These photos are an apt memoir of our weekend drive to Spokane, Washington a couple of weeks ago. We brought my friend's two sons to the airport, so they could catch a flight to San Francisco to join their mother who is visiting that vibrant city. Since we spent much of our time on the road, I snapped a majority of the photos through the windshield of my mini van. There were occasions where I wondered whether we were still in North America, after cruising past such indicators as Naples and Moscow... However, the ubiquitous American flag was veritable proof as to our whereabouts - although, I did have to wait patiently until I found a banner of large enough proportions to grace my lense.
did you need a passport?? There is a conference I want to attend in November in Berkeley, but I haven't a passport yet...
ReplyDeleteAh yes, the passport issue.
ReplyDeleteBeth and I have passports and the others just had picture ID and birth cetificates. No problem driving across the border.
The reason the boys flew in the States is because their passports are in process and the haven't received them yet.
You don't need one to fly within the States, but you do need one to fly from Canada to the States.
It's a really good thing to have a passport even flying within Canada now, too.
So, if you're flying from Canada to San Francisco, you will need a passport. As it stands now, if you fly from the nearest big US airport (Spokane), you don't need one.
My, I did go on, didn't I...
Not nearly as much as the Passport Information Center (or whatever its called)! And you hit all of the most important points, too!
ReplyDeleteRandy and I had to get passports before we went cruising last Spring. The passport centers here were very badly backed up from increased demand due to the new laws.
I knew this, and we applied nearly ten weeks in advance. Then I still had to call twice to check up and expedite shipping. It was a mere two days before we flew to Florida when they arrived. Later, we learned that we were, in fact, very lucky to get them in time.
They are great to have just for ID in any airport though. They don't seem to ever question passports...unless, of course, the name doesn't match your ticket...
That diatribe, of course, involved US passports. Hopefully the Canadienne system is better prepared for the higher demand...
ReplyDeleteThe Canadian passport offices are backed up, too, since the new laws.
ReplyDeleteLuckily we got ours long before the new rule was put into place...
Haha, a virtual road trip! Do I need a passport for that?
ReplyDeleteSo did you visit Moscow and Naples or would you have needed separate visas for those?
We didn't visit any of those "outlandish" places, Margie. I wonder if we would have had to cross another border...
ReplyDeleteOne of the things we had to get used to was the fact that the US uses Imperial measurement, hence all the speed limit signs are in MPH...something that young Beth had to wrap her head around, since she has grown up with the metric system.
I remember when we switched from Imperial to metric, and I giggled when I saw the speed limit was 100...
Evokes great distances Dale! I love the Moscow indicator...as if!
ReplyDeleteAnd everything looks so big too! Here in Europe, it's not unusual to see signs for Paris and Brussels even just outside Amsterdam, London too, and of course, going east you see the signs to Cologne and Duisburg in Germany. It makes me feel incredibly international, and I still have a romantic's delight in these exotic names.
Passports, of course, are a thing of the past for borders, but still necessary for ID purposes.
Great photos, I love all the different city names, feels like your travelling Europe or some place! Partial to that American flag, good shot of that!!
ReplyDeletexx
Oh. Such pretty scenery. Haven't done a road trip in years and years. I wish some day to visit Spokane! Never know.
ReplyDelete;o)