Oh Canada!
Aug. 27, 2007
We took a trip last week to Niagara Falls in Ontario. This allowed me to knock two places off the list of locations I've never visited (Canada and the state of New York). We drove through Michigan and crossed the border at Port Huron. The Canadian border guards were very nice about us bringing our dog into the country. We stayed in Welland, ON which is about 15 minutes from the falls but a lot cheaper than staying within view of them. The city of Niagara Falls struck me as much like Gatlinburg, TN, except with a huge waterfall on one side of it. It has the same bizarre mix of tiny tourist attractions like you'd see in Gatlinburg or St. Augustine such as all-you-can-eat buffets, ripley's believe-it-or-not, and old-timey-photo shops. We walked up and down the side of the gorge overlooking the falls and watch people get soaked on the Maid of the Mist river boat.
The next day we took a trip to the other side of the Falls, back in the USA. We visited Whirlpool state park in New York and hiked alongside the gorge to view the rapids. The park also had a playground to entertain Thomas. Later that evening, we drove to Rochester to visit Wild Chris, a friend of ours from grad school. The city of Rochester is apparently nothing except strip malls and big box stores. We ate at a chain deli and a chain ice cream shop before heading back to Canada through Buffalo.
The next day we drove back to Chicago through Detroit. The American border guard gave us a hard time about anything he could think of, even asking "Why were you in Canada?" and "Where are you going now?" as well as challenging the parentage of my son. I'm not sure why I have to answer questions about where I'm going in the country I have a right to be in, but I did anyway since I also don't want them to randomly search my car. I hope that treating people like crap helps dissuade terrorists, because I can't think of any other reason why they would be such jerks. The Canadian border guards were reasonable and friendly, and I don't even belong in their country. The American guards, whose salaries I pay through my taxes, couldn't even be civil. Whatever happened to the idea of the government serving the people?