2nd January

A big day of travel today so not much news. We were on the suttle at 8:10am to be at the airport early (just in case) and lucky too as it was very busy. Had to fly Alaska Airlines. Our flight was due out at 12:21 but we were still on the tarmac at 1:00. We were also expecting lunch but didn't find out until mid way that you had to pay for it, and of course we spent all but a few dollars in the shop on jerky, chocolate and magazines before we got on the plane. Oh well we managed to share a snack box with cheese and biscuits etc (we could only afford 1). The bonus was that we arrived early enough to get an exit seat, which had awesome leg room and we even got to sit same row but opposite sides of the plane and so we both had a window!

Getting out of the US proved harder than getting in as we practically had to remove all but our underwear to get though the security gates to the boarding lounge (we only used 4 boxes to hold everything). This seems to be in line with the news story this morning where illegal Mexican immigrants have been recognised for their contributions to America.

Got to our hotel about 5ish and already dark. The next challenge was to find the outdoor shop we wanted to go to and find out if we could get there in time. It ended up being the fastest shopping experience ever before closing, but at least we got down jackets and even down slippers: mmm toasty feet!

We were home by half past nine, but after a phone call to Uncle Mark for some hot tips for Vancouver and mucking around on the blog, email and msn (I don't think there are too many other ways to communicate across the globe!) it happens to be after 12:30 AGAIN!!!

Highlight of the day: Clothes purchased for Tabitha in under 20 minutes with minmal tears and screaming!

PS the bear in the photo is for auction in our hotel if anyone is interested :o)