Vancouver

It's been a couple of days since I last posted; we visited Vancouver for a day, and yesterday we wore ourselves out getting some new sofas. More on that later.

We went up to Vancouver for the day because why not? It's two and a half hours away and neither of us are working right now. (A situation that's making me increasingly nervous.) It was rainy and foggy, just like Seattle, but it was fun to get away and walk around in a different country. We didn't see much, a couple of wine stores and a nice restaurant for lunch, and a bit of walking around downtown, but it was enough. It was similar to my last visit to Vancouver, during the epic road trip.

I found a wine store to stock up on Laughing Stock wines, my favorite BC wine. I've written about Laughing Stock before; this time I got a sampling, a viognier, a pinot gris, a white blend, a red blend, and a syrah. We also had lunch at Salt Tasting Room, where we were able to sample a number of extremely delicious wines, none of which I'll be able to find here, I'm sure. We'll definitely be back.

Speaking of bringing wine back into the US, I learned some things at the border.

1. You can buy booze at the duty-free at the border, but you can only bring 1 liter per person, if you've been in Canada more than 48 hours. Less than 48 hours = no duty-free booze.
2. You may have to pay the duty if you buy more than 1 liter per person (which is about $3 per bottle), but you may also be levied state tax, and if you live in Washington state, that means the full 35% extra tax per bottle.
3. Wine is of course not charged the exorbitant WA state booze tax, but is still subject to duty taxes.

For our next Canadian forays, I'd really like to do a wine tour of British Columbia, and in the summer, a tour of the Canadian Rockies. For now, I'll settle for a couple of quiet days at home, cooking.