The Gallivanter: Days 51 - 53: Point Roberts

Point Roberts is a geographical aberration. Surrounded by ocean on three sides and Canada on the other, it is part of the state of Washington, because no-one realised it was there when they drew a line along the forty-ninth parallel to create the US/Canadian border.

Vancouver Island dips well below the forty-ninth parallel, but they took that into account and drew a zig-zag line to allow all of it to fit into Canada. Right down to Victoria.

Point Roberts: A quirk of geography.
It's where the blue pin is

On the other hand, they forget to zig and zag around Point Roberts. So here it is, a piece of the USA right here in Canada! If Americans want to drive there from the state of Washington, they have to cross not one but two borders. This makes it a very safe place to live, for, say, people who are on witness protection programmes, or would for some other reason prefer to be where nobody can get to them without having to pass through heavy security first. There are 1300 permanent residents in Point Roberts, but most of the houses belong to Canadians, especially from Vancouver, who go there for weekends and summer holidays, like my sister's friends, who invited us all over for the weekend!

Zoom in on the Greater Vancouver area and it looks like this...
Making Point Roberts the closest (as well as the cheapest) place for Vancouverites to have a cabin on the beach!

According to The National Post, "The economy turns on “gas, milk and cheese.... The community’s five gas stations abound with B.C. licence plates filling up with fuel at 10¢ to 30¢ less per litre than in Canada. A liquor store sells cut-rate spirits and obscure U.S. beers. Small grocery retailers sell low-priced dairy products. Point Roberts restaurants also serve up medium-rare burgers, a delicacy so scorned by B.C. health codes that it is virtually non-existent in Vancouver...The community is even home to a thriving parcel receiving industry. Canadian online shoppers have their packages delivered to one of several Point Roberts businesses, and then pick them up in person in order to dodge steep Canadian shipping surcharges."

So what is there to do in Point Roberts, other than buy gas, milk and cheese and eat burgers medium-rare? (We had veggie burgers, well-cooked.) Well, it's kind of like being on a Greek island - when you're in the bathroom, anyway. You have to put your toilet paper in a little basket next to the toilet, just like in Greece, because the community has no sewer system, and the septic tanks don't like toilet paper.

You could also pretend you are on a Greek island and take a swim in the sea, but the illusion wouldn't last long, because the water is cold, and full of life, as everywhere on the northwest coast! The best thing to do is explore the beach and look at all the marine life when the tide is low, then wait for it to come back in and be warmed up by the warm sand of the beach before venturing in for a swim. Or a paddleboard or kayak ride!