Shopping in the US of A

So what do you do when it's a rainy day and the Canadian dollar is at an all time high? Well you go down to the US and go shopping!!!!

Russ and myself thought it would be great to head down to Belfair Mall for the day and see if we could scrum up some savings considering the Canadian dollar closed on Friday at $1.07 US.

We got up early enough and with our friend Laura offering to babysit Junior we headed down around 10am. We did expect a delay at the boarder and we weren't disappointed. As we headed down to the Peace Arch, the wait time estimate was 2 hours, while the Truck Crossing was only 90 minutes. Having only a few seconds to decided which way to go, we headed to the truck crossing. As we approached we worked our way into the line for the "estimated" 90 minutes. Sitting in line for the first 10 minutes and only moving one car length I wondered if the boarder guards were on a coffee break or not. What was suppose to be a 90 minute wait turned into a 2 hour wait. Oh well. And what is up with the radio 88.3 FM who constantly kept giving updates from 9am?!

After answering the usual questions at the boarder, we headed to Belfair mall. Granted before this we had to get a bit to eat since 2 hours in line was a bit overwhelming.

We stopped at this little restaurant just across the mall, I can't remember the name, and was surprised when the hostess asked what the little red flower on my jacket was. I let her know it was a poppy and it was for Remembrance Day. I guess I forgot they don't celebrate it with the poppy and have their version known Veterans Day.

At any rate, Russ and I continued into the mall to do alittle bit of shopping. I had fun shopping at Macy's and was surprised at some of the deals. I ended up with 6 undershirts for $22, normally 3 of the same brand would have cost me $26 back home. I bought a sweater that was on sale for $55 and a t-shirt for $19. Total just under $100 before tax. I thought I did well.

We continued to browse through the mall and stopped in at other shops, but I didn't buy anything. It's amazing how easily one can over shop and spend tons of money.

After 3 hours of this we decided to head home and bare the 2 plus hours wait at the boarder.

Thinking we were exiting to head to the Truck Crossing again, we took a wrong turn that took us through the downtown of Blaine Washington. This was a cute little town and is a must stop next time. We finally found the road to the boarder and were pleasantly surprised that we manage to cut into the line (due to a stop light allowing us to turn onto the road) and only wait about 1/2 hour to the boarder where we were greeted by the pleasant Canadian boarder guard who just let us pass through as we declared our purchases.

Definitely will have to do this again if the dollar keeps up, and to all those that know me, see I didn't even come home with any gadget. I'm proud to say I didn't even go into an electronic shop at all while we were down there.

Here is to the dollar going up $1.10 US next weekend! :)