Anna M. Aquino

            This weekend was the first time we were able to travel up to Canada to visit my in-laws since moving.  We were only gone for a day and a half but we were so glad to be able to visit.  It’s a nice change to be a short three hour drive from them.   Over the years that I’ve traveled back and forth over the Canadian American border, we’ve collected our share of funny stories.  But the one last night may be up there with my top few.  The funny thing is that I was thinking right before we crossed back into the US that we hadn’t had any major hiccup this time, I thought too soon.             It was raining hard yesterday in Windsor and I thought that it would be a better idea to take the tunnel back to the US.  This border gives two options either a tunnel or a bridge and somehow hanging high suspended in the air as I could see li...

            As promised, I have another Canadian/American border crossing story.   This time we were leaving Canada we decided to take the tunnel.   Usually we opt for the Ambassador Bridge but the traffic leaving Canada is better on the tunnel.   Every time we travel this way we borrow a vehicle of my parents’.   A year ago my parents invested in a luxury SUV and so seeing that car cross the border always puts the border guards on a heightened alert.   Automatically they want to make sure the car is not stolen.   I understand their thoughts.   I also understand I have to prove to them it’s not stolen.               This time we were traveling through the boarder and the guard asked for the proof of insurance and registration.   The question on his part was a no brainer.   I know where my mom keeps the paperwork.   H...

As many of you know my family and I travel to Canada about twice a year. In the 14 years now that I’ve been visiting my in-laws; Dan and I have collected a variety of funny border stories. There was the time when Dan and I were dating and the American Border Guard asked Dan essentially “what his intentions were” with me as an American. There was the time that we’d forgotten the birth certificate of my oldest daughter when she was about four and made her keep rehearsing “I’m an American from Florida” in the car. Or there was the time where I kept trying to explain to the guard that the “homemade coppicollo” was for our private consumption and it was really okay for us to cross with it. My list of funny stories could go on. We always drive up there borrowing a vehicle from my parents. This summer my parents purchased a brand new luxury vehicle. For years my mother used to put in a note that stated I could borrow her car, and we stopped doing it because in all the years no one ever ask...