I Accidentally Left The Country and 5QF

It was a lovely spring day!  Amber's friend from Mississippi was visiting us for a week in our beautiful state of Pennyslvania-the furthest north she has ever been. 

Since we live just a few hours from Niagara Falls, we wanted to take Erin to see them.  It's quite an attraction, and being up close to the Falls shows just a tiny bit of the magnificence of our great God.  I'd never been to the American Falls, only to the Canada side on my honeymoon.

The ride up was so calm, with little traffic and no problems.  I'm grateful for having a GPS! 

Nearing the end of our journey, all of the signs, along with the GPS instructions, were getting confusing!  I couldn't quite figure out where to go, so I went where I thought I should go.

I pulled up to a little building/booth with a very high window, and a man poked his head out.  I told him I was lost, and he asked for my license.  I didn't know it, but I was now in Canada.

CANADA!

Oh-and did I mention we didn't have any passports?

The man asked if my GPS had brought me there, and of course, the answer was yes!  He told me to go to that building over there, and inside I would get a paper to take with me to head back to the States.

I go inside, and tell the lady I got lost, and she too, asked if it was my GPS.  THANKFULLY I am not the only person who has ever gone to Canada on accident!  I could tell since both Canadian folks I had to speak to guessed right on the money what brought me to their country on the first guess!

The lady gave me my Canadian rejection paper, and told me how to head back home. 

Our visitor Erin was now able to go home and tell everyone that she not only visited this far north for the first time, but she also got to step on Canadian concrete!

Heading out of the parking lot, believe it or not, I got confused, and wasn't sure which was to go.  I SURELY wasn't going to ask my GPS for help again!

I asked a truck driver who had pulled over which way to go, and he showed me, along with showing me a map, and warning me that I was going to be given a hard time trying to get back into the United States.

Great.

We got back to the bridge that brings us home, and of course, I was in the wrong lane when I was trying to come back to the States.  I was in the truck lane.  But the nice trucker behind me beeped and pointed me in the right direction.

After taking our picture upon entering the States, I gave Homeland Security my rejection paper.

Let me interject here---coming into the United States is one time that you absolutely do NOT, I repeat, DO NOT, want to crack stupid jokes.  It's probably a real good thing Dan wasn't with us.

The very serious, very stern man asked for our passports, which of course, we didn't have, because we didn't know we were leaving the country.  He asked for our licenses, which we only had two.  Security pointed out that we only had two licenses, but there were five of us, and wanted to know why.

Um....because Dakota is 12???  And Amber doesn't have hers yet either????  And one was at home, which just left two of us with a license.

Amber, being the teenager she is, immediately picks up the cell phone and starts texting about our adventure.

Security got a bit radical about it and asked what she was doing!  We answered that she was texting, and he said she couldn't do that here!  Amber practically threw the phone down.

Then Security tells us one moment, and calls someone.  Three other Security men come to our car-one goes in the booth with the other officer, and the other two ESCORT my passangers out of the car and into the Homeland Security building!

Sigh.....

After going thru more questions and feeling like criminals, along with not having passports, we get ready to leave.

I know the guy in the building told me how to get out of there, but I was already confused when I got out in the parking lot and saw more than one way I could possibly go.

So, I asked the parking lot officer to tell me where to go.  He asked if I had a certain paper, which I didn't because one wasn't given to me, and then told me to wait while he checked to make sure we were cleared, since we weren't in the building for very long.

He gave us directions, and we were finally on our way AWAY from CANADA!!!

So!  Boys and Girls, the lesson for today is:

Do not leave the country without a passport!!!

I actually don't think I ever want to leave the country again, even WITH a passport!

Well, it DID make for a more memorable trip for a Southern Belle!  =)


Now onto the 5QF! 

1. Have you ever had surgery?
Yep! On both of my big toes.  Back in the day of big, permed hair, was also the day of pointy-toes shoes.  Fashion is a cruel taskmaster!  I ended up with problems from my toes being scruched together in those pointy shoes, which required surgery.  My one toe got infected, so he had to do it all over again!

Speaking of toes, did you ever notice when you hurt your toe, for a few weeks after that, it seems to have a built-in magnet that attracts everything you walk by, that could possibly hurt if you bump into it?

2. Ever ride in an ambulance?
I don't believe so, but when Dan fell from a tree 2 years ago, and due to nerve damage, was taken by helicopter to a bigger hospital an hour away, Dakota, Elissa and I drove to the airport to watch him go.  He was taken by ambulance to the airport.

3. How are you in a medical emergency? Panicked? Calm?
When it's my children, and it's something that requires stitches, and there is bleeding involved, I try to stay calm so that I can keep my children calm.  I've been blessed that I haven't had to face too many medical emergencies.
I did, however, feel like crying, and was scared when I met Dan and Dakota at the hospital after they got carbon monoxide poisoning.  The bloodshot eyes, the bad headaches, and the reality of what had happened while Amber and I were away that day, sinking in, really scared me.  I could have come home to both of my men dead.

4. Do you have a garden? Flowers or veggies?
We will have a garden this year!  Fresh veggies!  I do have some flowers and plants in my landscape as well.

5. When did you move out of your parents house?
When I was 23.  I lived with a lady from my church for 6 months, and then got married and moved out of state.  =)

I hope everyone has a nice weekend!  And thanks for stopping by!