I Fled the Country (Almost).

SisKris and Emily arrived from Halifax on Thursday, and on Friday the three of us plus Dr. Munchkin loaded up in the car and headed for the United States. The purpose of the trip? Krista wanted to pick up some food items not available in Canada, including Cookie Crisp cereal for her deployed navy husband.

I opted out of the whole "leave the country" thing, mostly because I had no money (and nothing makes me crankier than being "forced" to window-shop somewhere different when I can't buy anything). So as the line-up approached the actual "you are leaving Canada" point, I said goodbye to the girls and headed out, tripod in hand, to take pictures of St. Stephen (the Canadian bordertown, not the guy).

When I first told my sister that I would spend my time taking pictures while waiting for them to come back, she wanted to know what I'd take pictures of. "You know me," I replied. "I take pictures of garbage cans if they look interesting enough."

(I did, in case you're wondering, take a couple of garbage can pictures, just to freak her out. I'm the oldest sister. It's my job.)

After taking a couple of miscellaneous photos, my next stop was The Wool Emporium, which I spotted while still in the car (and, if you look closely, you can spot me in this picture). It's a nice little spot, and the proprietress was a delight to talk to. That's one thing I found during my three hours in St. Stephen; everyone delighted in talking with me. And it wasn't just "tourist-talk" -- I know how that goes. (Been there, done that, wore the pseudo-heritage costume.)

I left The Wool Emporium with a package of denim-strength sewing machine needles and a wealth of information of how to spend my three hours, then headed down to a café/used book store, where I found three books (including what I hoped was a "holy grail" for Hubby -- A World Out of Time by Larry Niven, which it turns out he hasn't read) for the amazing sum of a buck each. (The other two I picked up were Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides and Bonnie Burnard's A Good House.)

Although I was sorely tempted, I didn't go to the Chocolate Museum. (For the uninitiated, St. Stephen bills itself as Canada's Chocolate Town because it's the home of Ganong, the sometimes-disputed creator of the world's first chocolate bar, but never-disputed genius behind the Christmas traditions of Red Wrap and Chicken Bones.)

I knew that a visit to the Chocolate Museum would involve many chocolate samples, and I had a feeling that if I got in there, they'd need a crowbar to convince me to leave! So instead I opted to spend a few minutes relaxing on a bench in the low-key Chocolate Park and wave to the United States across the river.

In case I've never mentioned it before, I love playing tourist almost as much as I love being a tourist, and since I was only an hour away from home, this trip had a little bit of both!

The obligatory picture of the lighthouse (with the American town of Calais, Maine in the background) had to be taken, of course, and while I was there, a local older gentleman regaled me with tales of how many people had been swept away by the currents in the St. Croix while trying to swim across the border.

My three hours went rather quickly, I have to admit. After the lighthouse, I went to check out the goods they had at the market stalls along the waterfront (a summer Friday tradition, I was told), and enjoyed a hot dog at a picnic table I shared with two vendors who happened to be sisters.

As they spoke with their friend who joined us, they clearly kept me in the loop, turning to explain who they were talking about and what the date was they were trying to nail down. I was so much a part of their circle at that point that when their friend saw me inside the visitor information centre, she was stunned to learn I had just met them!

Before long, my intrepid sisters had returned from the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave to pick me up at the provincial visitor bureau (a repurposed former railway station). I sat with Emily at the colouring table while SisKris and Dr. Munchkin went to the market, and before long we were all on our way.

It was a great day, full of simple pleasures. And really, shouldn't life be more like that?