FLIRTING WITH CANADA

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

Travel Alert 2026:

DO NOT travel to any destination that might bring you into contact with U.S. Customs without a passport

Given the current repressive climate against PFR’s that has come to be known as the Epstein Shadow, combined with the violent climate against immigrants and others deemed suspicious at our borders, I must now strongly warn any current or formerly registered person against putting yourself in any situation where you might come into contact with U.S. Customs unless you have a valid passport in hand. 

In Saskatchewan, that specifically includes any visit to the Gateway Cities Golf Club - the atmosphere of violence and repression has escalated too much to take any more risks.

A different complication will apply to anyone want to go golfing who does have a valid passport.  As noted below, you won’t be able to get there without checking in at Canadian Customs, which is where the problem would ordinarily be (because Canada doesn't allow anyone with any past felony in).  If you have a valid passport you can’t just lie about that, can you?  For all these reasons I am for the time being, not removing this section, but instead crossing it out.

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.

 FLIRTING WITH CANADA

A One Night Stand with Manitoba:

The International Peace Garden

International Peace Garden entrance. U.S. Customs station is in background at left.

Travel Alert 2026:

DO NOT travel to any destination that might bring you into contact with U.S. Customs without a passport 

A few years ago I visited the International Peace Garden, which is open to Americans but part of it is in Manitoba.  I blogged about that.  Since then I’ve returned to the U.S.-Canadian border looking for other places along the US-Canada border where Americans are permitted inside a hermetically sealed little chunk of Canada. 

HOWEVER – Given the current repressive climate against PFR’s that has come to be known as the Epstein Shadow, combined with the violent climate against immigrants and others deemed suspicious at our borders, I must now strongly warn any current or formerly registered person against putting yourself in any situation where you might come into contact with U.S. Customs unless you have a valid passport in hand.  

In Manitoba, that specifically includes the International Peace Garden – even though I myself came into contact with US Customs on my way back from the Peace Garden only last September.  The atmosphere of violence and repression has escalated too much to take any more risks. 

To be clear – I am saying that if you DO have a valid passport then there should be (in theory) no problem visiting the International Peace Garden.  You won’t be asked to show it on your way into the Peace Garden, which is where the problem would otherwise be (because Canada doesn't allow anyone with any past felony in). You'll only want it when you return through US Customs. 

From the 50 State Visitor Guide (North Dakota):

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.

International Peace Garden: September 2025

Flirt Rating – AA

If you want to dip your toe into Canada and pretend you have beaten the restrictions on international travel we registered citizens face, there is the International Peace Garden, which straddles the border between North Dakota and Manitoba. 

Driving past the U.S. Customs station on my way to the International Peace Garden entrance. Turn left before you get to the Canadian Customs station which is in the far background in this photo.

From the U.S. side, travel north from Dunseith, ND on U.S. 281 right up to the international border.  The park entrance is actually a few yards (oh, excuse me, meters) on the Canadian side, but it’s purposefully located between the two Customs Stations.  You’ll drive right past the U.S. Customs Station, then turn left into the park entrance just before you get to the Canadian Customs Station.  Pay your $25 entrance fee and TADAAAH! you’re in Canada – no questions asked!

Where to “reside” – International Peace Garden campground, Dunseith, ND

September 2025 was my second visit to the International Peace Garden and this time I decided it would be amusing to stay overnight.  In doing so I realized that this should be one of the destinations or “temporary residences” (as Iowa calls them) I should include when I reported travel at my local sheriff’s office before leaving.

Why?  Because I knew I’d be going back through US Customs upon leaving the Peace Garden (see WARNING below) and I wanted all my paperwork to be in order.  You should want that too, so here is the address you should report to your local sheriff:  10939 US 281, Dunseith, ND.

International Peace Garden map

What is the International Peace Garden?

Now let’s talk about the Peace Garden itself.  The central portion which runs along the U.S. – Canada border comprises a formal garden surrounded by a scenic drive.  There are a conservatory and interpretive center, a sunken garden, sculptures, a 9/11 memorial and a peace chapel.  Two other scenic loop roads branch a few miles (kilometers) from the central drive, one into Canada and one into the U.S. 

Formal garden at the International Peace Garden.  

The linear water feature going into the distance marks the international boundary.

