Borderline Trivia... Passport-less Park, Raspberries, Chocolates & More!

After finishing our sit in West Seattle we headed up to Lynden Washington to visit with our friends. Its located just a scant 5 miles from the Canadian border and originally had a large contingent of Dutch immigrants, whose legacy is reflected in the architecture and various windmills that dot the quaint downtown area.  The area is known for it's flower and berry farms (over 75% of all raspberries in the US are grown in the region) - and evidenced by the gianormace flower pots that line main street. 

Just south of Lynden in a nondescript building off Guide Meridian Road is the home of THE best assortment of chocolates we have EVER tasted - high praised, but well deserved. The founder and master chocolatier, Kevin Buck of  Chocolate Necessities, greeted us in a confident and reserved though kindly manner. We noted that he had keen sense for sizing up new visitors to his store by asking the right questions to be able to personalize and share his products in the best possible way. With over three decades of chocolate making experience, Kevin has every right to feel accomplished and speak about chocolate like the expert he is. After introducing ourselves, being schooled in the art of chocolate making, and answering specific questions, Kevin offered us various samples that quickly resulted in us buying more than we probably should have... Dark Chocolate (57%) Cashew Bark,  Dulcey Blond Valrhona (35%), Raspberry Valrhona (36%) and a wide assortment of single source dark chocolates from around the world (75%).  All of them are truly exceptional - they melt in your mouth - which is very different than many store bought chocolates which sometimes have a waxy consistency (even the high end ones).  Kevin also educated us on the proper way to store chocolate - particularly as it was summer: keep them between 45 and 75 degrees - which means do not store them in the frig! We ended up putting them in our cooler, away from the ice packets, cool and dry.  

He also recommended pairing the chocolates with specific wines and bourbons - just don't chill the wine or ice the booze as it shocks the chocolates!  Who woulda thought there was so much science - we couldn't have done better if we'd had a private lesson with Willy Wonka! 

On another day trip, the four of us had an encounter with Ranger Rick at Peace Arch Park - the ONLY place in the United States or Canada where one does not need a passport or related papers to meet with friends and family along the US-Canadian border.  Our hosts Sooz & Ed drove us up to this small strip of land in Blaine WA.  We stepped out and surveyed the quaint park, noting orange cones lining the street to the north - for beyond those cones was Canada - no gates, no guards, just a neighborhood street.  

As we were observing people casually walking back and forth across this thin strip of land Ranger Rick approached us and introduced himself in a friendly and informal manner. We discovered that Officer Richard Blank had recently celebrated his 50th year of service with the Washington State Parks - making his the most senior member of the organization in active service - talk about some tall stories he could tell - and he did!  Rick explained that this nondescript patch of parkland was very unique in that Canadians (or anyone else that lives north of the border) can cross over into this park without any vetting - although he quickly pointed out the array of cameras installed on poles around this area that were constantly observing and comparing digital images with their vast databases. And while US citizens cannot technically cross over beyond Peace Arch Park, their northernly friends and family can visit them in this unique setting unhindered. 

The Peace Arch itself was erected as a symbol of 'forever friendship' between the two countries and at that exact spot, we got to literally stand with one foot in each country. It made us proud to symbolically personify the commitment to friendly international relations!

In a final tribute to that visit, a couple days later we were having lunch at a local brew pub in Port Townsend WA and started up a conversation with a Canadian couple at the next table.  We shared that we had recently visited Peace Arch Park and the gal got very emotional as she didn't realize that the park had reopened - she hadn't been able to visit with her father who lives in Canada for over two years - this was the place she used to meet him and the rest of her family.   We saw joy and hope transform her face as we talked and felt we had done a good turn in a way that we could never have imagined just by sightseeing... 

From the beginning of our journey, we expected that we would be seeing and experiencing new vistas and ways of life - what we didn't expect was the richness of new relationships that we would develop. Maybe our story brings out the adventuresomeness and attractor fields of joy with others by the very nature of our journey... or maybe, just maybe, we are becoming more present in the here and now to appreciate and connect with those we encounter... either way: Onward!