Grammy woke up nice and early so she could catch the shuttle to the airport. I was pretty sad to see her go, but happy at the same time because I got to see her for a week! I went back to bed for a few more hours since it was only 4am. We were up around 7:30 to go to the continental breakfast downstairs. It was great- fruit, eggs, sausage, home fries, big waffles, toast, etc. Too bad Grammy didn't get to enjoy it, too. We e-mailed Greg (one of the cyclists we met in Smithers, BC who we plan to meet up and ride with) to let him know we had gotten to Vancouver. The plan was for them to meet us in Port Angeles, WA when Lea gets back from Germany. So we headed out so we would be able to get to Port Angeles on time to meet them. It was a little tricky getting across the South arm of the Fraser River, but eventually we found our way. The main road that crossed the bridge was not open for pedestrian/cyclist use, but after a little searching, we were able to find the bike path across the bridge. It was a little scary riding across the bridge because it was pretty tall and I'm not a huge fan of heights. Right after the bridge, we found a nice bike path through the woods that we rode on for a few miles. Eventually we found ourselves on a nice paved road again, that had a good amount of traffic. We stopped at a grocery store to get a couple things that we could only get in Canada: Fudgie-O cookies, and our favorite seasoning to put on our rice. I was so excited to have a Fudgie-O cookies- it's been so long since we had them and just like before, once this package is gone, I am going to miss them terribly. Shortly after, we found a MacDonalds, so we stopped to fill up on water and check the internet. We found out that Greg had e-mailed us back and said that we should come visit him in Vancouver to hang out on the beach. The only problem was that we were already over 30 miles away from where he was and it was tricky riding with all of the traffic. So, disappointed that we weren't there enjoying the beach with him, we continued on. At one point we stopped at a Safeway and decided to get a sub for lunch. Since we had burned the rest of our fuel before getting on the ship and we were trying to hold out to buy some in the states since it would be cheaper, the sub was our best plan (and plus it was much better than rice or mac and cheese would have been!). While there, we got another email from Greg that said he and Lea had changed their plans and that they would now be riding a similar route to us-meaning they wouldn't be going to Port Angeles. At that point we were very frustrated because had we have known that we would have taken our time in Vancouver in order to wait for them. But, since we were at a point of no return, we decided to keep riding and figured that we would figure something out so that we could still meet up with them. Shortly after getting off of the bike path, the terrain became very hilly; hills that were long enough to feel "long," and some that were really steep. The traffic was so bad in the one area that we rode through that we were forced to take the sidewalk for a while. Luckily, the closer we got to the US border, the less traffic there was. Compared to some of the other border crossings that we could have gone through, the one we chose would probably have the least amount of traffic because there was no interstate involved. We continued riding, starting at 64th ave when we first got off of the bike path, all the way to 0 ave, which ran right along the border. When we got closer to where the crossing would be, we found signs that said there was no access to the US border from 0 ave and that we had to detour back and catch highway 13. There was a pretty steep hill involved with this detour. When we got to the border crossing, we found that if we stayed on 0 ave, we would have been able to get to the same place after all-without having to climb the steep hill. The border crossing went very smoothly. We were standing in line with all of the cars, but at one point a guy popped his head outside of the Canadian customs side and told us to take the sidewalk down to the the main office. So we did and it worked out great-first of all we no longer had to wait with all of the cars, and second of all it ended up being very quick. The border crossing guy didn't ask us a huge amount of questions like they normally do, so that was nice. Once through, I was happy to see a "Welcome to Washington sign! We took our usual state picture, making this our 31st state total (plus D.C). The terrain went from being pretty hilly to being almost completely flat, at least for about 10 mile or so. We were in such a beautiful farm area, it definitely felt like a different world from where we just were across the border. Originally we didn't expect to stay in Bellingham, so we hadn't contacted any Warm Shower's hosts. Although it was last minute, we tried calling a couple of hosts to see if they were available. At first we didn't have any luck, so we got back on our bikes and continued riding the last 10 miles or so there. We were happy to see a Wal-Mart since we needed to get some more fuel for the stove. Since we were super hungry, we decided to get some ice cream for dinner--and it was probably the cheapest ice cream we've seen in so long! While we were enjoying our ice cream, Joey got a call back from one of the Warm Shower's hosts we had called. He wasn't home, but said his roommate was and that we were welcome to go there for the night! So, we put away the rest of our ice cream and headed down the road, which ended up being perfect timing since it was already getting dark. We are definitely missing it being light until 10 or 11! When we got to Justin's house, Sara was there to greet us. We had a nice spot in the garage to stash our bikes and enjoyed the rest of our ice cream. Unfortunately Sara had to leave for previously established plans, so we didn't get a lot of time to chat with her, but there is always tomorrow morning! We each took a nice hot shower and went to bed pretty early. Sara let us sleep in Justin's room, so we got to sleep in a bed (but we rolled out our sleeping bags), which is always awesome. Another great day on the road; still a little weird after being on the cruise, though! We rode 62.27 miles today (definitely some sore legs after not riding for a week!)
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