Unfortunately all the developed facilities, including the campground and rental cabins, are on the U.S. side.  These also include a game warden museum, an international music camp and performing arts center, and a Masonic retreat and auditorium.  Mental note:  there’s absolutely no food available at the International Peace Garden, so you’ll have to bring it all with you.

I guess Manitoba doesn’t feel like spending much money on this park because on their side there are only a few picnic areas and hiking trails.  Unfortunately for registered visitors this means you can only camp on the North Dakota side.  Also, the campground is at least a mile (1.5 kilometers) south of the border, so in that sense you don’t get to snuggle up to Canada nearly as closely as you can at the town motel in Portal, ND.  You’ll always be subject to that state’s visitor rules because you’ll spend at least part of every day in North Dakota and as with most states you must assume that any partial day will count as a full day towards your stay there.

Very nice picnic area in Manitoba

North Dakota’s visitor rules are about average among U.S. states and not too tough to live with.  You get ten consecutive days (including partial days) or 30 days per calendar year, which in this very special situation means that even though park rules allow you to stay at the campground up to two weeks you really can’t stay more than nine days (including getting yourself into and out of North Dakota) because the tenth day would trigger an obligation to register in this state and you don’t want to do that.

On the other hand, you can be in Manitoba as much as you like while inside the Peace Garden.  You could go have a picnic at 2:00 AM if you wanted.  I didn’t do that, but I did go for a spin around the loop road at 10:00 just to illustrate the concept.  Unfortunately it was unseasonable cold for early September that night – low 40’s! – so I hardly got out of my car.

Screenshot of my GPS map showing that my car (arrow icon) was located at least a mile within Manitoba while parked at the picnic area shown above.

One last comment about the campground – it was full on that chilly mid-week off-season night.  So make your reservations ahead of time.

In theory, if you were able to hike over into Manitoba and “primitive camp” there for two consecutive nights and a full day spent outside of North Dakota, you’d be able to return to your campsite on the ND side and restart the clock to extend your stay.  The trick would be having a permit with a receipt from the park office to document your out-of-state excursion, and therein lies the rub.  If Manitoba had any intention of letting you camp overnight on their side, surely they’d have a campground there for you to use.  So what makes you think they’ll give you a permit to primitive camp along one of their hiking trails?  Nothing.  And without a dated permit you’ve got nothing to prove you were ever out of North Dakota when you emerge from the Peace Garden and go back through U.S. Customs several days later.

At the North American Game Warden Museum

And now to permanently extinguish any lingering fantasy you may be having about whether you could check into the Peace Garden, walk across the border and disappear into Canada to escape America’s registry.  First: Doing so would violate the rules of the game, which state that you can only go where any American citizen is allowed to go without a passport and nobody cares.  You can be sure that somebody would care if you tried to sneak into Manitoba from the International Peace Garden.

There is, actually, a Manitoba provincial park abutting and surrounding the Peace Garden on their side.  Whether there is some kind of electrified fence preventing you from leaving the Peace Garden over there I do not know because I didn’t check and of course I didn’t ask such a nakedly suspicious question. 

International Peace Chapel, also located astride the US-Canadian border - note brick paver feature extending from the door.  That means I was in Manitoba when taking this photo.

But even if there isn’t, what the hell would you do once you got into Canada with no ID and no passport and no nothing else?  Apply for political asylum based on the unconstitutionality of your U.S. registry status?  No. Canada doesn’t discriminate against registered people.  Instead, their policy is to not let ANY convicted felon of any kind into their country.  Once you get caught (which you will) they’ll arrest you and toss you back across the U.S. border where you’ll be immediately arrested and sent to prison.  Is that really how you want to want to spend your vacation?

Having said all that, it is fun to dip your toe into a foreign country at the International Peace Garden.  

WARNING: Expect to be searched on the way back into the US.  Leave all electronic devises in storage in the town of Dunseith or at the Turtle Mountain Reservation.

The first thing I have to admit to you is that on this visit to the Peace Garden I was so incredibly stupid and naïve that I didn’t 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. 

After looking over my paperwork for a worryingly long period of time, the young man at the Customs window directed me to pull my car into the garage door of the vehicle search area (see photo).  From there an older man led me into the building lobby, where I and my cell phone were searched.

I took this photo from within the Peace Garden, just to show you how close the US Customs building is (left background).  See that garage door back there?  That's where they made me pull my car in to get searched.

It’s a good thing everything about me these days is so squeaky clean – I don’t have a data plan or wifi on my phone, and that means I have no games or 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.”  Even so this took him about 15 minutes.

