Baseball and Canada, Eh! Day #3 “Oh Canada!”

Today we are in Canada.  I hear you asking, “What about baseball”.  Well last night we did see the Astros play the Mariners at Safeco Field.  Patrice is even becoming a bit of a baseball fan.  I didn’t even have to remind her that we were going to see the Astros play Seattle.  (Patrice here, don’t tell Robert but I always can tell who is playing because I can see it on his shirt).

We had great seats.

And the place was magical.  The Mariner pitcher, Felix Hernandez, was making his first start after a lengthy recovery from an injury.  Apparently he is very much the phenomenon here in Seattle.  His nickname is “The King” and a group of fans sit in a group down the left field line, wearing yellow t-shirts.  For $30 the fan gets a ticket to the game (in “The King’s Court” section), a t-shirt and a “K” card.  The “K” card is a yellow card with a big letter K on it.  K being the baseball scoring term for a strike out.  Anytime Hernandez gets 2 strikes on a batter the fans start waving their K cards at a frenetic pace. If he completes the trick, and strikes the batter out, they go crazy.

Unfortunately the Court had a good night.  Hernandez got 6 strike outs in 6 innings and the Mariners won 13-3 (Ugh).

So as I was saying we are now in Canada.  We left Seattle early and drove north to the border.  There was a long line of cars waiting to enter but it did not take an extremely long time.  When we got to the entrance the agent asked for our identification and queried us about our itinerary, if we were carrying any firearms or if we had more than $10,000 in cash.  Apparently a large amount of cash is a sign of criminal activity.  I am sure criminals break down quickly with this intense questioning and fess up the cash they are carrying.

We then made it to the BC Ferry which would take us to Victoria, British Columbia.  The ferry is incredibly impressive.  The vessel carries about 300 vehicles (the count will be less if they have tour buses and trucks which take up more room).  The ship is quickly loaded and then you are off on the 1 1/2 hour trip from Tsawwassen (that isn’t important but I wanted to show off that I could spell Tsawwassen correctly) to Swartz Bay.  The onboard experience is remarkable.  The sights are beautiful, of course, but what is more impressive is that you do not feel like you are at sea.  There is virtually no sway while you are cruising along.  Also all your needs are cared for.  They have a cafeteria, gift shop, business center (with computer terminals), ATM, play area for the kids, bar (I know that is a shock) and an elevator if you are physically challenged.

We are just getting settled at our hotel.  Soon we are going to go for a walk and check out the area.  I very much want to have a low profile.  No ugly American here.  We are going to try to blend in and be one of the locals.  I might even throw in an occasional “Eh” to sound very Canadian.  Bye for now.

Patrice here again.  Let me show you Robert’s version of blending in,  Here he is checking out where we should go next.