2013 guy’s weekend to Seattle. Here come the "Torontians"…

[silverss]

After reading about NYCoug’s fantastic experience I thought I’d share my upcoming journey. The people on this board are great and I have already learned a lot more since joining. I have become addicted to the forum/gameday chat and can’t believe I didn’t find the board earlier. Anyway….

So we have a pilgrimage of a yearly boys getaway to the US to watch hockey (of course) and the NFL (no one in Toronto really watches the CFL product).

To date our little group has been to Dallas, New England, Washington, Baltimore and Buffalo.
We generally try to pick a weekend to watch the Toronto Maple Leafs visiting.

Anyway as the sole Seahawk fan (others include Indy, Pitt, Wash & Buff – that’s what you get living in Toronto), I threw out the idea to get to Seattle. Timing could not be more perfect…the Leafs are in Vancouver on Nov. 2 and the ‘Hawks are at home on the 3rd. Everyone easily agreed. To top it off, it’s my b-day Oct. 28th (hitting that magical 4-0)!

I am totally jacked into going to Seattle. I really can’t believe its happening. It’s one of those bucket list things for me personally. Got my gear ready to go - being from Toronto, it’s a white #12 ‘hawks jersey of course.

I’ve been following the team since my teenage years when everyone was wearing Raiders black, the ugly 9er’s or the Dallas lone star. Never one to follow, I ‘discovered’ and got attracted to the Seahawks because of the ‘fame’ the Boz had (go figure, I can expain either).

No one really in Toronto really follows the ‘hawks. Until of late, they are finally broadcasting more ‘hawks games on cable (I love my subscription to KIRO thou). Last year I got my first taste of the Seahawks action as they played the Bills in Toronto. I was actually stunned at the amount of ‘hawk supporters from Toronto AND from Seattle. It was amazing to see the 12th Man in action – the greatest fans in the NFL for sure. It felt like a home game for the ‘hawks. Brought my boy and had a great time (though NFL game ‘experience’ is just not the same).

So here is a timeline of our upcoming journey:
Nov. 1 – leave at 9am & drive into Buffalo (flights are wayyy cheaper and can haul back stuff that we all ordered online) for a 1pm flight to Detroit. From Det, fly into Seattle and get there for about 6pm. Grab a minivan and then haul it up north to Van City for 9ish. Drinking ensues.
Nov. 2 – check out Van City and catch the ‘early’ hockey game at 4:30pm. Watch the Leafs win. More drinking ensues.
Nov. 3 – early morning…leave for Seattle. Get to the hotel, walk over to Clink. Watch the ‘hawks trounce the Bucs. I am even going to state that TJ get some late game action! (We are in section 338). And of course, more drinking thereafter to celebrate.
Nov. 4 – Recover, check out the Needle, city, maybe SafeCo field. Any other recommendations would be great; especially good, can’t miss, places to eat & local brew.
Nov. 5 – Haul our sorry butts same way backwards to Toronto…

If you read this far, what can I say…thanks for reading. Here’s hoping that we will bump into some members at the game!

GO HAWKS!!

 

[TorontoHawk]

Sounds like a good time, I have made the trip to Seattle twice and it was great to see Hawks games at Clink, wish I could have made it to a Leaf game also but it did not pan out like your timing. Birthday also the 28th.

 

[twisted_steel2]

Sounds like a lot of fun!

Cool avatar by the way.

 

[JonRud]

Sounds like an awesome trip! I hope one of you guys is the designated driver with all this drinking going on.

 

[CANHawk]

YUCK! Toronto people are coming! Don't let em in! They all smell like cheese and cheap hootch!

 

[silverss]

YUCK! Toronto people are coming! Don't let em in! They all smell like cheese and cheap hootch!

lol...spoken like a true 'nucks fan!


(cheese?)

 

[TorontoHawk]

YUCK! Toronto people are coming! Don't let em in! They all smell like cheese and cheap hootch!

lol...spoken like a true 'nucks fan!


(cheese?)

I would rather smell like cheap hootch than a dirty hippie. Cheese is the Quebec folk.

 

[CANHawk]

Don't hate me for my hipster beard and ironic eyeware... Flannel is comfy, don't judge me.

And don't speak ill of the Quebecers! They gave us the glorious poutne! They can be forgiven for their exentricities... That and they're your neighbour; I don't have to deal with them unless they move out here to be homeless.

 

[bestfightstory]

Toronto is a fantastic city. Six-eight of us from this board explored it when the Seahawks played the Bills up there a year ago. Truly wonderful city.

Enjoy your time in Seattle.

 

[TorontoHawk]

Don't hate me for my hipster beard and ironic eyeware... Flannel is comfy, don't judge me.

And don't speak ill of the Quebecers! They gave us the glorious poutne! They can be forgiven for their exentricities... That and they're your neighbour; I don't have to deal with them unless they move out here to be homeless.

Please say it is not true, hipster beard. Yes they did give us the poutine.

 

[twisted_steel2]

Don't hate me for my hipster beard and ironic eyeware... Flannel is comfy, don't judge me.

