Tuesday, June 28, 2011

a souvenir from Ritzville...

We were not really planning on visiting Ritzville.  In fact...we had never even heard of Ritzville.  So how is it that we brought home a souvenir from a little unknown town in Washington? Let me tell you. 

We were on our way to Idaho...for the wedding I told you about yesterday.  We had my dad along for the journey...


...and spent the first night in the charming little town of Leavenworth.  Dad quite enjoyed himself...



...and even got a chance to try his hand at fishing while we were there.  They had a 'catch and release' trout pond at the place where we were staying.


Though we had planned to go out for a Bavarian meal that evening...we were so happy with our accommodations that we decided to stay put and order in pizza instead.  Pizza and Bratwurst...das war gut! 

Did I ever mention that Dad likes to tell stories?  When we went to bed that night...his stories were not yet finished...and so he carried on where he had left off the next morning.  We were back on the road...eastward bound for Idaho.  Hubby was so engrossed in listening to stories...that he somehow forgot the car had cruise control.  For miles we stayed behind a bike-toting SUV and as we sailed through Ritzville...several police cars appeared on the highway ahead of us.  An officer waved over the bike-toting SUV...and then he waved us over as well.  An airplane flying overhead had clocked us at 80mph in a 70mph zone.  Distracted by stories is no defense...and we left with a souvenir speeding ticket from Ritzville.  Oh dear! 


We asked the officer to relay to the driver of the bike-toting vehicle that he was to blame for our offense...since we were simply following.  The officer told us that the driver of the lead vehicle was not amused.  Amused or not...we were both guilty as charged.

As we crossed the border back into Canada on Saturday night...we were asked to state the value of all the goods we were bringing back into the country.  Our answer was 'Zero'. 



Our answer should have been -$113.   Thankfully the Canada Post employees are back at work today.  The cheque is in the mail!

If you are planning a road trip anytime soon...be sure to use the cruise control.  Better safe than sorry!

12 comments:

  1. Nasty souvenir and for 10 miles over? I'm calling that ridiculous and uncharitable. Rotten even. Not a way to win friends and influence people. That officer ought to be ashamed of himself. Fine. He could have stopped you and given you a friendly warning and then been gracious. It's the neighborly thing to do. Grrr... Thank heavens you put that cute picture of your dad fishing in this post. :D

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  2. I love to go to the place. Looks safe and most of all clean. And the food there looks interesting.

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  3. oops! I've been through Ritzville. Thankfully we didn't have to stop. Glad you had a nice time in Leavenworth. Now that's a town that we've had two mishaps coming from and they weren't tickets.

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  4. Thanks for the warning. The Great Dane always uses cruise control, but I don't, and I've been known to have a heavy foot.

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  5. Seems to me your hubby has had a ticket before... Sounds like you all maintained your good humor even if the SUV driver didn't. Thanks for mentioning that the postal strike is over. I have some cards here to mail that the post office wasn't accepting because of the strike in Canada. I'm not sure if the girl who told me this even knows what a strike is because we are almost never affected by them here in South Texas.

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  6. Now your Dad has yet another story with which to distract his next unsuspecting drivers!

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  7. That's quite a memento for 10 mph over the speed limit! Now your dad will have another story to add to his repertoire.

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  8. OUCH! those are the kind of souvenirs you want to avoid.
    How did you get to grab that close up of HIM??? IN Europe..they almost took my camera away once when I took some photos of security or officers.

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  9. Oh oh! My husband has been know for his "heavy foot" and we have had a share of speeding tickets over the years. Yes, unfortunately, 10 miles over the speeding limit is ticket time in most places..especially at the bottoms of hills when you can't help but go that speed and a police car is always waiting.

    As long as you get home safe, that is all that counts in the end!

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  10. Oh my!!! Was that in Ritzville Washington??? If so, we were pulled over about 2 years ago for a seatbelt violation, Rats!!! I was doing something in the back seat with the bird, and had forgot to put my seatbelt back on, and right there the hwy patrol busted us! $100 later, I went right to the court house in Ritzville and paid it. I always have my belt on now by golly!!! :)

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  11. Boy oh boy ..us Canadians sure do like our American ticket souveniers. ..we make sure we never come home without one.
    Ten miles over. .crazy!

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  12. I could feel it all inside me as I read this post. The week of our daughter's wedding, the same thing happened to me, only I was going 52 on a 35 mph speed limit. I paid more than you. I was thinking what a great picture it was of your father fishing, and now I am sure you at least got that. Do you speak German?

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'The ornament of a house is the friends who frequent it.'
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson