Sticking pretty close to our small hometown, Chad and I have never really had much need for a GPS. We rarely venture out of our "comfort zone" here in SE TX so having one would really be a waste of money. But, we realized it would be invaluable during our trip to Detroit...so we rented one along with our rental car (and car seat -that's another blog, but a head's up, don't ever do that!).
Our trip from Budget at the airport was smooth sailing. "The lady in the box," as we liked to call her, got us through the partially closed interstate and all the detours that went along with it.
So when we needed to find a nearby supermarket for baby essentials, we turned to our "lady in the box" once again. The closest market was downtown, but it was street parking only, and because of the upcoming St. Patrick's Day, there was a nonstop party going on there. That would be a no-go with Austin and the stroller and all the hoop-la surrounding us.
We quickly put in "Wal Mart" and... voila! A Wal Mart just a few miles away! Off we went...
A quick note: Detroit is only a bridge away from Windsor, ON, CANADA!!! Do you see where this is going???
Anyhoo, there was massive construction going on right and left. Roads were closed and some not to be found. Our dear "lady in the box" kept telling us to go towards the bridge to Windsor. I thought we were just going in that general direction...not actually TO Canada (I had no idea how close it was)! We kept following her directions, and before we knew it we were paying toll to get to the bridge. No turning back. Cars were piling up behind us and there was no out. We trucked on to Canada.
Once we got over the bridge and to the border, we were stuck again. A nice guy walking the line of cars passed by and Chad rolled down the window and said, "Man, we were just trying to get to Wal Mart!"
Turns out, we didn't have legal documentation on Austin...no birth certificate or social security card with us. Everyone seemed surprised that we were travelling without it...but honestly, we were just trying to get to Wal Mart! Who takes that to Wal Mart???
We couldn't proceed into the Canada Wal Mart because we just might be trying to sneak a kidnapped baby across the border!!
Nah, it wasn't quite so dramatic, but they really wouldn't let us through because we had no proof that Austin was our baby. Just a security measure. We were directed to Immigrations where we had to get paperwork that the baby we brought across the border was the same one we were bringing back...and that we were immediately turned around.
For any of you northerners near Canada, it's probably not a big deal...but for us SE Texans, accidentally stumbling into Canada...quite an adventure! The closest border to us is Louisiana!
After it was all over and done, Chad said, "...next time we type in a destination, we might need to specify which country!"
(By the way, I'm sure that the address said Windsor, ON, but I don't think Chad realized it...he was driving and said he was in charge!! You know men, it's bad enough that they need directions in the first place!)
3 comments:
LOL...funny story. We had quite the experience trying to get back in the USA. We were all set to go visit Canada...passports, birth certificates, etc. Except we didn't realize that there are nuclear radiation sensors when trying to get back in the US. Sophie had a FDG PET earlier that day. She had taken a nap and was feeling well. So we headed over to Windsor for dinner. When we tried to get back into the US the sensors picked up the radiation on Sophie and we were detained. The nuclear radiation that they picked up from her was not in their system so we had to wait around for clearance. Meanwhile, Sophie was super hyper and climbing all over the chairs and being loud. At least she was in a good mood :)
LOL..thats pretty funny :)creative title as well..:)
too funny!! Especially because we just lived off our GPS in Texas!
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