So, today, I went to Canada, my very first time crossing an international border. Granted, I've been to the UN, but that doesn't quite count :-P
We got up early and headed up toward Niagara Falls, where Fox was going to meet a guy selling some tool for a really good deal (I'm still not sure what it is or what it does, my high school shop was pretty rudimentary). The trip up was mostly uneventful, until we got to the border. Apparently, we were lucky enough to get the Canadian border agent who had something to prove, because she sent every car in her lane to Immigration for further processing. Joy. They asked the typical questions I expected, like where we were from, how long we were staying, and so forth. Fox made the customs agent smile when she asked our reason for visiting: "Fun" :-). And, apparently, Fox didn't score high enough on the quiz or something, because she asked him to stay behind at the desk to answer more questions.
One thing that was kinda interesting was the guy next to us, who we overheard being denied entry due to some sort of criminal thing. Apparently, he wasn't allowed to come back for ten years, not sure why. But, it led to an amusing joke for the rest of the trip; "Canada's Closed".
Anyway, from there, we entered the magical hippie theme-park of Canada. But, something was amiss. Once we left customs, we didn't feel warm vibes of tolerance, or smell pot in the air, or see gay people getting married in the streets. Nor did we see any hospitals advertising free healthcare. Apparently, Canada is just like the US, just with funny-looking signs. Who knew?
I'm just being silly, of course, though it was a little eerie to be in what could easily pass for western NY, but with road signs that, while recognizable, were all different enough to feel rather foreign. It was a very subtle difference, but enough to give me a little thrill of "Oooo, I'm in another country, neat!" And, we made the requisite goofy jokes about national differences, though I can't remember any of them now. They weren't that funny, apparently.
We met up with the guy selling the weird mystery tool, paid him in Canadian dollars (a really good deal for Fox), and headed into Niagara Falls (the town) for lunch. And, holy crap, it was tacky! Like, I've been to some cheesy beach towns and such, but this made those places look classy. The place was packed with tourist traps, bad restaurants, and tacky stores, almost all the way to the edge of the canyon. In stark contrast, the US side of the falls is a national park, protected from all non-government development, and looks quite beautiful, kinda like what I'd expect the scenic area surrounding a waterfall to look like. On the other hand, the US has beaches for this sort of thing, so I guess I can forgive Ontario for getting a little nuts with waterfall-side development. There's enough raw wilderness in the country to make it excusable :-)
The falls themselves were awesome, but somehow not quite as awesome as I anticipated. It didn't help that we were kinda in a hurry, since this was a day trip, but it just didn't strike me quite as hard as, say, a view like this. But that's just me. It was an incredible sight, though, and seeing the raw force of the water approaching the falls was pretty darn impressive. I got a few pictures, but the mist made it difficult, combined with the rain that kept trying to fall. Admittedly, the fact that the mist almost completely obscured the big falls made it hard to really appreciate them.
I made a quick stop by a gift shop to get pins for my purse (I collect them whenever I go somewhere, and this was a special occasion, deserving two of them), then we hit the road. A very boring trip back; the US border agents barely cared that we were coming across, and western NY/northern PA is painfully dull to drive through. Came back to Fox's, grabbed dinner, and that was the end of it. A nice trip, overall, and I'm very glad I had the opportunity to tag along :-)
We got up early and headed up toward Niagara Falls, where Fox was going to meet a guy selling some tool for a really good deal (I'm still not sure what it is or what it does, my high school shop was pretty rudimentary). The trip up was mostly uneventful, until we got to the border. Apparently, we were lucky enough to get the Canadian border agent who had something to prove, because she sent every car in her lane to Immigration for further processing. Joy. They asked the typical questions I expected, like where we were from, how long we were staying, and so forth. Fox made the customs agent smile when she asked our reason for visiting: "Fun" :-). And, apparently, Fox didn't score high enough on the quiz or something, because she asked him to stay behind at the desk to answer more questions.
One thing that was kinda interesting was the guy next to us, who we overheard being denied entry due to some sort of criminal thing. Apparently, he wasn't allowed to come back for ten years, not sure why. But, it led to an amusing joke for the rest of the trip; "Canada's Closed".
Anyway, from there, we entered the magical hippie theme-park of Canada. But, something was amiss. Once we left customs, we didn't feel warm vibes of tolerance, or smell pot in the air, or see gay people getting married in the streets. Nor did we see any hospitals advertising free healthcare. Apparently, Canada is just like the US, just with funny-looking signs. Who knew?
I'm just being silly, of course, though it was a little eerie to be in what could easily pass for western NY, but with road signs that, while recognizable, were all different enough to feel rather foreign. It was a very subtle difference, but enough to give me a little thrill of "Oooo, I'm in another country, neat!" And, we made the requisite goofy jokes about national differences, though I can't remember any of them now. They weren't that funny, apparently.
We met up with the guy selling the weird mystery tool, paid him in Canadian dollars (a really good deal for Fox), and headed into Niagara Falls (the town) for lunch. And, holy crap, it was tacky! Like, I've been to some cheesy beach towns and such, but this made those places look classy. The place was packed with tourist traps, bad restaurants, and tacky stores, almost all the way to the edge of the canyon. In stark contrast, the US side of the falls is a national park, protected from all non-government development, and looks quite beautiful, kinda like what I'd expect the scenic area surrounding a waterfall to look like. On the other hand, the US has beaches for this sort of thing, so I guess I can forgive Ontario for getting a little nuts with waterfall-side development. There's enough raw wilderness in the country to make it excusable :-)
The falls themselves were awesome, but somehow not quite as awesome as I anticipated. It didn't help that we were kinda in a hurry, since this was a day trip, but it just didn't strike me quite as hard as, say, a view like this. But that's just me. It was an incredible sight, though, and seeing the raw force of the water approaching the falls was pretty darn impressive. I got a few pictures, but the mist made it difficult, combined with the rain that kept trying to fall. Admittedly, the fact that the mist almost completely obscured the big falls made it hard to really appreciate them.
I made a quick stop by a gift shop to get pins for my purse (I collect them whenever I go somewhere, and this was a special occasion, deserving two of them), then we hit the road. A very boring trip back; the US border agents barely cared that we were coming across, and western NY/northern PA is painfully dull to drive through. Came back to Fox's, grabbed dinner, and that was the end of it. A nice trip, overall, and I'm very glad I had the opportunity to tag along :-)