The Great White North

I am now a world traveler, and I could not have said that before Wednesday.

I had a meeting in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada this week, and it was pretty cool.  I didn't get to ride the Maid of the Mist, but I could see both the American and the Canadian "Horseshoe" Falls from my hotel window.

My entrance into Canada was humorous.  My colleague from our Buffalo, New York, office picked me up at the Buffalo airport and drove me to the hotel in Niagara Falls.  He was very gracious to do that, especially since we were in horrible traffic and the line to get into Canada was beyond long.  Then, as luck would have it, the border agent at the booth we chose to drive through was having some day - he asked us a ton of questions, and when I told him I was a meeting planner having a meeting from Wednesday night till Friday afternoon, he decided I might need a work visa for that and pulled us over.  My colleague, still very patient and wonderful, stood in line with me at immigration for 30 minutes just to tell the agent that I was in town for the a meeting and that I was not selling anything to the attendees.  Whew - that was an ordeal, but it makes for an interesting memory for my first trip out of the country!

Most of my time was spent in my hotel room or in the hotel meeting room.  The group I was with did have dinner in a wonderful restaurant on the 10th floor of our hotel which overlooked the falls.  It was beautiful, and the food was good.

I walked for a while when my meeting was finally over and took some great pictures of the falls.  They really are something to see.  I also stopped at a wax museum in honor of my parents' honeymoon trip to Niagara Falls, Ontario in 1974.  I can still remember the famous photo my dad took of a topless wax figure...he cut off her head - hilarious forever. 

I had a way-too-sugary cookie sandwich with butter cream frosting from the Hershey store.  I bought souvenirs for my husband and my dog - the standard pen for JR and a rope toy for Stryker with a Canadian NHL plush in the middle.  I heard people say "aboot," and "surry," and "eh."  The vending area in the hotel was called "pop & ice."  The buses are called "people movers."

My colleague picked me up to drive me back to the Buffalo airport - he really is a stand-up guy.  Based on our trip into Canada, I was uneasy about our trip out.  The lines were not as long, but the agent was just as specific.  My colleague let the agent know that he was merely picking me up from the hotel, and I let the agent know that I had been at a business meeting.  He asked how we knew each other.  My colleague told him we worked for the same company, just different locations.  He asked if I sold anything to the attendees.  I assured him I had not.  He asked if I had made any purchases.  I pulled out the rope toy and pens and said, "just these for my husband and dog."  He seemed leery, but he let us pass - no trip into immigration that time.

Now I sit in the Buffalo airport waiting to get home to my amazing husband and our wonderful pup.

So, my first trip out of the contiguous 48 states was not that far from "home," but I am still thrilled that I have a passport because of this trip (as does my husband) so we can travel abroad when we are ready...