When my family moved from California to Massachusetts in the 80s, we caravanned cross-country with my father's parents, both born in Norway but US citizens since the 1930s. We stopped at Niagara Falls, intending to view it from the American side, but a wrong turn and -- whoops! -- we were in Canada. Everything went without a hitch until we tried to reenter New York and the border guard decided to give my grandparents, and their Norwegian accents, a hard time.
My grandmother wasn't an exceptionally pleasant woman at the best of times -- I never saw her so furious, though, as when a guard presumed to question her citizenship, to ask her how long we had been in Canada (about two hours), and all the other baldly skeptical questions delivered in rapid-fire fashion. It was slightly ridiculous. And that's what I remember about Niagara Falls: Weird border guard questions.
Nothing's really changed. I've traveled all over the world, and don't believe I've ever been challenged like I have when returning to the US from Canada. Bizarre. I think it's par for the course.
Steve Woodruff
· 1 year ago
As usual, great stuff, Ann. And you are guilty - of good, entertaining writing!
Dan Schawbel
· 1 year ago
A navigation system was the best investment I've ever made. I have a terrible sense of direction, but don't have to worry now. Relying on machinery is probably not the way to go and I'm bound to get lost at some point when it shuts off.
steve
· 1 year ago
Great post! Almost a year ago, I made the voyage from the green fields of Iowa to Los Angeles.
The drive out here is one that I think about almost every day. Driving through the Black Hills of South Dakota, Wyoming, etc. by myself was very eye opening. If time wasn't an issue in my day-to-day life I would definitely drive back the next time I go home to visit.
My friends here can't understand that while it may take me two hours to drive to the nearest airport back in Iowa... I'm also driving 12o miles to get there!
Ann Handley
· 1 year ago
Christian -- That is a crazy story. Part of me is amazed that the border guards were so uptight even THEN.. and part of me is gratified that we weren't singled out, for whatever reason, other than for my nervous laughter and shifty eyes...
Steve W -- Thanks, as always!!
Dan -- Totally agree: GPS rocks for directionally challenged folks like us.
Steve -- No offense but... that's just NUTS! ; )
Julie
· 1 year ago
Why do they do that? I used to go over the border from Canada into the US on a daily basis at one time and I actually asked a guard... (One that seemed quite nice, which was rare!) He said that maybe it was because to be stationed 'up here' was like a punishment posting!! I'm Canadian and quite like it up here, so I was speechless!! I've travelled all over the world and the guards on the road borders here are a different breed- the US ones and the Canadian... Who, I suspect, were nice to you because you were visitors. US guards seem neurotic about terrorists entering from Canada. Which is sort of legit? Our lot are just neurotic about us buying anything in the US and not paying ridiculous taxes.
Really glad you enjoyed your trip Ann... And impressed you made it! I remember when you refused to go anywhere other than Maine and home for years. A real homebody! Now it seems like you're everywhere!
xx
David Reich
· 1 year ago
Great writing, Ann. I enjoyed reading this. Thanks for taking me along, through words, on your road trip.
Mack Collier
· 1 year ago
'Sunday drives' have been staple entertainment here in the South for decades. There's something about being on the open road with the sun shining and the sunroof open that's very peaceful. Great way to spend an afternoon!
Beccy
· 1 year ago
Great post Ann. I'm still revisiting aspects of our trip, but I'm shocked...not a whisper of "itsey"!
Ann Badillo
· 1 year ago
Ann,
Long live the great american road trip! Many times I have visited the Falls and have sensed its' massive power. My mother is from Buffalo and went to school at Niagara University. (I plan to throw half my Mom's ashes on the American Side.) You may enjoy my blog post "on the road" about the art of pilgrimage http://www.annbadillo.com/annscan/2008/04/on-th...
BTW--In college I was Goddess on the roadtrip and traveled New England in my moon green VW Rabbitt while on an UNH exchange program from California. Your roads are more narrow, slower than our in California. Gas was cheap back in 198-- 75 cent/gallon. I once drove home to San Francisco from UNH in 3 days with 2 other drivers. We drove around the clock only stopping to see Graceland.
Karen Swim
· 1 year ago
Ann, you have so beautifully captured th the thrill of the road trip. When I moved to Michigan from California I was shocked that people thought driving anywhere was a vacation. In CA, we had to drive during the week to do anything but it was far from leisurely! In the Midwest, you are right time does seem to fall away as you drive through towns that still have gas station attendants (and the pumps are not automated) and where cows roam in pastures while windmills softly turn. Thank you for sharing your road trip with us. I really enjoyed the ride.
