Anxiously we awoke and were on the road by 6:30 am. Traffic was beautiful and we sailed through northern Washington. We have four people and four passports. Perfect! As we approached the Canadian boarder, I mentally went through all the things the patrol may ask for. Passport, check; driver's license, check (good thing); insurance card although they may not ask, check; registration....well, it wasn't the current one, but the tabs were current and I figured they could run a check if they needed...right? At any rate, I had everything I needed for our spring break trip to Canada.
As the green light glowed, I slowly pulled up to a young Canadian who is watching every move I make. Suddenly I am not so confident in our trip. But why worry. I have our passports which allow us to travel where ever we want...eh?
Passports please, she commands. How many in the car? Four, I respond feeling a bit small already. You'll need to open the door so I can see everyone. Two in the front, two in the back. Where is the other parent? I respond with: He lives in Bremerton. With a stern look I hear: Do you have full custody of the children? I respond with a strong, I do! Then came the question that alluded me: Do you have a letter stating his knowledge of this trip? My thought was WHAT! I had to have him sign a paper so I could get the passports in the first place, I paid for the freakishly expensive folds of paper, and I have full custody of the girls. WHAT, you now want a letter? I calmly regurgitated by thoughts to the "kind" woman who then tells me I needed to pull over and go into the building.
GREAT!
We are met at the car by an other boarder patrol person who "kindly" tells us to go into the building and to the counter on the right. We stroll in and meet a young man who gives me the guilty look the minute he sees me. We run through the story one more time and then he starts in with the REAL questions. Where do you live? Have you been to Canada before? You haven't and you live in Olympia, just a few hours away? Where is the father? Does he know you are here? Do you have his telephone number? Do you work? Where? School also? Is this your day off? Are you normally off on Friday's? Questions, never ending questions. He was even questioning the girls. For 15 minutes we answered questions! Finally my new Canadian boarder patrol friend asked for the keys to my car, asked more questions about the contents of the car, and told us to have a seat.
We wondered to the military set-up of chairs and plopped down and almost simultaneously began to laugh. What else could we do. What are the odds that this would happen. Kendrah whips out the texting machine to share the news and I have to control her urge as I am sure there are a multitude of cameras that are checking these four women out. Shortly thereafter our new friend returned, called us up to his post, handed me our passports and keys and said: Have a nice trip.
We quietly walked out to the car, sit down, shut the doors and I hear from the back seat: Welcome to Canada! Mom, did he search our car? Yes. I bet he took a croissant!
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