A funny thing happened on our way home. We decided to stop at Niagra Falls to break up the trip. The girls had never been before. So, we walked around the park, took in the sites and became tourists. We got back to the car, strapped ourselves in, turned on the Nuvi GPS, and re-started our trek home. The Nuvi instructed me to take an immediate left out of the parking lot which brought us to a toll. I paid the $3.00 and drove on... right under a huge sign that said "Welcome to Canada!" Now mind you all, none of us had a passport. I drove up to the Canadian booth, held out my Wisconsin License, and asked if I could make a u-turn. Well, the Canadian Officer did not take kindly to this. He kept asking me for our papers. I kept telling him it was an accident that we were in Canada and just wanted to make a u-turn. After a lot of discussion, in french, between the Canadian police, they instructed me where to make my u-turn. I thought all was well until we sat in line to get back into the U.S. We watched as the cars in front of us were opened and searched. When it was our turn, I again held my plastic encased Wisconsin license out the window. Not good. The officer kept asking me where our passports were. I explained how the Nuvi accidently directed us into Canada and we had not stayed long. He said, "Enough about the Nuvi! You can't come back into the United States after visiting another country without a passport."That was when I realized we were in trouble. Sophi began saying things like, "We can't live in Canada, I don't know french," and asking if we'd ever see Dad again. The officer was asking if I had any proof that Sophi and Millie were mine and I wasn't trying to sneak them into the country. He moved over to the other side of the car to question the girls about their birth dates and where they were born. He asked them who I was to them, where we had been, where we were headed, etc. Millie explained to him that I was her mom, Sophi told him she was born at St. Mary's Hospital! After about 40 minutes and much more grilling, he gave me a final lecture on traveling outside the U.S., threw some phamplets at me and told us to get going.
As we were driving away, I started thinking how they never searched our car or looked in our car top carrier. My theory is that they were distracting us while they were reviewing all of the security tapes from their 500 cameras to verify our story.
Needless to say, when we got home I returned the Nuvi to the store and picked up an atlas. All's well that ends well. And remember, the Nuvi always choses the quickest route home, regardless if it means crossing into another country without telling you! Au Revoir Niagra Falls.
