The collapse of US tourism could cost $21 billion in revenue for 2025

Yes, Bowen Island is a Vancouver backyard destination.  The ferry runs from Horseshoe Bay to Bowen Island (Snug Cove). A 20 minute ferry ride.

Victoria is not unlike Sequim across the strait--warmer and drier than both the coast and the eastern shore of Puget Sound/the Salish Sea. The rain shadow effect is significant. That's yet another thing I love about that corner of the world: so much variety in landscapes and topography in a small area. Tired of where you are right now? Drive or take a boat for an hour in any direction; it'll be different.

There was definitely a danger that America would annex BC, as per the "54-40 or fight" slogan that was part of Polk's presidential campaign in 1845. That meant that its advocates wanted the Oregon Territory to extend all the way to what is the present northern boundary of BC. It's really an amazing time in history, that a nation quintupled in size in 69 years. Many people thought that it was only a matter of time before the US owned all of North America. Thank God that didn't happen.

I love Sequim and the surrounding areas.  Canadians really need to support the Coho Ferry.  It's such an important part of Downtown Victoria and a short ferry trip to Port Angeles and beyond. 

Have you gone over there during the Lavender Festival? Kind of a madhouse but lots of fun.

Have you visited Port Townsend? I went on a whale watching cruise from there in 2024. You go out into the Salish Sea and you can see Vancouver, Victoria, Bellingham, and Anacortes from a perspective you can't get from land. We got chased all over the place by a pod of over 500 dolphins.

I haven't been to the Lavender Festival yet. It's on my wish list!

 I used to go Port Townsend when we had the Anacortes Ferry running.  It was great. That ferry needs to be operating again. It was great to start a road trip in Anacortes and drive through Northern Washinton. There is so much to do there.  I also loved the Tulip Festival in the Skagit Valley in the spring.

I love the Cascade Loop. Start (or end) at Anacortes. take Hwy 20 all the way across the Cascades. Head south on 97 until it intersects 2 at Wenatchee. Take 2 back over the mountains through Leavenworth. Fantastic scenery all the way and some awesome little towns to explore.

Something else that the Skagit offers is that hundreds of bald eagles nest there along the river in early fall. The dinner bell rings when the river is full of fish. It's supposed to be the greatest concentration of eagles in North America. Twelve of them perched in a single tree. Quite a sight.

The Skagit Valley is a gem.  So many places to visit.  I didn't know about the eagles!

I love the town of Lynden.  My late husband was Dutch so it was almost like going to Holland. The windmills, restaurants, dutch bakery and unique shops as well as the Northwest Washington Fair.

I'll have to visit Lynden. I really like Leavenworth, which has gone all-in German and now looks like a town in the Bavarian Alps. Even more fun for me, since I speak German. 

You arrive at the county park on the Skagit River and watch the eagles go fishing. 99% of the time, they just perch in a tree and chill, but then one leaves and goes FLAP....FLAP....FLAP along the river...then suddenly folds his wings and dive-bombs a fish. They miss most of the time but sometimes, they emerge from the watery explosion with a fish in their talons. Winner winner salmon dinner!

The first time I ever saw that, I just stood there gaping and totally forgot that I had a camera!

If you go further up the Skagit, you come to a number of easy to reach and awesome waterfalls. The Cascades are named that for a good reason.

Such a lovely area to visit.

Sadly, I just read that B.C. border crossings to Washington State continue to plunge as new regulations take effect. 

Gaah! I assume that you mean that Trump has made it harder to enter the US somehow. 

Driving away foreign tourists somehow incites pleasure in Trump's tiny brain, but here in the PNW, it's a disaster. The BC and Washington economies are so interconnected, any roadblocks erected at the border hurt both of us a LOT.

If this is about stopping and grilling you guys to make sure you're not drug lords or terrorists or Democrats, is there some way you can streamline the process for future crossings, like they do on the Mexican border with the Fast Pass? 

After the first few times when Canadian Customs had me pull over and they searched my car, I've always been entered into the computer at the entry booth and waved on through. I hope that Trumptard policies don't further discourage Canadian visitation. 

Maybe you could feed the US Customs agent in the booth a Nanaimo bar? Might expedite your entry