As I was clearly out of action, Julia was left to fret over how we were going to get to Seattle, as neither of us had bothered to get a map or to note down directions, as I was happy to take the "wing it" approach, with the naive attitude of "I'm sure there will be signs to Seattle!". Luckily, Renee had written the directions from google maps, oh how ever did we live without google. As Renee and Julia weighed up the logistics of packing two nights worth of provisions into the "green monster motherlicker" (which had been written in permanent marker on the dashboard by the previous owner). We’d stopped by the petrol station to fill up with gas. You would think this would be a simple task however, with three blonde's and an out of action brunette; this was just all too difficult. Julia went to pay for the prepaid gas, Renee couldn’t decide whether to purchase sugar free red bull or just normal red bull, Emma was fiddling around with checking the water and I was passed out on the back seat. We drove off and were 10 mins down the road, when Julia noticed that the petrol gage hadn’t gone up, and then the question was raised, “Well who put the gas in the car?” In the midst of all the commotion, we’d realised that we’d driven off without the gas. A minor setback, we had to go back and get the gas that we’d already paid for. This was just the start of a roadtrip that offered a near perfect set of comic circumstances and typical "blonde" moments, as Renee had asked during the trip as to whether Egg Nog was Eggy- this was the level of intelligence that we had to deal with.
We got to the US border where we drove into the shorter lane, only to be yelled at by the officer, as apparently you had to pay to be in the express lane. After escaping a $500 fine, playing the naive card, we had to pull into security control to have our car searched. Renee was busting to go to the toilet at this point, and made it known to the entire security division that we had a case of code yellow on our hands – insisting that there weren’t any public toilets. This was our first introduction to the welcoming manners of American’s.
The main purpose of the trip was shopping, where we went to a couple of shopping centres in Seattle city and the Outlet Mall. Shopping was relatively cheap there; one of our favourites was Victoria’s Secret- advertising 75% off! I found myself walking directly to the sleep wear where I was going through the sale racks of flannelet pyjamas. Then I heard this voice inside my heard saying; “Are you serious? You’re in Victoria Secret and you’re purchasing snow flake flannelette’s, what’s wrong with this picture?” Out of fear of never living this down, I reluctantly put the snow flake flannelette's back on the rack, and brought myself a sexy little number – I should probably rephrase, I brought myself what I thought was a sexy little number, Julia may beg to differ.
Whilst in Seattle we did some sightseeing, we went to the Space Needle which overlooked the city – spectacular views. We paid a visit to the famous Fish Market, and even had the pleasure of holding a fish (I personally didn’t get the attraction of the Fish Market), and even saw the famous Gum Wall and when I say Gum Wall I mean exactly that, people from all over the world come and stick chewing gum on this wall- there’s nothing like admiring a spit plaque, nevertheless the tourists that we are, we took photos so that you two can see the Gum Wall, not to worry though we had sanitizer on standby.
On the way back through the Canadian border, we went through the same process as getting through the US border, however this was much more intimidating. Our car was searched again, as apparently it’s the kind of vehicle used to transport drugs in. The lady officer was attacking Julia, as she accused Julia of lying whereas it was really a miscommunication as to whose car we were driving. The officer nearly brought Julia to tears, so as her ‘defacto partner’ I jumped right in there to protect. She repeatedly said “I’m not sure you realise how serious this is?” We were sweating with guilt, as we’d smuggled in more than our quota in liquor, which was suspiciously hidden in our doona’s. Our powers of persuasion escaped us from being detained, and fined. So not only are we Canada’s Most Wanted, after a stolen Christmas tree but we’ve now taken it to a new level and are up there with America’s most wanted. I would have thought we would have made an appearance on ‘Border Security’. This experience did slightly deter from the excitement of the road trip.
We did all of this with only our parkers on, no tail or dash lights, thinking they were broken. Then realised when we’d reached Squamish (45mins from home) that there was a knob in the car to turn on the lights. Julia has become quite the skillful driver, driving in the dark. And she had single handily drove for 10hrs!
Our friendships have definitely reached a new level, with being couped up in a car for 10hrs with minimal toilet breaks. Aside from the unpleasant aroma in the car, we had a wonderful trip, with lots of laughs and funny moments that we won’t forget.
We have displayed photos of our Seattle antics on facebook!
Love
Lydia & Julia x
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