I grew up in what’s known as a border town. A town that sits along the international border into the United States of America, with another town right beside it, similarly named.

When I was 18, I got an enhanced drivers license and started to cross over to experience the wonders that was the cross border experience. Shipping packages with free shipping and less taxes to the pick-up depot. Cheap gas and groceries. New restaurants to experience. A short cut to get to Southern Ontario. Charming little town and cities to experience as mini-vacations from every day life without needing to drive further than 2-3 hours. It was a great experience.

Then I moved to Manitoba. The border was still reachable, but you have to drive 2 hours to cross and another hour to get to the nearest town with stores worth visiting. So I didn’t go as much, but I still went when I could, usually once every 2-3 months to stock up on supplies, snacks, get a getaway in and some good shopping.

And then the pandemic hit. There was no more crossing over for fun little getaways, or getting my favourite snacks and treats. I had to resort to buying my favourite drinks and snacks online at a crazy price, and ordering items that only shipped to the USA had to be couriered across at a hefty price.

Since the pandemic started peetering off over the last 6 months, there were times when the border DID finally open. Initially you required a COVID swab to get back into Canada, which was hard to obtain as it had to be a PCR test. And it had to be within the last 72 hours. So it didn’t really make sense to cross over for a day trip anymore. (Also, who wants their brain jabbed?).

Around the holiday season, it was feasible to go and have a same day test completed, making crossing over for the day feasible. Unfortunately my family is high risk and it wasn’t worth putting them in harm’s way. I had a friend pick up some supplies for me when he went and I paid him back, but it wasn’t quite the same.

April 1st 2022 everything changed. They dropped the COVID testing requirements for us to be able to cross the border. I was ecstatic. At this point though, I had already booked a trip into the USA for the end of the month, so it seemed pointless to try to go sooner. But in true impulsive dopamine seeking fashion I decided to go anyways. I had three days off, and wanted to go spend an afternoon, night and part of the morning.

Then the ‘storm of the century’ decided to come around. As per usual, this winter it seems has been brutally difficulty. Anytime I’ve wanted to head to Winnipeg for a retreat or run some errands, it had to storm, the highways would close and I felt extremely uncomfortable attempting to drive on roads that were ill maintained.

But this didn’t stop me. For you see, I was dead set on getting to the states.
I came off a night shift, slept a few hours. Met up with a girlfriend for dinner at 1800h. We finished around 2000h. Then I started my trek to the states.

I hit the border around 2200h, requiring the usual passport and general questions about my reason for crossing over. I was then warned that the storm would be hitting the following day around 1500h and I should be careful.

U.S Customs.

I got to Grand Forks, ND at 2300h just in time to check into my hotel. It seems that COVID changed the ways of the 24 hour Walmarts. While they still have reasonably extended hours, it was just my luck they would close at 2300.

So I went to bed and tried to sleep. Working a full time night rotation doesn’t really work for getting sleep during the night. Instead, I watched Netflix and listened to someone upstairs cheering something on and the occasional wind gusts and/or screaming baby (I honestly couldn’t tell the difference).

When I woke up it was time to shine.

My view from the hotel at 0630 in the morning, in Grand Forks, North Dakota.

I left the hotel at 0630 and headed to my first Walmart. This is where I ended up spending most of my time.

Sure, I had made a list. But who doesn’t want to just go and explore and be in awe? And in awe I was. Have you ever gone to the USA and really looked at the products that are available? It is absolutely astounding to see some of the things that are manufactured and sold as regular items.

First off, the exciting things for me are a vast array of gluten free products that are scattered throughout the regular gluten containing items. Rather than being confined to a small section of an aisle, its so lovely to look at and fantasize about the products you cannot consume without inflicting severe pain to yourself, only to find gluten free versions as little surprises along the way. I found gluten free bread crumbs of the same brand I used to buy when I was killing myself slowly consuming it. Delightful! Throw it in the cart.

Gluten free plain breadcrumbs

Gluten free quaker oatmeal.

Secondly, there are the lovely additions and concoctions that just tickle me so. You can buy a mixture of all sorts of sauces. I found mayo and ketchup could be purchased together as a mixture (a delight for to my tastebuds and French heritage). I found a mixture of ketchup & ranch, mustard & mayo and sriracha & mayo. No sugar ketchups. Now I realize this is just purely convenience, as you can mix the items yourselves and probably get the same results. But I can see the appeal and ease of use- not to mention if you have a picky partner who doesn’t like mayo, they’ll stay away and you can have it all to yourself.

All the delightful combinations of sauces and condiments I had the pleasure of discovering! Of which, I bought none.

You can also buy squeeze peanut butter? What?

Jif all natural squeeze bottle/bag peanut butter

I can never get enough of the interesting flavours of coffee creamers there are to discover! I bought some- even though I seldom drink coffee. That’s how tempting it was!

Drumstick flavoured coffee creamer.

There are items that certainly spark my curiosity, that if I could I would absolutely try just for the fun of it. Microwavable pancakes on the go in a cup? Twinkie dessert kit? Mmmm… marshmallow Swedish Fish. A candy lover’s dream.

Microwavable pancake in a cup.

And then we move onto the absolutely ridiculous items that you can’t help but gawk at. I mean really, who needs an artificial maple syrup that is coloured blue and tastes like cap’n crunch’s cereal? Or pre-cooked rice that you buy in a box, that inside is actually in a bag that you then remove and boil in a pot, while still in the bag?

Great Value brand rice that you boil in a bag. It comes in a bag, inside of this box. No joke.

Cap’n Crunch’s artificially flavoured blue maple syrup

The list goes on my friends, I am not exaggerating. I could have easily spent four hours just looking through the shelves and discovering more hilarious/intriguing/mind boggling indulgences. Sadly, I was under a time crunch.

I quickly hit up target (it was pretty bare, it looked like they were renovating and were missing a lot of items). I had a few items I still hadn’t found, so I quickly jetted over to the second Walmart around 0800h and was able to head out by 0830h. I hadn’t found everything, but I was pretty happy with what I did get.

And you know what else made me happy?

Cheap gas. 1.25$ per litre with the exchange. A nice break from the 1.85$ per litre we’ve been seeing the last few weeks.

I had been quite nervous about heading back home, afraid I would miss something. I had heard a couple horror stories, namely from one of my best friends where she had forgotten a step in preparing for her return. They had threatened to make her isolate for fourteen days in a hotel that she would have to pay for, despite having been fully vaccinated. She just hadn’t shown the proper documentation in the order they had preferred.

In reality, its not complicated at all.

You download an app called ArriveCan, fill out the details on when you will be returning (date & time), your passport information and have your proof of vaccination uploaded. And voila! You hand the nice gentleman or gentlelady your passport, they scan it and all of the ArriveCan data shows up on their screen. It includes an isolation plan in care you come down with symptoms, and the government follows up with you a few days later to remind you of this. This was done by e-mail in my case. They then ask you the usual questions (How long were you gone? How much did you spend? Do you have any fancy shanks?).

You then proceed home as normal. With a vehicle full of goodies and the sense of safety that feels like a warmth creeping in, knowing that you’re back safely on Canadian soil.

I’m really glad I made the trip, even though it turns out I wasn’t even gone an entire 12 hours. I made it back across the border by 0930h.

I was able to enjoy some goodies until my departure for my vacation.

I do however hold a lot of excitement about landing in Orlando on Monday mid-day. I look forward to experiencing grocery and snack shopping to fill the pantry of our airbnb for the week and a half we are there!