Once the young man handed my phone back the older man led me back to my car.  After I was safely away from the area I looked my car over and it seemed that the search had been pretty cursory.  I couldn’t find anything that looked like it had been moved – even my bag of souvenirs.  Similarly, it looked like the young man hadn’t screwed around with my phone very much.

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 storage in the town of Dunseith or the nearby Turtle Mountain Reservation before proceeding to the International Peace Garden!

Dunseith is a small town, but it’s big enough to have a decent sized commercial district along US 281.  On my way out I was too rattled from my experience to stop and look around for a storage spot for next time, but I do think it’s a big enough commercial district to find safe storage someplace – maybe a truck stop or travel center with storage lockers or something.

The Ojiba Nation Turtle Mountain Band Indian Reservation is the next town to the east of Dunseith and also has a significant commercial area, in case you come up short in Dunseith.

If you have any misgivings about being separated from your electronics even for a couple of days, you should also know there’s no cell service at the Peace Garden, so it’s a waste even to have you phone with you unless you can’t live without your games.  If you want to take commemorative photos, bring a cheap camera with a USB connection.  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 and your registry status, 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:

 FLIRTING WITH CANADA

Close Up With Ontario

Travel Alert 2026:

DO NOT travel to any destination that might bring you into contact with U.S. Customs without a passport

A few years ago I visited the International Peace Garden, which is open to Americans but part of it is in Manitoba.  I blogged about that.  Since then I’ve returned to the U.S.-Canadian border looking for other places along the US-Canada border where Americans are permitted inside a hermetically sealed little chunk of Canada.

HOWEVER – Given the current repressive climate against PFR’s that has come to be known as the Epstein Shadow, combined with the violent climate against immigrants and others deemed suspicious at our borders, I must now strongly warn any current or formerly registered person against putting yourself in any situation where you might come into contact with U.S. Customs unless you have a valid passport in hand.  In Ontario this includes any funny business playing with the border at Voyageurs National Park.

I say this even though I myself came into contact with US Customs only last September.  The atmosphere of violence and repression has escalated too much to take any more risks.

To be clear, any flirting destination that doesn’t bring you into contact with US Customs is still safe to go to.  In Ontario this includes Soo Locks Boat Tour.

If you know of any others, please let me know.  Meanwhile I have now made it a game to noodle along the Canadian border for other special places like that – beginning with Ontario.  As I flirt with Ontario I’ll report what I find here.

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:

 Michigan - From the 50 State Visitor Guide  :

M.C.L. 2019 §§28.721 through 28.736, as modified by HB 5679 effective 2021

Registration Triggers and Deadlines:

Initial registration and updates are required “not more than 3 days,” (HB 5679).  A “residence” is defined as “that place at which a person habitually sleeps, keeps his or her personal effects, and has a regular place of lodging.”  §28.722(p).  Also, “An individual required to be registered under this act who is not a resident of this state but has his or her place of employment in this state shall report” not more than 3 days. §28.725(2). 

Visitors: Michigan law does not address registration by visitors. The requirement to report any place “[t]he individual intends to temporarily reside at … other than his or her residence for more than 7 days” applies only to “[a]n individual required to be registered under this act who is a resident of this state” §28.725(1). However, visitors should assume at a minimum that this 7 day rule will apply to you.

Residency/Presence and Other Restrictions:

1000 foot residency and loitering restrictions were repealed by HB 5679.

Those required to register after 7-01-2011 must report all email addresses & internet identifiers (defined in HB 5679).

Duration & updates:

15 years to life. Updates: T1 – annual; T2 – 6 mo; T3 – 3 mo. §28.725.

Soo Locks Boat Tour

Flirt Rating – A

This is a really enjoyable 2 hour boat tour from Sault Ste. Marie, MI that takes you through both the Canadian and American Soo Locks.  You can see where I was parked in the screen shot of my gps monitor, and I have marked the tour route.  The map also shows the US-Canadian border, so you can see that at least an hour of this trip is inside Canada. 

Route of the Soo Locks Boat Tour

The Canadian Locks, which you go through first, are within Sault Ste. Marie Canal National Park & Historic Site – as you see on the map, all of Whitefish Island is parkland.  Once you’re in the lock they close the doors, tie the tour boat up to one side of the lock for safety, and fill the lock to raise the ship.  All the while, there you are enjoying your surroundings in a Canadian National Park.