Lewis Green
· 1 year ago
Wonderful story telling, Ann. Thanks. BTW We lived in Seattle for 20 years and frequently drove up to Vancouver B.C. The Canadian authorities were cool; the American... well, let's just say they were more than a little uptight.
Now, about growing up New England. Perhaps it's because my home was across the border in NH, but every Sunday we took a long drive: to the mountains, White and Green; to the beaches, NH and Maine; or even around just our County. It was all we could afford. (Gas was 20 cents a gallon.)
One sidenote: When Kay and I lived in the Chicago area, both of us drove an hour each way to work. Seemed normal to us. Ah, the differences between us make us fun and interesting.
Phil Miller
· 1 year ago
Being from the buffalo area and venturing into Canada many many times over the course of the year it was an interesting perspective to read your post, thanks! Your experience of the border crossing is right on every time you cross. Easy getting into Canada and difficult getting back into the States. They tend to give people a hard time especially with kids. When I have taken the kids without my wife they have even asked me if she knew I was taking them into Canada. I appreciate their thoroughness it makes me feel safe.
Glad you enjoyed your trip. Thanks for the story.
Angela
· 1 year ago
Oh, that emotional border frisk would have freaked me out big-time.
Alan (Toad)
· 1 year ago
I grew up like you Ann- we just didn't do road trips. An hour down to Grandma's (outside of Princeton) or to our place upstate (about 1.5 hours) was an eternity.
But there's a certain camaraderie to the road - many a strong friendship was cemented in a car ride to and from school and there's that freedom, that sense of being removed from time.
Satellite radio means that local radio stations with their local car dealer and nightclub ads are a thing of the past.
But the internet is not available in cars (yet) and so we do have to actually talk to each other if we want to communicate.
I suspect this trip is one your daughter will remember fondly forever.
gianandrea facchini
· 1 year ago
Ann, I'm preparing for a summer vacation in California where I'm expected to drive for thousands of miles and your post is juicing the real pleasure of this kind of travel: the one I hope to feel this summer (border patrol non included, indeed)
Sean
· 1 year ago
Hey Ann,
Wow. I laughed out loud at your contemplation on buying a commemorative plate of the falls.
Your writing brought back my childhood when we had little money (something I realize only now) and how we would all pile into the van for a road trip or a picnic.
Yours seemed elevated from my experiences as there was no mention of fighting, green faced car sickness, or pranks gone horribly awry. Yet they shared that timeless air that I now find myself yearning for once again.
Thank you for that.
Sean
Cam Beck
· 1 year ago
I'm not sure what is more enticing - The prospect of visiting Niagra Falls through Canada on the strength of your endorsement or the opportunity to observe the current human condition (and reflecting on our frailty) by trying to get back to the U.S.
Wonderful description, Ann! I'm glad you didn't write this for a travel mag, because I never would have read it! :)
Amanda
· 1 year ago
That was a fantastic trip! I remember sweating in the back seat wondering if we would EVER get through to the border with all the questions the guard was asking us! Great memories, a cherished trip, lots of fun!
XO, Your goddaughter
Ann Handley
· 1 year ago
Thanks for the comments, all of you. Much appreciated. And I have a new respect for road trippers.
Funny -- It never occurred to me that the US border patrol ALWAYS acted that way, even for the past decade or more. I assumed it was a post 9/11, modern attitude.
p.s. To Beccy's point about "Itsey": All I can say is that this 8-hour journey was made a lot more palatable by her tutoring in the finer points of car games. How *could* I forget that...?
p.p.s. Mandi -- XO too.
Dusan Vrban
· 1 year ago
Luckily You haven't been to the croatian-serbian border in "hard-times" and having a young, just starting to work police officer at the border-check. :-)
Yet I feel with these people always. We should try sometimes to stay on our feet in the gassed-air for the whole day. And a lot of people are not nice to them.
Anyway, in person after work, all these people are most probably nice. And meeting them at Niagara falls would be perhaps totaly another story. :-)
You just made me want to see this wonder once.
Mukund Mohan
· 1 year ago
Coming late to the party. Coming from Canada to US, they caused you so much heartburn! I think they have something against Molson Ice and Ice Hockey.
I can just imagine if you had gone on this road trip to Mexico or worse: from someplace outside North America.
Robin Houghton
· 1 year ago
Ann - I've also experienced the steely-eyed border guards between Canada and the US. When I was based in Portland OR doing frequent business trips abroad it was only when I re-entered the country via Vancouver that the immigration guys gave me a really hard time. I put it down to my being British and my (probably thinly-veiled) attitude. But looks like it's a Canada-US thing. Thanks for this piece, makes me wish I was back there, border guards and all!
