The week­end before Memo­r­ial Day (in the U.S) was Vic­to­ria Day, here in Canada. We decided to cross the bor­der for a sim­ple day trip with­out the has­sle of a 10+ hour drive to one of the big U.S city.

The clos­est U.S bor­der is at Prescott, Ontario, a mere 45 min­utes drive from Ottawa. Armed with cold drinks and cook­ies (Tim Hor­tons, obvi­ously), we hit the road. Cross­ing the bor­der is still a cool expe­ri­ence for me, the French girl, and I admit I get a kick out of using my Cana­dian pass­port. This is only the sec­ond time I go to the U.S as a Cana­dian cit­i­zen — the first time was last win­ter, in Nia­gara Falls. The process is so much more straight­for­ward com­pared to cross­ing with a French pass­port! Even as a Cana­dian per­ma­nent res­i­dent, I used to have to pay and have my pic­ture and fin­ger­prints taken. These days, all I have to do is wave my navy blue pass­port and say “I’m Cana­dian, eh”. Love it.

We first stopped in Ogdens­burg, along the St Lawrence Sea­way. The town is pretty sleepy but it was relax­ing. A bunch of kids were fish­ing with their par­ents along the river and for a sec­ond, I won­dered if the “ADD chil­dren who watch too much T.V and are obsessed with vio­lent videogames” was just a myth. Sure, the nearby busy hot dog cart was busy but kids were also get­ting plenty of out­door activ­ity in the skate park.

Alexan­dria Bay, an hour drive from Ogdens­burg, hadn’t changed much, even though it seemed more sedate than usual. Reces­sion and bad econ­omy, maybe? Nonethe­less, it’s still pretty and we had a great seafood meal for $20.00 — can’t beat that.

You can see the full set of the pic­tures taken in the U.S.A here.

Bridge to the U.S.A

I’ll Give You That: Cool Flag Guys!

Ogdens­burg, N.Y State

A. Bay U.S Immi­gra­tion Inspec­tion Station

On the Water…	Time for Ice Cream, Kids?
Alexan­dria Bay, Main Street	Base­ball Jokes
Van’s Motor Marine	One Way U.S.A
Gas Sta­tion and Motor Repair	Water Bal­loon

Good Old Fast Food

A. Bay Marina

Related posts:

1. Inter­est­ing Skies
2. Win­ter­lude !
3. Happy Birth­day, Canada!
4. Amaz­ing Skies
5. South­ern Hemi­sphere: Lima, Perú