Smooching with Saskatchewan

A few years ago I visited the International Peace Garden, which is open to Americans but part of it is in Manitoba.  Since then I’ve wondered, are there other places along the US-Canada border where Americans are permitted inside a hermetically sealed little chunk of Canada? 

If you know of any, please let me know.  Meanwhile I have now made it a game to noodle along the Canadian border looking for other special places like that, and in early Sept 2025 I came across one on the Saskatchewan border that turned out to be more interesting than I had imagined.

One thing I want to make clear is that this is just a game.  Nobody is trying to sneak across the border.  I don’t even want to do that and it would violate the rules of the game – which are that it has to be a bona fide place where any American is allowed to be without a passport.  So let’s play the game:

North Dakota – From the 50 State Visitor Guide :

N.D. Century Code 2021 §§12.1-20-25, 12.1-32.15, 12.1-34-06

Registration Triggers and Deadlines:

3 days for initial registration of “residence” (not defined).  3 days for registration of “temporary domicile,” defined as being physically present in state for more than 10 consecutive days, present in state for more than 30 days in a calendar year, or at a location for longer than 10 consecutive days. §12.1-32.15(1)(h), (2).

Visitors: Per N Dak. SOR office, visitors must register if in state 10 consecutive days or 30 days per calendar year.

Residency/Presence and Other Restrictions:

Residency Restriction: “High-risk” offenders may not reside within 500 ft. of a public or private school. §12.1-32-13.

Presence restriction: May not knowingly enter school without permission, subject to exceptions. §12.1-20-25.

Duration & updates:

15 to life. Frequency of updates determined by AG. §12.1-32.15.

Updates: Homeless – every 3 days. §12.1-32.15(2). Others vary.

Portal, ND & North Portal, Saskatchewan Gateway Cities Golf Course

Flirt Rating – B+; possible AA for golfers

Most of the tiny town of Portal is in North Dakota, but a chunk of it has been split off by the international boundary as North Portal, Saskatchewan.  I decided to go see what this was all about.  See GPS map:

No doubt about it – this little town is split in half.  The US Customs complex takes up about two blocks on the US side. Here is a photo of the border from the corner of Clark St. and US 52.  The fenced in area is the Customs complex.  The pickup truck in the far background is coming across the border.

Where to “reside” – Portal Motel

On the south corner of Clark St. and US 52 is an unnamed convenience store with an unnamed motel behind it.  I took the photo above while standing in the convenience store parking lot.  Across US 52 is a small US Duty Free Shop. Here is a photo of the motel and back of the convenience store:

That makes this the closest reportable “temporary residence” to the Canadian border that I have yet found in my travels.  Allow me to suggest that if you’re going to attempt this Canadian golf outing, you should rent a room here for two nights, before and after your outing.  That way you can store up all your electronics before entering Saskatchewan (see WARNING below).

I stopped at the convenience store and struck up a conversation with the clerk.  First I asked about the motel which seemed rather empty (but it was mid-afternoon on a weekday). He said oh yes it’s open and would’ve been happy to check me in for the night. 

Then I said, “I see your town is split in two pieces.  How do y’all deal with that? Does everybody have to carry around their passport all the time?”  He said no passport, but you do need your ID and birth certificate.  If you drive up to the Canadian Customs building and tell them the destination in North Portal you need to get to and you have legit business there and it’s only for a short time, the Canadians will let you go without a passport.  Then you’ll show your ID and birth certificate to US Customs on the way back.  Easy enough.  Except that you and I couldn’t possibly have any legit business in North Portal, Saskatchewan.

Golfing in Saskatchewan

But then he continued – take the golf course, for example (who knew that Portal and North Portal share a municipal golf course?).  The entrance and most of the course is on the Canadian side, but part of the course is in North Dakota.  The only way to get to it is to bring your ID and birth certificate to the Canadian Customs building and get permission to go.  And oh, it’s a good idea to check back at Canadian Customs upon your return, just so they can know everything is on the up & up.

So there you have it.  A specific destination and a legitimate reason to go there.  Except that I’m not a golfer.  Furthermore, I think that if just one person were to drive up to the Canadian Customs building and say, yeah, I wanna go to the golf course, that would seem really weird even if you had your golf equipment laying across the back seat.

On the other hand … I do think that if a couple – or better yet a foursome – were to drive up with a bunch of golf equipment and say, yeah, we like to try new courses and we heard this was a thing so here we are … then it would be just some friends out on a lark and they’d go with it.

So this one’s for you, golfers.

WARNING: Expect to be searched on the way back into the US. Leave all electronic devises in your motel room.

I will soon report on my recent return trip to the International Peace Garden.  For now let me admit that on that visit I was so incredibly naïve that I didn’t even think ahead of time about the possibility that I would have myself, my car and yes my phone searched on my way back into the US. 

It’s a good thing everything about me these days is so squeaky clean – I don’t even have a data plan or wifi on my phone, and that means I have no downloaded apps, so the young man at the Customs counter spent most of his time scrolling through my travel photos in folders with names like “2023 Pac NW Tour.”

However – it’s still a nerve wracking experience to have your phone searched even when you know there’s nothing to find there.  My local police department couldn’t do that without a warrant, but now here I was with no choice in the matter if I felt like getting back into the US.  After having this experience my message to you is clear – leave all electronic devices in your motel room before proceeding to the golf course!  If you want to take commemorative photos, bring a cheap camera with a SIM card.  Let them search that.

What we all need to get used to is that your past felony offense, especially given the nature of that offense, makes you a suspicious person to the small staff at a sleepy little Customs facility with not much else to do that day.  Expect to be searched, and if it doesn’t happen count yourself lucky.

Here is the notice the nice young man gave me explaining that US Customs has the authority to do all this:

 

Snuggling up to the border

Meanwhile there is one other border-flirting experience to be had in Portal, ND.  A public road runs freakishly close to the Canadian border with no fence at all.  See photo:

I took this photo standing beside my car which was stopped on a public road in Portal, ND.  Granted, it’s a small dirt road with only a few homes on the south side, but it is a public road where any American is allowed to be, however briefly and while trying to act as innocuous as possible. 

NOTE: The international border follows the bottom of the ditch.  The sign is on the other side of the ditch, so it’s in Saskatchewan.  On the far side of the road in Saskatchewan is the North Portal Duty Free Shop.  NOTE blue directional sign with golfer icon and arrow.  How nice of them to tell you how to get to the golf course.

In fact, if you’re feeling brave, when you come back from golfing and check back at the Canadian Customs building just to be civil, you could ask if they mind if you check out the duty free shop before going back through US Customs.  If they know you’re not a problem they’ll probably say go ahead.

Now let’s look at the GPS map again:

The arrow icon shows my car’s location.  The point of the arrow is dead center on the little dirt road, and clearly a little bit south of the border.  Even for a non-golfer, Portal, ND gets you closer to the border without being able to touch it than anywhere else.  Add the motel across the street from the Customs complex and this little town easily earns its B+ flirt rating.

But if you and your golfing buddies have a taste for adventure, you could spend a day in Saskatchewan.  AA rating.