I have decided that to get a Flirt Rating of “A” in this game, just being in a boat in Canadian Waters (like at Niagara Falls) isn’t good enough.  You have to be able to touch Canadian land to get an “A.”  On this criterion the Soo Locks Boat Tour delivers.  While the lock is being filled you can get up and walk around, and even touch side of the lock’s wall where the boat is tied up.  It may only be concrete – but you’re touching Canadian soil when you do that.

Approaching the Canadian Lock

Also, because this lock is the main attraction in a national park there are a lot of people around watching the show, and yes indeed the Americans on the boat strike up conversations with the Canadians just a few feet away, me included.  I was having so much fun I couldn’t stop laughing!

View from inside the lock

The nice views of Sault St. Marie, Ontario all come before and while you’re in the lock.  After that the tour takes you west and near to a huge iron ore and steel processing plant on the Canadian side.  It really is impressive in its own stark way.  Meanwhile the tour guide explains which piles of ore are what and what some of the machinery does.  Pretty interesting.

Iron & steel plant on the Canadian side, as viewed from Canadian waters.

Then it’s back across to American waters and through the American lock which is much bigger.  On our side too, Sault Ste. Marie, MI has a lockfront park that includes viewing stands and people were talking and hailing each other as we were being lowered in the lock.

This tour not only takes you into Ontario for over an hour, but it’s a really great tour on its own merits.  I can’t help wondering – there must be other lock tour boats along the Great Lakes US – Ontario border.  Surely along the St. Clair and Detroit Rivers in southeast Michigan, a place that until now I have given short shrift.  Not anymore – this is just too much fun!

Minnesota – From the 50 State Visitor Guide  :

Minn. Stat. 2019 §243.166

Registration Triggers and Deadlines:

5 days for initial registration and updates.

Visitors: Presence in state for more than 14 days or 30 days per calendar year triggers obligation to register. §243.166(1b). Registrants without a primary address register within 24 hours of entering new jurisdiction, & provide updates in-person weekly.

Residency/Presence and Other Restrictions:

None. Only Level 3 offenders are placed on the public website. (per NARSOL Digest, June 2018, p.7)

Duration & updates:

10 yrs – life.  Updates annually (weekly for those without permanent residence). §243.166.

Voyageurs National Park

Flirt Rating – B

In 2021 I visited Voyageurs National Park, which is in far northern Minnesota at the Ontario border.  Here’s what I wrote at the time:

“My intension was to go as far north as U.S. registry law allows, which means right at the Canadian border.  My destination was Voyageurs National Park, which turns out to be mainly a boating and fishing paradise. There are no campgrounds in the park, and apparently people take their boats out to camp at one of the hundreds of islands in Kabetogama Lake. I’m not a boater! **Sigh**”

Now that I’m flirting with Ontario I’ve gone back and looked at this park in a new light.  I’m not a boater but maybe you are.  Voyageurs encourages you to go island camping not just in Kabetogama Lake but Rainy Lake, Namakan Lake, Sand Point Lake and Crane Lake, all of which border Ontario and have many tiny islands to choose from.

Voyageurs map

There is also Kettle Falls Historic District, which includes a waterfall between Namakan Lake and Rainy Lake.  Like the more famous Niagara Falls it crosses the US – Canadian border.  According to the park information you are encouraged to get in a boat or kayak and go enjoy the falls and river.  That has to include noodling with the border.  So does island camping on any of these lakes.

Let’s be realistic here.  There has to be at least enough waterborne border security on both sides to keep visitors in line.  But this place is mighty remote and, unlike a boat tour, you’ll be under control of your own vessel and can take it where you dare.  It’s even possible that if you stopped at a little remote island for a picnic nobody would care – but I certainly wouldn’t try staying overnight.

Also, if you are stupid enough to try obviously approaching the Canadian side of anything not only are you an idiot but you’d be violating the rules of the game, which are that it has to be a place where any American can go but it happens to be in Canada and nobody cares.  If you start approaching the Canadian side people are gonna care, and that’s against the rules.

From the 50 State Visitor Guide : New York

N.Y. C.L.S. 2019 Corrections §§168

Registration Triggers and Deadlines:

10 calendar days for initial reg., after “establishing residency” (not defined), and for updates. §§168-f, 168-k.  In-state workers required to register if present for more than 14 consecutive days or an aggregate period exceeding 30 days in a calendar year. §168-a.

