Thursday 18 July 2013

The Long Awaited Trip to the U.S.

I haven't been keeping the blog up but thought some might like to know how my first border crossing went.

We left home on Thursday and drove to Niagara Falls, Ontario and spent the night. We enjoyed seeing the Falls after such a long time and even went up in the Skylon Tower. I usually avoid anything with heights but it didn't really bother me. We were both nervous about Friday's border crossing so we probably didn't enjoy being at Niagara Falls as much as we normally would but it was great to see the Falls again!


Falls with Maid of the Mist in foreground

Lots of mist

Rainbow at the Falls

Me with the American Falls in the background

Top of the Falls

Niagara Falls near sunset

Friday morning we were very nervous. My lawyer had indicated that we would be crossing about 9 a.m. With the waiting time at the border it was about 9:15. The border agent (in the booth) was a bit on the obnoxious side but he sent us inside to see the immigration agent. We were aware that we would have to do this. Mr. Brunelle (the immigration agent) was very nice, professional and polite and indicated that this type of problem was not meant for Canadians. I was lucky my lawyer had emailed me all the documentation which I had printed off and taken with us as although he had faxed the documents to the border crossing they didn't seem to be aware of them. One look at my documentation and the name on the letterhead and Mr. Brunelle indicated that my immigration lawyer was one of the best and does things right. It took about 3/4 of an hour to process the paperwork and send appropriate emails to parties involved and to straighten things out for me for future border crossings. 

By about 10:15 a.m. we were on our way to Cincinnati! It was a long, tiring drive with lots of traffic especially going through Columbus. It was after 6 p.m. when we arrived at Gordon's sister's house.
Carol had dinner ready for us and had made sure that we could eat everything that she made.

Sunday was the Wolford Family Reunion. On our way there we stopped at Ian and Tracy's to see them and the kids, three of which we had never seen. There were a lot of people at the reunion, most of which I had no clue who they were.

Grandpa with the youngest grandson, Max taken at the Reunion

Grandpa & Grammy with "The Wolf Pack" 

 L to R-Iris, Grammy, Lily holding Violet, Caden, Grandpa holding Oren. Max was taking a nap.


The Wolford reunion was a great success. It was quite overwhelming with so many people that I didn't know but I managed to meet a few new relatives.

From the reunion we made our way to Columbus to spend some time with Michelle and her family. Faith was at camp and I'm afraid my camera hardly came out while in Columbus. The photos I did take while we were at a little falls in the city turned out blurry.

We're both so glad that we can now travel to the U.S. when we want to and no, we aren't going to start RVing again.

5 comments:

  1. Congratulation!! You must be so relieved to have that first border crossing over with. I am very happy for you. Nothing will stop you now from getting another RV and hitting the road :-) Good luck.

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  2. I know you are happy to have this terrible experience behind you. Welcome back to the U.S., the first of many trips I hope.

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  3. Thanks so much for the update. I'm so glad it went smooth for you two. We'll see you soon.

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  4. Well, it's interesting to read that this ordeal is finally over. I think I've been reading your entries off and on now for several years, but now that we're back home in Ontario, my blog reading time has diminished somewhat.
    I only saw your comment over on Kevin and Ruth's blog.
    Congratulations! At least now you can visit friends or relatives south of the border. For a country that is our largest trading partner, they sure are strange bedfellows, and that's all I'll offer about that.
    Good luck.

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  5. I am so glad that you can come back over the border and see the grandkids. Great pictures.

    I hope it will be smooth sailing from now on. Happy Trails, Penny

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