kingjosh.com

On a whim last weekend a friend and I decided to head up to Vancouver, BC. I hadn’t been there for a while, however I recall the border six years ago as being fairly easy to get through on my previous trips up there. If anything there was delay going into Canada, both times I’ve previously been I received the pleasure of a well trained German Shepherd trouncing about my car sniffing my bags on the way into Canada. This time we waited about five minutes in line and were waved through after presenting identification and stating our reason for entering the country.

Vancouver, as before, was a very fun town. We went to a boat party with live music on a large party boat out in the middle of Vancouver harbor. It was awesome - we planned on leaving after the party but decided it would be better to stick around for another day and recover.With my usual degree of planning we stayed for yet another additional day - this time on the south end of town on Broadway. This was pretty uneventful, there was a big party going on across town but the cab fare was too expensive and we’d been over at Earl’s drinking margaritas so there was no way I was going to drive across Vancouver. Staying near the hotel we did a little bit of a pub crawl on Broadway - there was some awful metal music at the hotel bar and there’s Earl’s across the street

Now for the real fun . . . crossing the border back to the states!

I haven’t done this since before 9/11, and had no idea what to expect. As we neared the border patrol point I noticed a new building had been constructed, quite a bit larger than the original little windowed building you pulled up to before. I noticed these strange devices mounted all around which I found out were designed to scan your passport as you entered so they would know who was in the car before pulling up. Do ID cards have RFIDs in them too?

So . . . how have our freedoms, etc. changed as a result of 9/11? Read along . . .

We were asked to pull the car into a parking bay at the border checkpoint and come inside and answer some questions. We were told to remove the key from the ignition and leave the car unlocked.

While we were being detained there was no restroom and no drinking water.

We were told to empty our pockets onto the counter, i had a mint tin in my pockets - I was told to open the container. The officer removed a single mint and placed it on the counter as if to test it.

We were repeatedly told it would just be a few minutes.

The officers held our identification and made us fill out an immigration form.

We were questioned together first, then individually.
The CBP officers stated that they would be strip searching us, and to avoid this we just needed to turn over “the drugs”.

They asked what drugs were in the car and where they were located - to which I told them i did not know of any drugs being in the car.

They asked if my friend did drugs while in Canada - to which I answered that I am not his keeper.

They brought my friend’s bag inside the holding pen and asked whos it was.

They then asked how much money was in the bag - he answered correctly.

After an hour and a half we were released from detention.

Everything in my car had been searched through, by hand presumably by the CBP officers.

They knew we were US citizens.

It was obvious we were not “terrorists”.

It was nothing more than harrassment.

We were NEVER arrested or told why we were being detained.

We were NEVER told that the vehicle would be searched.

I NEVER gave permission to search the vehicle nor my person.

I was late to an important event in Seattle as a result of the detention. (Continued below . . .)

So, this is the increased security at the border? Detain a couple of guys who headed into Vancouver for the weekend to enjoy the nightlife? The border is one of those places where you have no rights, but certainly an amount of respect is due. Did anyone gain from the this? No. Do I have a increased perception of safety at our border? No. Was I treated with respect? No. Did they find “the drugs”? No.
To be more effective, maybe the CBP should focus on catching terrorists and people sneaking through holes in the border. Maybe the focus shouldn’t be on whether or not a couple of guys in their mid-twenties have a joint in the car and more focused on whether the guy walking through the forest a few miles away is carrying plans to carry out some terrorist plot. There were more CBP agents stuffed in the Peace Arch Border Crossing detention area than cattle in a Wal Mart beef supplier’s feed pen.

We went to the big 4th of July celebration “across the river” in Vancouver Washington this year.  It took 3 hours to get home . . . about 15 miles.  The parking lot was unreal - almost an hour stuck there and then stuck again at the Interstate Bridge.  Needless to say, I may just stay on this side of the river next year!

Watch Now:

 Fireworks! [0:58m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

breckenridge

Originally uploaded by kingjosh.

keystone

Originally uploaded by kingjosh.

In keeping with the randomness of my postings, i’m going to start posting the links that I would usually email around to friends. This will be a bit easier, so I can just send one email. Maybe this will even get me to post daily. Doubtful . . . but possible.

It should be coming today, for the first time this season. Powder, soft and fluffy, falling from the sky. The ski season is nearly upon us, I can’t wait. It’s been raining for two days but today it’ll turn to snow. I love the snow!