Robert
· 1 year ago
US border guards have always been that way... even before 9/11. If you cross at a less heavily trafficked point (ie. some parts in upstate new york), you may get more easy-going attitudes. I've crossed at Detroit and Niagara and I never fail to get the interrogations.
Rik
· 1 year ago
Great story. Thanks.... btw for a look at a real old retro road trip by an english guy across america in the 60s, see www.retroroadtrips.com
All Comments
My grandmother wasn't an exceptionally pleasant woman at the best of times -- I never saw her so furious, though, as when a guard presumed to question her citizenship, to ask her how long we had been in Canada (about two hours), and all the other baldly skeptical questions delivered in rapid-fire fashion. It was slightly ridiculous. And that's what I remember about Niagara Falls: Weird border guard questions.
Nothing's really changed. I've traveled all over the world, and don't believe I've ever been challenged like I have when returning to the US from Canada. Bizarre. I think it's par for the course.
Almost a year ago, I made the voyage from the green fields of Iowa to Los Angeles.
The drive out here is one that I think about almost every day. Driving through the Black Hills of South Dakota, Wyoming, etc. by myself was very eye opening. If time wasn't an issue in my day-to-day life I would definitely drive back the next time I go home to visit.
My friends here can't understand that while it may take me two hours to drive to the nearest airport back in Iowa... I'm also driving 12o miles to get there!
Steve W -- Thanks, as always!!
Dan -- Totally agree: GPS rocks for directionally challenged folks like us.
Steve -- No offense but... that's just NUTS! ; )
Really glad you enjoyed your trip Ann... And impressed you made it! I remember when you refused to go anywhere other than Maine and home for years. A real homebody! Now it seems like you're everywhere!
xx
Long live the great american road trip!
Many times I have visited the Falls and have sensed its' massive power. My mother is from Buffalo and went to school at Niagara University. (I plan to throw half my Mom's ashes on the American Side.)
You may enjoy my blog post "on the road" about the art of pilgrimage http://www.annbadillo.com/annscan/2008/04/on-th...
BTW--In college I was Goddess on the roadtrip and traveled New England in my moon green VW Rabbitt while on an UNH exchange program from California. Your roads are more narrow, slower than our in California. Gas was cheap back in 198-- 75 cent/gallon. I once drove home to San Francisco from UNH in 3 days with 2 other drivers. We drove around the clock only stopping to see Graceland.
Now, about growing up New England. Perhaps it's because my home was across the border in NH, but every Sunday we took a long drive: to the mountains, White and Green; to the beaches, NH and Maine; or even around just our County. It was all we could afford. (Gas was 20 cents a gallon.)
One sidenote: When Kay and I lived in the Chicago area, both of us drove an hour each way to work. Seemed normal to us. Ah, the differences between us make us fun and interesting.
Glad you enjoyed your trip. Thanks for the story.
But there's a certain camaraderie to the road - many a strong friendship was cemented in a car ride to and from school and there's that freedom, that sense of being removed from time.
Satellite radio means that local radio stations with their local car dealer and nightclub ads are a thing of the past.
But the internet is not available in cars (yet) and so we do have to actually talk to each other if we want to communicate.
I suspect this trip is one your daughter will remember fondly forever.
Wow. I laughed out loud at your contemplation on buying a commemorative plate of the falls.
Your writing brought back my childhood when we had little money (something I realize only now) and how we would all pile into the van for a road trip or a picnic.
Yours seemed elevated from my experiences as there was no mention of fighting, green faced car sickness, or pranks gone horribly awry. Yet they shared that timeless air that I now find myself yearning for once again.
Thank you for that.
Sean
Wonderful description, Ann! I'm glad you didn't write this for a travel mag, because I never would have read it! :)
XO,
Your goddaughter
Funny -- It never occurred to me that the US border patrol ALWAYS acted that way, even for the past decade or more. I assumed it was a post 9/11, modern attitude.
p.s. To Beccy's point about "Itsey": All I can say is that this 8-hour journey was made a lot more palatable by her tutoring in the finer points of car games. How *could* I forget that...?
p.p.s. Mandi -- XO too.
Yet I feel with these people always. We should try sometimes to stay on our feet in the gassed-air for the whole day. And a lot of people are not nice to them.
Anyway, in person after work, all these people are most probably nice. And meeting them at Niagara falls would be perhaps totaly another story. :-)
You just made me want to see this wonder once.
I can just imagine if you had gone on this road trip to Mexico or worse: from someplace outside North America.