CBSA – Douglas Crossing Peace Arch

Stayed in Blaine, WA for one week. Almost every day, we crossed the border to visit family in British Columbia.
Each time, we did not have to wait long in line. Longest wait we had was about 15 minutes. Sure beats crossing back into the U.S. Most of the time we had to wait a minimum of 30 minutes before crossing the border back to the States.
So, the Canadian Customs had the U.S. Customs beat.
The Canadian agents were all pretty cool as well. No complaints from me. I am a fan.
Note: The Peace Arch Park is fabulous!!!

The guy I am dating and I use this crossing from time to time. We go down to the US at least once a month to do grocery shopping. I was reminded to do a review (I didn’t think that there was a review page) until I saw my good friend Kenneth review this recently. Considering that I’ve reviewed the other border crossings, it would make sense to do so here. The speed is very hit and miss as long as you get there early enough. The border guards are hit and miss. There are some who will trick you into giving different answers by being all chummy with you. It is a tactic I see all the time on the Border crossing show. Most of the time we’ve had no problems. We’ve been pulled over for a check once and come out clean, however, other than that we were in the clear.
My only annoyance is that they have a chip on their shoulder that Canadians are shopping in the US. The fact that Canadians are helping their economy ’cause it is cheaper to shop there than it is here puts a dent in some of their pride. They act as though we are doing a hand out to them. Generally speaking I hate the PoPo so I let the guy I am dating do all the talking.

Is there any doubt, karma right? LOL
For a major road tripper, I used to go truck border all the way until 2014 as Peace Arch seemed to open up more lanes here.
Plus better views too :)
But another reason too is there is less people trying to pretend they either have Nexus and try to cut back in like at the truck crossing… in fact, you can’t here as they have better lane dividers.
My secret? Just choose the most direct lane instead of choosing the furthest one because IMHO, then you are not spread diagonally and waiting for the car in front of you to finish turning into a lane. Trust me, I shop too much to know LOL.
Yes, coming here means you miss out on the duty free to get ahead but that’s another day to discuss :)

Some thoughts on our visit to Canada:
Good:
Very clean — You do not see trash anywhere, the roads are free from trash and bins on the roads have locking lids to keep trash in and bears out. You do not see graffiti or stickers on signs, people seem to really care about the environment here. Roads are well though out with overpasses for wildlife, their freeways are unlike the US in that someone thought about traffic and made a plan. Recycling is a priority here too, there are separate bins for recyclable material everywhere.
Friendly people — Everyone here was super friendly to our family. People could look at us an immediately know we were not Canadians and asked us questions. I saw a plethora of smiles and had many great conversations with locals, everyone wanted to know where we were from. They also wanted to know why we decided to come? We did not see many other US plates here on our trip. There was a real warmth and inquisitvness to the locals, also the people here are genuinly beautiful looking people.
Freedom — The roads here are very remote and speed limits are set to 100 km/​hour. I saw only one Canadian highway patrol in an area where people were heavily concentrated during our entire trip. Other than that the roads are wide open to use good judgement. We saw eighteen wheelers doing ninty miles and hour in the straightaways in what felt like an autobahn. We made really good time and felt safe on the roads, when there were only two lanes people pulled over to let us pass. All this made us feel very free visiting this incredible county
Bad:
Prices — A small box of Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes here costs $ 6.50 Canadian dollars which is insane as the same box at Walmart in Encinitas is $ 2.00 which even factoring for a stronger dollar is too much. The people here really should have access to more affordable food. I imagine this causes quite a bit if hunger for lower income families. It is not just food either, services also cost more here. Canada really needs Walmart to come in here and blow some of these other retailers out of the water like Safeway. They are not helping the people of Canada by keeping prices so high.
Poor Cellular Infrastructure — Three quarters of the time there is no cellular service. If you do have reception it is 3G and they charge an arm and a leg for data. This reduces the quality of life for people trying to stay connected to the outside world. Not many people have iPhones and in general people have no idea what an app even is. I asked our a server a question about the Unilocal page and she had no idea what Unilocal was. Many people looked as though they had not seen an iPad in public before. Some company should step up and roll out a large 4G network here and get people in remote areas connected. Verizon this is your opportunity.
Alcohol Purchases — I encountered alcohol restrictions like you can buy at 6:00 pm but not 6:01 pm even though the store is open. I understand the government is trying to regulate intake but if I want to buy a six pack of beer sell it to me regardless of time. Not fond of government passing on morality to me.
Burgers — Everything is cooked to well done here, they will not allow a medium or medium-​rare burger. This cooks all the flavor out of the burgers so if you like them with flavor you won’t be experiencing them here. Probably not a big deal to many but when on vacation one would like to splurge on some favorite foods.
Final thoughts:
I would like to come back and spend more time here, the mountains, lakes, and rivers are heavenly. There is so much to do here that even a week is not enough time. I will be back in the years to come.

A haiku about crossing the border:
Beautiful lush crossing, swarming mobs
Stressful, intimidation, the opposite of enjoyable times
Necessary evil, thankful for tobacco.

Finally had a chance to try out this border crossing. This is a huge improvement over the old one.
Most of the lanes were open, which is badly needed to help mitigate the daily rush.

Not too bad depending on the time of day. Some agents are nicer than others, but they’re generally out of sorts all day.

This is for today’s officer, Officer Dunn. She was extremely nice and funny, making the crossing very pleasant. She even took the time to joke with us a bit, and had us crossing the border with a smile. For all three cars of us shoppers! An amazing officer; thank you so much for your time! I hope that more customs officers can work as efficiently yet as personally engaging as she does!