Yeah fuck them fees. It was starting even pre-COVID

They just do that so their hotel shows a cheaper price when you search them on Google or a booking site and then when you pay...wham-o they hit you with the "resort" fee or even worse when you arrive or checkout.

I tell myself it's payback for all the cheap 4-star hotel rooms I got circa 2009-2015 when you could get decent rooms for like $50/night on Priceline.com and near 1:1 exchange rate. *Cries*. Oh well, I've pretty much exhausted all I wanted to see in the States. Been to every major city save for Boston and Philly, road trips up and down the West coast/Southwest, every Hawaiian island. Would have been nice to see more National Parks tho...maybe I'll get an RV when I retire. You're pricing yourself out of the tourism market, 'Murica!

Is it free to cross the land border now? No more forms etc?

Also question for if I bring my newborn. It seems like the US side will allow me in with just a birth certificate, but the Canadian side is a bit more ambiguous. Do any of you know if I need to get the little one a passport if we are doing a short trip to Seattle?

Children 15 and under don’t need a passport to enter the United States or return to Canada by land or sea.

Documents you can use instead of a passport:
* original or copy of their birth certificate (it should be issued by the vital statistics department from the province or territory where they were born)
* original Canadian citizenship certificate
* Canadian citizenship card

https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration...-passport.html

No, just need your passport. No more ArriveCAN bullshit.

Couldn't sleep last night. Kept waking up, so I decided to go early on my weekly US laundry venture. I got to Ferndale and realized I'm gonna have to wait an hour and a half before the seniors day stuff begins at 8:00 am. No thanks. On a whim, I decide to go further east. Burlington, to be exact. Wanted to check out what the Target down there had as far as vinyl records went. BTW, I also went to 24/7 Parcel to pick up a Fleetwood Mac 2 record set, I ordered on-line. 45 RPM LP's pressed at Pallas in Germany. Supposedly heaven to the ears. Best version of the album. We'll see. Anyway, I couldn't find Target when I got to Burlington. Description said Cascade Mall. I went to the mall and couldn't believe it. Fairly large mall, but totally abandoned. Even the Outlet Mall next to it was like a ghost town. I did find Target eventually. Lots of vinyl in stock. A shitload of Taylor Swift albums. On the way into Burlington, traffic northbound was a gong show. There was construction so it was single lane. On top of that emergency vehicles were all over the place. Two separate accidents. Bad ones. Saw one car that looked like it flipped over a few times end on end. Further down, another car slammed into a barrier. Long ass line up. Looked like a couple of hours wait. I was like no way in hell I'm taking I-5 back home. I asked this gal, the only one in all of Target who knew how to get out of the cot dam parking lot, if there was an alternative way to get back to Bellingham. "Take the old highway and follow Chuckanut. It's a very nice drive. I live out that way." Cool. Traveling along the old highway, I saw this property that looked like an equestrian centre. As I approach the place, I realized it's Skagit Speedway. Damn. If I wasn't in a hurry, I would have checked it out. Heard of it. Now I know. Skagit Speedway | Alger Washington - 360 Sprints, Sportsman Sprints

The route took me along Lake Samish. Wow, I see it off to the side of I-5 all the time, but never thought to check it out. Such a cool place when you travel alongside the lake. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Samish

I didn't get any records, but thought of checking out what the Target in Bellingham had in stock. Nada. Very few LP's. I asked this one guy what happened to all the vinyl. He told me he can't keep up with stocking them. Especially the Taylor Swift stuff. Canadians come down and buy them all up. Apparently, the special edition LP's aren't available in Canada (like Taylor Swift Concerts, LOL). The guy said he'll check to see if he had any in the back. He found four different Taylor Swift LP's. I purchased the Red album. Yep, red vinyl. I'm officially now a Swiftie.


Oh yeah.............. picked up some lottery tickets. Over a billion US dollars - 1.58 billion and rising. If I win the jackpot, private track day every week for a year for RS Members.

Now I know why Target has all those Taylor Swift Special Edition records. She has a partnership with Target. I've got my eye on the Queen LP. I guess there's a market for this type of stuff. All those Crossley's and Victrola's hipsters buy. Not to be outdone, Best Buy and Walmart also have their own version of "exclusive" records.

https://www.target.com/p/queen-great...l/-/A-81047640


These pressings are probably bad, but cool nonetheless. I'll need to buy a Crossley to get the best sound from these puppies. Tee Hee

went down to the states on sunday around 2pm. nexus pass to skip that 2 hour line. ended up spending a lot of time buying random stuff at traders joe. wife finally found that ube spread at the store to try.

went to the wonderful buffet to try since wife keeps seeing it on tiktok, and damn i'm not asian enough at the buffet. all them asians got multiple plates full of seafood and here i am only grab a couple items at a time. msg glory at the buffet, was so thirsty afterwards

Damn, the wAnderful Buffet. I used to go there plenty of times. Not been there for at least 10 years. Shit, son, I'll have to .................. man, I'm in Bellingham from 7:00 am to noon at the latest. Place probably not even open that early.

Yesterday was an exception. I got back at 1:00 pm. I don't know how I ever survived all those years without a Nexus pass. Took nearly three full years to get it, but well worth the wait. Except yesterday Nexus was longer lineup than regular lanes (zero cars). Even with two Nexus lanes open. Still five minute wait. Good thing about Nexus is, they rarely tell people to go in to declare items. Not that I buy a whole lot.

You sound like my oldman, it's pretty funny. He's 70 and lives in White Rock, takes his motorcycle down to Bellingham every week and loves riding Chuckanut Drive, one of his favorite weekly things to do.

Damn.......... I'm thinking of going to Burlington tomorrow. It really is a nice drive. Nothing like listening to Lisa Evans (Edmonton gal) 70's on 7 SiriusXM. I don't even want to speed like I usually do. It's chill time. I lost reception for a while, but it really is relaxing. I can only imagine how cool it would be on a bike.

Come to think of it, I've always wanted either a Gold Wing or a Valkyrie. Flat Six - smooth. End of life crisis.......... way past mid-life crisis. Gulolololol

On the US penny, there's a line that reads, "In God We Trust." Well on Revscene, it's, "In Mike We Trust."

I shit you not. That Chuckanut drive is gorgeous. Not Cabot Trail in Cape Breton epic, but not bad at all.

When I posted about the nice drive, it wasn't Chuckanut. It was the Old Pacific Hwy. The stretch that goes through Skagit Valley and Lake Samish. Today, on the way down to Burlington. I took the actual Chuckanut. You head down to the Ferry terminal (Ferry to Alaska) and turn left. It is gorgeous. Lots of spots to take in the view. Can see what I believe to be Vancouver Island in the far off distance.


Side Note: I picked up a copy of Target Exclusive, Queen Greatest Hits 2 LP set. On the way back, I recall people mentioning Barnes & Noble had vinyl records. Sure enough, they did. A good selection. Found me a Barnes & Noble Exclusive Alanis Morisette red vinyl LP. I don't read books. Never thought I'd go into a bookstore, of all places. To this day, never read a book from cover to cover. Don't want to experience life through someone else's eyes. Rather do it myself.............. just kidding.

did you stop at the taylor oyster farm

I drove by, but I believe they were closed. I drove by at around 7:30 am. Looked hella interesting, though.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Bellingham/...t=1&utm_term=1

Lol, anyone see this post?

https://www.reddit.com/r/Bellingham/...t=1&utm_term=1

And this one as well, lol.

TIL Bellingham TJs was/is one of the highest revenue generating stores in their portfolio because of Canadian shoppers.

Wasn't there a whole article / news post on Canadians cleaning out milk at US costcos a few years back

.......

Yup, South Asians.

Now that there are limits crossing back into Canada, it seems to have fixed the issue. At least from what I remember. Then there was Covid. Hurt Bellingham so much.

I get my milk for fairly cheap at Shoppers Drug Mart during seniors day ($1.00 off / 4 Litre jug). Support our farmers and shit.

I still don't trust USFDA.

My fav comment from the first one.

"In defense of Canadians, they live in a hellish god-forsaken wasteland reminiscent of Mad Max. I've never been there or wanted to risk my life crossing the border, but I presume what passes for a civilization is an utter disaster since the must travel to another country to purchase the very necessities needed for survival. I also think there must be no roads, or they have been destroyed in some sort of hockey civil war since they drive and park like they have never driven on any form of developed infrastructure. Their energy system must have also been destroyed or eaten away by beavers since they wait in line to fill up their vehicles and paint cans with fuel. Rather than criticize them, we must treat them as the poor refugees that they are."

Tried Wonderful Buffet for the first time today and it was pretty lit.

FeelsGoodMan

There's a reason why they've survived all those years..............

If any Bellinghamster (that's what they're referred to) complains about Canadians, show them pictures of Burlington malls of today. Back in the day, the Outlet Mall (no Premium Outlets existed) was bustling. I remember when my family was young, the wife, kids, and I went there all the freakin' time. Dollar was at par and none of the shops there existed in Canada. This was back when Vancouver was a village (pre Expo 86). Crossing the border was as easy as just driving across. No real checks. As long as you didn't have alcohol or tobacco, you were good to go. Nowadays, the only exciting thing in Burlington is the See's Candies, lol. My mom loved stuff from there. Also back then, the Burlington Frederick's and Nelson had these truffles called, Frangos. Damn, those things were good. Don't know what the hell happened to them. Oh yeah, no Bellis Fair, either.

I didn't have high expectations for a buffet of this price range, but this one exceeded my expectations. For something similarly priced, I really liked the Eagles buffet at Tulalip, but that hasn't come back since COVID.

I feel like Bellisfair is also slowly dying, I went last Saturday and it was about as busy as Henderson, lol

Wonderful buffet is still running ?!? I thought they closed down the pandemic.

Isn’t that the place that was across from bellis fair ? Or is that another buffet that I’m thinking about. Super buffet maybe….

They used to have fresh oysters with black bean sauce. Huge frigging oysters too. God I miss that hole in the wall. Used to eat like 15 oysters then go pound the wife.

What were some of the featured items?

And how much was it ... did you do lunch or dinner?

Just read some google reviews and most say food is decent but service is the shittiest ... but I suppose you don't go to a buffet for the 5 star service ..ha.

Chinese buffets were never good for service. You should be happy they even come take your plates.