Visitors: Per NY SOR office, 10 consecutive days or 14 per month. NOTE: Partial days count (except just passing through).  Procedure available for removal from registry after departure.

Residency/Presence and Other Restrictions:

Certain laws may impose a 1,000 ft. residency restriction from schools and child care facilities for registrants on parole or probation.   

Duration & updates:

20 years to life.  Updates: L3 & “sexual predators” 90 days; all others annually.  §168-h.

Akwesasne Nation (St. Regis Mohawk Nation), St. Lawrence Seaway – Most recent visit: May 2025

Flirt Rating – F

The weather totally sucked the whole time I was in the Akwesasne Nation. Their territory lies on both sides of the St. Lawrence Seaway and of the US – Canadian border.  In the US it’s called the St. Regis Mohawk Nation.  So in that way you can kinda pretend you’re in a separate nation when you enter the reservation, and that separate nation includes lands on the other side of the border and …

Map of the Akwesasne Nation (grey) and Robert Moses State Park (Barnhart Island)

The Akwesasne Nation’s chief sources of prosperity are: (a) it sits right at the main St. Lawrence River / US border crossing for the entire region, and (b) the St. Lawrence – FDR Hydroelectric Power Dams are right there too.  If they didn’t get a cut of that action they got totally jipped!

But for the same reasons, on any road trip through this region you’d better get used to seeing a lot of dark colored SUV’s – both Akwesasne Nation and US.  I don’t think it’s because the Akwesasne people have a special fondness for them either.  I stopped near the bridge / border crossing just to have a look and the place was crawling with them. 

Yup that's Canada all right! As seen from Robert Moses State Park.  I got closer to the water's edge than this but thought better of the idea of "suspiciously taking a photo" from the riverbank.

I also visited Robert Moses State Park which includes the dams which you can see from a distance and the canal locks which you can go to.  It’s at the Visitors Center.  Yes I saw dark colored SUV’s there too but no so many.  The park is on an island in the St. Lawrence River, the island itself is on the Canadian side of the shipping channel, so here again you can kinda pretend …

Ship coming through the lock - cool!

One thing nobody seemed to mind me doing was driving all over the park including right up to the riverbank where Canada was just a few feet away.  This park at the north tip of New York also offers camping and cabins!  When I got to the Visitor’s Center there was a cargo boat going through the locks and I got to see that.  All in all and pleasant place to pretend you’re in Canada.

Convenience store chain store you should be forewarned about:

Stewarts Shops – What began out as a little chain of ice cream shops is now this region’s main convenience store chain that happens to include an ice cream bar.  What they don’t have is a soda fountain.  Why don’t the people of New England and Upstate New York like fountain sodas?

Niagara Falls and Gorge – Most recent visit: May 2025

Flirt Rating – C

On my most recent visit the weather continued to totally suck the whole time I was in the Niagara region.  I bypassed Niagara Falls itself because I had been to the falls before.  I believe it was on a trip I took in the year between when I was arrested and when I was sentenced.  I planned on a few hours but couldn’t do everything in that time.  I did go on the Maid of the Mist boat ride which visits Horseshoe Falls which is the Canadian Falls and I don’t think they’re enforcing the border that much out in the middle of the river, so there’s that.

I also did Cave of the Winds and a couple of other things but I don’t remember going to Three Sisters Islands which probably get you as close to the border as you can get on land.

Niagara Gorge and the Whirlpool as seen from the American side

In early June 2025 I decided to go to Whirlpool State Park this time instead.  The bad news is that to get there you have to drive on the most inappropriately named road ever constructed – Niagara Scenic Parkway.  Wow is it ever in bad shape!  The good news is the Whirlpool and the gorge are pretty amazing. 

Whirlpool State Park

The park overlooks the Niagara Gorge at a sharp bend where the whirlpool is.  This is without a doubt the best view of The Whirlpool (except for the cable car on the Canadian side) and that view is from the US but the thing you’re there to look at is in Ontario.

However!  Not long after I returned home I happened upon a TV segment about the Niagara Gorge Whirlpool – and guess what?  There is a “Whirlpool Jet” boat tour of The Whirlpool!  They run boat tours from both sides of the gorge which means, much like the Maid of the Mist tour at Niagara Falls, you can get on in the US but most of the tour is in Canadian waters.  Tadahh!