For the love of Smarties

No, not those chalky ones that come in the tube shape wrapper that we used to write on the sidewalk with as kids. You know, the ones we used to write on top of ants with, and then eat? Not those.

These are squashed flat M&M's that have a thicker candy shell, bright colors, and chocolat au lait. Not just chocolate, but chocolat au lait, I say!

These, I admit, played a larger roll than you'd think in deciding to go to Vancouver, Canada.

We haven't been for years but I had memories of a pretty good time from our last trip. Funny how time does that, huh? It's been at least 3 years and probably more since we drove up there. That means 3+ years without Smarties. I do have a friend that is from Canada and goes up every month or so, and she even brought me some Smarties back one time, but I don't talk to her much and feel a little strange calling her up and asking for a Smartie fix. Plus, they are quite expensive. A little box of them is $1.19 canadian, which converts to just about $1.19 which is a lot to spend on something I can eat in about 30 seconds and then want more of.

Anyway, the trip this time was fine. But I'm not going back for a while. Crossing the border takes far too much time. The return back into the US was estimated at 2 hours. Two hours, sitting in the truck, scooting up 10 feet or so every 3 minutes. It's not like you can leave a marker in line and go and do something else. You are a prisoner in your car until it's your turn to get the third degree about why you're going to Canada, where you're going to stay, how long you're staying. What do you do for a living? I love my Smarties but it'll be a few years before I forget how annoying the border crossing is and want to go back.

The highlight was finding out my new truck can switch from standard measurement to metric. From miles to kilometers. With a push of a couple of buttons, it went from 72 degrees to 20 degrees Celsius, which I wasn't sure if that was a nice day or not. The navigation system started telling me to turn in 2 kilometers. I have no idea how far that is. But, when the speed limit said 100 KmH, I actually got to see my speedometer go to over 100. Not going to be seeing that anytime again soon. That's okay, they tried to teach me the metric system back in elementary school but it didn't stick.

So I'll try to save my Smarties that I brought home with me until I forget how annoying Canada can be and maybe next time I'll bring along an extra suitcase just for Smarties.