The Long Sprint Home - First Leg

Not a whole lot to report today, just a lot of driving yesterday and a lot of driving ahead today. Yesterday we made the trip from Seattle to Ogden, Utah, today is Ogden to Lincoln, Neb. Google map it yourselves to see how crazy we are. I'll go into more detail next time I get a chance.

Oh, and by the way, that's all 50 states for those of you keeping track.

Yay me.

Evenflow As You Are

Monday was the last big city of the trip - Seattle, Wash. No plaid, depressing grunge rock or rain here, though. It was a beautiful day, and it featured the debut of a special guest that will be joining me for the rest of the trip - Lauren, official girlfriend of the Drive For 5-0. She's done with finals and helping me make the 3,000-mile sprint home by Friday, which is awesome because I was starting to talk to myself and that's never good.

Anyway, Monday morning I made the short drive into the city from Marysville and settled into the city. I don't think I can overstate how nice the weather was/still is. Lauren said the flight attendant told her it was only the second time she could remember flying into Seattle and the sun being out. Needless to say, I've gotten lucky again. Here's hoping that it won't run out before North Carolina.

After walking down to the famous Pike Street Market, I eventually found what I was looking for - a place to eat sushi for lunch. I had three rolls - spicy crab, tuna with mango and cashews and shrimp tempura. They were all excellent, as you might expect.

I rested for a bit back at the hotel before picking up Lauren from the airport, and we immediately headed down to the Space Needle to get there before dark. It was worth the trip...(look for the fading Mt. Ranier in the background)

So the overwhelming thought for the day was that I was completely spoiled by a perfect day in Seattle.

Today we start the long, not-so-slow journey home, but not before a stop in Portland, which is located in Oregon, which is state No. 50! After that it's back east by Friday.

I'm fresh out of witty titles

Maybe tomorrow.

Anyway, today was my day to enjoy Vancouver, the only non-American city on this here journey. So after a lazy morning of watching the Braves, I headed out (and this will shock you, considering this is the Pacific Northwest) into the rain to see the city.

Vancouver is basically a giant peninsula, and the downtown is essentially another peninsula off that. So after I cracked that code and got the right bridge into downtown (driving without a map is a whole new experience on this trip), I parked to grab lunch.

I ate at Prima Taste, a restaurant that specializes in food from Singapore. Best that I can tell, it's a chain, but the only ones in North America are in Vancouver and San Jose, Calif. The rest are in Asia, which is fun. So it was something I couldn't get at home, which is basically all I'm looking for when eating on the road. And all the other people in the place looked to be of Asian decent, so I figured that was a good sign that the food was up to par, which it was. I had a chicken and rice dish as well as some curry chicken pastries (kinda like empanadas) which were fantastic.

After that I walked around downtown for a while until the rain chased me off. It was a little disappointing to miss out on really getting a good look at the city, but lucky for me there was an alternative.

I headed over to the Vancouver Art Gallery where they had an exhibit featuring, wait for it, photos of Vancouver. It was a great exhibit and it was neat watching the locals go through the photos pointing out places they'd been. Sort of a fun firsthand/secondhand way to see the city.

I then left downtown to drive through the campus of the University of British Columbia. With the crummy weather, I didn't have it in me to take any pictures, but it looked like a pretty standard college campus. There was a good looking golf course right at the edge of campus, which is always a good sign.

After another extremely annoying trip across the border, I was back in the United States. I'm holed up in Maryville, Wash., for the night before heading into Seattle tomorrow. After a night in Seattle, it's Oregon Tuesday and then...well, that's it, I guess. No more states, mission accomplished. Kind of unbelievable.

Until tomorrow...

O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

The Drive For 5-0 is officially a multinational blog this evening, as tonight I am sleeping in Vancouver, British Columbia, conveniently located in our docile neighbor to the north - Canada. Special thanks to the Canadian member of the International Brotherhood of UNC Sports Information Personnel, David Tinson, for tonight's accommodations (even though he's off in Whistler like a big shot).

But I'm getting ahead of myself. This morning I walked down to the Lake Coeur D'Alene to take some pictures and enjoy the weather. The view along the shore is, well, see for yourself...

After lunch, I hit the road once again, this time headed for Washington, state No. 49. Not much to report from the Evergreen State (I'm saving Seattle for Monday), though there was a great scenic overlook of the Columbia River off I-90 near Vintage. I could definitely picture someone trying to float a covered wagon down that baby.

So another long day of driving is in the books. Tomorrow I'll sink my teeth into Vancouver before heading back to the United States for Seattle on Monday, with the completion of my task on Tuesday in Oregon.

Oh, one last note about today. Crossing the border into Canada is an intimidating process. I have nothing illicit in my car, a perfectly legitimate reason for being here and a passport and I still got nervous when I pulled up to the customs agent. He asked a bunch of rapid fire questions (Where are you going? Why? Who are you going to see? What is his name? How do you know him?) that I had answers to, but it still is an intense experience. I can't imagine what it must be like trying to do something illegal as you cross.

Ok, that's all for now.