The first day, arriving in Bellingham

Composing this post last night,  selecting the photo of us leaving,  that moment felt like it was days before,  not merely hours. It's an understatement to say it was a long day for all of us. 

Riding through major cities are always tough- the start and stop at traffic lights and making sure you didn't miss a turn add time.  Our actual time moving was just over 7 hours, but it was 12 hours from there to here. Part of that was coffee, the border crossing,  lunch, and an iced drink top off, but long.

Observations:
The Knight st bridge smells like sawdust.  Fresh, pulpy almost. Actually, most of Vancouver smelled of sawdust, but in a way that you'd turn a corner and catch a whiff, not unlike a jasmine bush in somebody's front yard.

The next bridge had a sweet manure scent, the kind you'd associate with organic gardening and tasty things to eat,  not an offensive smell.

The Frasier bridge stunk of poop and sulfur. At least that massive suspension bridge required a bit more concentration,  so the odor was less noticeable as I climbed to the top.

Surry was full of curry and spices in the air, then crossed some farmlands growing cilantro.

After we crossed into the United States, I was struck by a familiar smell of home. It was the salt marsh, not unlike my own coastal nature center and the marina. I was only in Canada for less than 24 hours, but the smell of the salt air and the I-5 freeway sign were reminders I'm going home. I've just started, but I'm going home.