And don't speak ill of the Quebecers! They gave us the glorious poutne! They can be forgiven for their exentricities... That and they're your neighbour; I don't have to deal with them unless they move out here to be homeless.

Please say it is not true, hipster beard. Yes they did give us the poutine.

Ok Mr Toronto, how do you pronounce poutine...

Like 'poo - 10'

or 'poo - teen'

:|

 

[the ditch]

as someone who lives in Canada and has driven on gameday from Vancouver to Seattle, just make sure you leave early enough the border crossing can take a really, really long time.

 

[TorontoHawk]

Don't hate me for my hipster beard and ironic eyeware... Flannel is comfy, don't judge me.

And don't speak ill of the Quebecers! They gave us the glorious poutne! They can be forgiven for their exentricities... That and they're your neighbour; I don't have to deal with them unless they move out here to be homeless.

Please say it is not true, hipster beard. Yes they did give us the poutine.

Ok Mr Toronto, how do you pronounce poutine...

Like 'poo - 10'

or 'poo - teen'

:|

I think the it is poo-teen but we need a person from Quebec to verify this one as they are the ones that came up with this deadly mixture.

 

[BocciHawk]

as someone who lives in Canada and has driven on gameday from Vancouver to Seattle, just make sure you leave early enough the border crossing can take a really, really long time.

This. I would be at the border by 8 AM. Even then you might miss part of the game. It can easily take 3 1/2 hours to get to CLink from downtown Vancouver... you want to be on the road by 7:15 AM or so, possibly earlier. Backups of over an hour at the border are fairly common.

You might also consider driving over to the Aldergrove crossing, depending on what the timing and wait looks like at Blaine, you just head straight south from the 1, through the border crossing, all the way south on the Grand Meridian until you hit I-5 at BelFair Mall in Bellingham. Listed as the Lynden WA crossing at this URL, highly recommend checking it while enroute out of town on the 1.

http://apps.cbp.gov/bwt/

Also don't forget there are two Blaine crossings, the Peace Arch is the better known and more heavily used one, but the older primarily commercial crossing is often faster. They are both listed at that URL.

Oh, and here's northbound wait times

http://www.wsdot.com/traffic/border/

-- Bob

 

[silverss]

Thx Bob - thats valuable info for sure!

Oh for the record:
When I went to Montreal for Osheaga music fest this summer (highly recommend going), according to them its officially 'poo - tin'
'teen' is for the masses...

 

[CANHawk]

Yes, obligatory Toronto bashing aside... FEAR THE BORDER!!! Don't make the mistake of thinking it's like crossing the border down into Buffalo, which I hear isn't all that bad to deal with. I don't know why, but border line ups heading south from Vancouver can easily and routinely be well over an hour. And THEN you have a 3+ hour drive down to Seattle (which can slow down for whatever reason there too). I typically make sure to get in the border line no later than 8:30 for a 1:00 kick. I usually get there with just enough time to comfortably park, wander a little bit and find my seat.

Aldergrove does tend to be better, but it's further out of town, so assuming you're staying DT after seeing the Leafs get destroyed the night before, any gains you'd make in the shorter border line would likely be eaten up by travelling all the way out to Aldergrove. It's a wash and Peace Arch is a much nicer crossing; you can look at sailboats while you wait...

Have fun.

 

[twisted_steel2]

Thx Bob - thats valuable info for sure!

Oh for the record:
When I went to Montreal for Osheaga music fest this summer (highly recommend going), according to them its officially 'poo - tin'
'teen' is for the masses...

I knew it!

I ordered it once from a Skillet food truck here, said it like 'poo - tin' and he corrected me. Uh huh, I was right.

 

[seahawks08]

And the speed limit is 70 miles an hour most of the way in towards seattle, not km.. just saying

 

[AF_Hawk]

This poutine you Canadian's speak of, it sounds delicious! Just looked it up to see what the hell you were talking about.

 

[Wiseguy]

as someone who lives in Canada and has driven on gameday from Vancouver to Seattle, just make sure you leave early enough the border crossing can take a really, really long time.

This. I would be at the border by 8 AM. Even then you might miss part of the game. It can easily take 3 1/2 hours to get to CLink from downtown Vancouver... you want to be on the road by 7:15 AM or so, possibly earlier. Backups of over an hour at the border are fairly common.

You might also consider driving over to the Aldergrove crossing, depending on what the timing and wait looks like at Blaine, you just head straight south from the 1, through the border crossing, all the way south on the Grand Meridian until you hit I-5 at BelFair Mall in Bellingham. Listed as the Lynden WA crossing at this URL, highly recommend checking it while enroute out of town on the 1.



http://apps.cbp.gov/bwt/

Also don't forget there are two Blaine crossings, the Peace Arch is the better known and more heavily used one, but the older primarily commercial crossing is often faster. They are both listed at that URL.

Oh, and here's northbound wait times

http://www.wsdot.com/traffic/border/

-- Bob

+1000 on the truck crossings versus the peace arch. Saves a ton of time usually. Also don't forget a quick sprint/purchase at Duty free can at times buy you some serious time for the price of a bottle of alcohol that you would drink anyways :thirishdrinkers: