Let me first just say that this entry breaks the length rule. But it’s necessary to tell the story properly. The last few months have introduced me to the extreme codependence of my employer. Extended days, working from home and a heightened amount of stress have outlined the last 60 to 90 days. I needed a vacation but it almost didn’t happen.

To bring the reader up to speed, I’m writing this while on vacaton. So everything has worked out. But it wasn’t without a little bit of a challenge. At one point, it really seemed like the universe had given us enough signs to give caution to going on this vacation. Let's talk about the signs and the drama just get to where I'm at right now. Lounging on a couch staring at Blackcomb.

SIGN #1:
Every weekend in July, I tried to take either a Monday or a Friday off to extend my weekend. After all we’re redoing the landscaping in our backyard and I needed to get some shit done before it started raining again. Needless to say, the first sign was that I never got a day off. And more importantly, I actually worked most of those weekends. This trend didn't bode well for getting a complete week off in August.

While my peeps at work were telling me to get away and my friends and family were warning me about my degrading attitude, I still felt the need from my management to nearly call off the vacation. Fortunately, I didn't. But things then got more interesting. Working nonstop limits how much you can prepare for your trip and how much you can session your DH bike given the fact that you’ll be heading to Whistler for some summer shredding. So I didn’t plan for anything except for making sure that our reservations were made at our condo. After all we’re buying the place.

SIGN #2:
Late one night at the end of July, I was sitting and playing a little bit of Lego Harry Potter when my wife came home from her family reunion dance. She had picked up the mail from the mail box and there was a little surprise in it for me. Jury summons for the week we were supposed to be on vacation. Are you kidding me? Not only can I not get a day off but now my government thinks I have civic duty to preempt my escape from the real world.

SIGN #3:
The Saturday before we needed to leave, we needed to gather up all of our international travel documents and pack our shit. That morning I pulled out the boys’ birth certificates and our passports. For some unknown reason, I opened them and took a peak. What the hell? They are both expired. Mine in April and my wife's in August. For a quick moment, I thought about just going and saying fuck it. But realistically I better try and fix this. Getting to fix an expired passport on a Saturday is a pain in the ass.

SIGN #4:
I found three companies that can expedite the process. I called all three. Two were closed and the third said if I could get my paperwork in by 1pm (it was currently 8am) they could have the new passports to us by Tuesday. Good plan in theory, but let's talk about the price of such a service. One day turnaround around was $299 per passport + $110 for the passport + $60 for the State Department to expedite the process. $470 per passport just to get them by Tuesday. It really started to look like we weren't going to go.

SIGN #5:
So we started thinking about alternative plans. We could get an enhanced drivers license. The DOL opened at 8:30am so we rushed to get out of the house and down to the local office. We got there and were greeted with approximately an hour wait. Finally our numbers were called and we stepped up to the desk. The whole process of getting an EDL is two phases. After an hour wait, we filled out paperwork, then waited another hour to finalize the paperwork and get our picture taken. The moment of truth was upon us, after we had our picture taken, we were handed our temporary paper EDLs and a punched WA DL. Then we were told that the temporary EDL couldn’t be used to cross the border.

SIGN #6:
We just wasted over two hours in our schedule and didn’t fix our travel dilemma. We knew that we still needed to renew our passports so it made sense to at least get our new passport pictures whether we expedited things or not. Secretly, I was really leaning toward doing it. I wanted this vacation. But after the DOL, we were pinched for time. The UPS store could help us with the pictures. We headed there and get our pictures taken. We waited for them print and were struck by another sign. My wife's printed but then the store ran out of photo paper and couldn't print mine.

SIGN #7:
The UPS store told us Walgreens across the street could help us. Over to Walgreens. We joked that if there was one more sign, we have to believe it wasn't meant to be. Walking in to the photo department of Walgreens there was an employee cussing and hitting a photo machine. We thought it would be funny if it was the machine that printed passport photos. It was. Needless to say, we eventually got my passport pictures and headed on our way. This last sign put us past the 1pm deadline and we began to believe that the trip wasn't going to happen.

