque Holiday Inn – how cool is this hotel!! It even has one of those signs showing how far places are – I absolutely love those!!

Well, that’s Part I – crossing the border, and getting to the hotel!! We made it to Vancouver – okay, technically, North Vancouver, but still!! Stay tuned for the next installment of our Canadian adventures!!