10:40 Saturday night, I was tired from the night before . . . had only slept four hours after partying all evening. I was supposed to drive to Breckenridge and stay at a friend’s house up there for skiing the next day. I’d heard a blizzard was coming through and it was already snowing at my house. I called him and said I’d head up in the morning. Tonight I was going to take it easy, and get some rest.

An hour later I run into a friend, we’ll call him Mick. He’s hanging out with a girl he’d met a few weeks ago. As we’re talking about perhaps going skiing - she pipes in and says she hasn’t been all year, but that she’s a former ski instructor and would love to go. 1:00 am. The three of us are heading up to Breckenridge. As we get into the mountains, dense fog and heavy snow engulf us, making it difficult to see. The rain had turned into sleet and the roads were extremely icy. On the east side of Eisenhower, it was a rain/snow mix and the beginning of the tunnel was a bit icy. Coming out the west end of the tunnel, the snow was coming down hard - and we were driving on powder, not snowpack or ice. I drive a light car, so my speed was fairly low as I wanted to keep it on the road! From nowhere, a black suv that looked like a Suburban or perhaps a Yukon flys by us, going at least 60 mph! We make a few comments about how people in trucks think they’re invincible with 4 wheel drive and continue driving. About two minutes later we see tire tracks in front of us, they couldn’t have been more than a few seconds or maybe a minute old. They veered from the left lane off the side of the road into the mountain. The snow was falling so hard there was only one possibility of vehicles that could’ve done this. We glanced toward where the tire tracks were, but couldn’t see the truck or where it landed. This drive was intense . . . luckily we were almost there. As we came in toward Dillon the conditions improved a bit. The snow calmed down and the roads had been plowed. A semi-truck was in the right lane, and I moved over to the left to pass him. The roads were drying, and I increased my speed. As we are coming around the truck, a snow drift appears right in front of my vehicle. My speed was about 50 mph and their was no way to miss it. Crossing my fingers I blasted through the drift with no consequences other than a bit of fright! At 4:00 am we pull into our destination - hit the sack and get some rest!

9:00 am Sunday morning we wake up. Looking outside, it’s still snowing at a moderate rate. The three guys in the group get ready to go. It’s 9:30 now, most of us are ready to leave. Noon. Mick’s female friend is ready to go. Half the day is gone - we’re fifteen minutes from our destination resort. Although I’m seriously frustrated, we’re nice and simply get in the car and drive to the resort. The snow has lightened up for the short drive from Breckenridge to Copper Mountain. Getting there, the first thing we noticed were the essentially empty parking lots. No one was there! This was going to be unbelievable!

Once we get on the mountain, the best skiing of the season awaits. It’s literally snowing hard enough that fresh powder is to be had on every run. There’s not enough people there to ruin the tree runs, we’re able to find 5 - 10 inches in the trees all day. The back bowls had wind blown powder sitting on top of hardpack - it made for nice quick lines and an intense workout. Air was everywhere, kickers would launch you up and landings were soft and ideal for spring. It wasn’t the typical 50 degree day that one would expect in the middle of April at a ski area, but rather soft powder like we were in February. The day was short, only three hours of skiing, but with no lift lines and three great skiers and riders in the group we were able to get in about a dozen or so powder runs in that short time.

Although all the runs were nice, one stood out in particular. About 2:30 we hit a run named “Union Meadows”. This is a double black diamond (expert) run on the far west side of the mountain. Getting off the S lift (Sierra), we stayed high and went straight west. Cutting across the ridge to the gate to Union Meadows, we continued to stay high. To the right a beautiful powder field presents itself - looking like the finest clouds in heaven had settled to the ground in the form of giant pillows for our skiing enjoyment. Dropping in with complete disregard we sailed through the meadow into the nice, open trees. Soon after getting into the trees, a steep pitch comes for about 200 feet, the trees are loose and the powder deep. Air is plentiful, with enough snow to make every rock and tree stump a kicker. The adrenaline was rushing, it felt amazing with the powder flying up into my chest and face with every turn. Reaching the end of the pitch, we dumped out to a nice little catwalk to get us back to the center of the mountain. We stopped here for a little rest, and met a couple of riders from South Carolina who were, perhaps even more so than I, extremely impressed by the run they’d just experienced.

All in all the day was amazing. After skiing we hit up Jack’s for a little Apres Ski, wanting a drink after such an amazing day. The Smithereens were playing live at the bar and everyone was in great spirits. We couldn’t drive back that evening, Denver was in the middle of getting 20 inches of snow. We stayed up there in Breckenridge for one more night. It snowed again but we had to work on Monday . .