There was still one last thing to do. Call the border. I wanted to be sure that we could or couldn't get into Canada and then return to the US with the cornucopia of documents. Believe it or not, we were able to get a hold of US Customs. Two officers confirmed that if we could prove our citizenship, there’d be no way they’d refuse us entry into our homeland. We felt like we had enough and the officers agreed. Now to call Canada. Go figure, we found only one number for Canada and they were closed on Saturday. So we called US Customs again and asked if they had a phone number for their counter pas. Interestingly, the officer said that Canada wouldn't care and to go for it.

Not strong enough of an answer. My in-laws were in Canada during this. Out of support, they asked the front desk of the hotel about required documents. The front desk said a passport was required to enter and exit Canada. This was consistent with the WHTI. But they weren’t done there. They also asked Canadian customs. It was determined that to enter Canada, as a US citizen, you only need a birth certificate and a picture ID to get in. But it really comes down to individual border officers and their attitude. Catch one on a bad day and you could be stuck.

SIGN #8:
So really, it came down to a gut check. Do we feel comfortable loading everything up, heading to the border, and tempting fate for an answer? It had seemed that the universe didn't want us to go. We slept on it and intended on getting up on Sunday morning and making a decision. Well I got up, everyone else slept in. At about 9am after counsel from a friend and then from my mother, it seemed like I needed one more sign and that could only be read at the Canadian border. So we loaded up and left three hours later than I had hoped.

With the all ready heightened level of anxiety about the impending lack of appropriate paperwork and the overall anticipation of an awkward border conversation, we encounter a wicked web of traffic in both the Renton and Everett areas which bring our trip to an abrupt halt. Is this traffic jam another sign that we are choosing to avoid? We acknowledge it and patiently move on knowing that the true test of the conviction of the universe and its animosity toward our vacation waits only miles away.

When we got to the border we realized that the entire state of Washington was there too. And apparently, all of these drivers want to be in my lane. So there we are, waiting to plead our case with a Canadian border agent with expired and temporary documentation, unwillingly letting people pull in front of us due to their lack of driving skill, and secretly hoping for approved passage into the Great White North.

The suspense of waiting while talking to the border agent was petrifying. But after a few simple questions about firearms and pepper spray, we moved on into Canada. We made it. So tempting fate and taking the 150 mile leap of faith for possible disappointment and the potential unfortunate chance of being Debby downer and becoming an absolute ass to my family if this would have been an unsuccessful journey was worth it.

We kept on driving and eventually made it in decent time considering our late start. We only had one melt down by Son #2 as well. About 25 km from whistler (keeping it metric because we're in Canada) he just lost it. He was done with driving and wanted out of the car. Needless to say it was the longest and loudest 25 km of my life.

The whole process made picking up our condo keys that much more meaningful. The literal and figurative journeys were full of land mines and potential disappointments. Apparently, you got to work for what you want even when all signs would indicate disappointment. That's not to say this works in all situations. But I will say that I’m glad we stuck with it and took the chance.

The next big challenge is leaving the peace of this place and journeying back to the US border. Without proper documentation, who knows what can happen. We could be trapped here. I guess I better get a Canadian tuxedo so I can fit in.

UPDATE:
After an uneventful southbound trip to the US Border, we were greeted with only a 60 minute wait. In actuality, we hit the border at the right time by chance. Additionally, we hit the correct lane for coming back too. The US Border officer was pleasant and let us through despite our expired passports and temporary driver’s licenses. She actually said, “Welcome home” as we passed through. Despite all of the signs which appeared to be negative, we were able to have our vacation, I shredded the mountain, and we were able to get back to our homeland with no stress and anxiety; all with the incorrect paperwork. Here’s to breaking the rules and taking chances.