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Lighthouse Marine Park
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
1 review for Lighthouse Marine Park
I came to Point Roberts solely to check out the weird geographical oddity or whatever of this place being an exclave. Yes, this is dorky. But I figured it had to be done.
It does take some time to get down there from Highway 99. You turn off the highway at Highway 17 by Ladner and then you head south toward Tsawwassen, which to today I still can't spell or pronounce. You feel like you're in the middle of nowhere because you're surrounded by flat fields. It's only after you make a left onto 56 St (not 56th?) (lest you continue on Highway 17 and dead end in the ocean) you start seeing, well, people again.
The wait to get back into the US was a good half hour. I'm not sure if that's how long it would take on a regular day, but I was there on the 4th of July. It was really handy for some 19-20 year olds who had walked into Canada to buy beer to return home to celebrate.
I'm sure the border guard thought we were crazy for wanting to go in, but I guess he saw no reason to deny us. We drove down to Lighthouse Park and it was very peaceful. There were a bunch of families there, burning bonfires and fishing and playing in the water, but it was peaceful, especially at sunset. Restrooms are available (your typical not-that-clean park bathroom) and a picnic area. Good area to go walking or to watch the sunset over the mountains on Vancouver Island.
I drove back up along Roosevelt Way, where the international border is marked by those Caution-Wet-Floor shaped markers and the fences of people's backyards. Although some of the houses had very low fences and I noticed one that had a little gate. Hmm.
We met a very nice Bulgarian woman going for a stroll who took my picture for me (hey I had to prove I was there). She emigrated to the States from Canada and loved living in Point Roberts. I didn't blame her. The ocean air, quiet streets, huge lots, forests. Some of the houses were huge. And who wouldn't want to live in a private gated community, where the protection is by U.S. Customs?
There's no line getting back into Canada since I'm sure there's not much demand. I feel bad that they had to construct an entire facility for it. Since there weren't any irate drivers behind us we chatted her up for awhile, and things were going well until I begged her to stamp my passport. She had to go look for it.