Crossing The Border

On the way to the border, we couldn't help but stop when we saw a sign that said "Pick Your Own Apples". Never before had we participated in such an activity and so were eager to give it a try. We paid $10 to an old man and he gave us a sack and told us which apples were ready to eat. As it is just coming into apple season, it was quite a quest trying to find the juicy ones!


We then headed off to Port Huron fully loaded with fruit and ready to cross the border. Things weren't too dramatic when we got there, we just had to tell our story straight and not be too vague with the details of where we were going and why. They also asked us if we had any snails on our person, which was strange. We paid them some $$ and sure enough got a magical visa!


The first stop on the trip was Grand Rapids, Michigan to visit my friend Caleb and on the way we stopped at a cool burger place called 5 guys. They had a huge box of monkey nuts you could just go wild on while you waited for your food.



Then after some questionable driving from myself (wrong side of the road!) we eventually made it to Caleb's house late into the night and settled down for some well deserved sleep.

The next morning the dynamic road-trip duo was sadly dissolved as Tread had to head back to California for college. I would be making the rest of the trip solo and have to thank Tread hugely for getting me to the states and being such a swell guy. The man was a lot of fun to travel with for a few days and will be sorely missed, a great character and friend.


As I said, the reason for stopping in Michigan was to see my friend Caleb, who I got to know when he studied in Belfast for a semester last year. He goes to Cornerstone university in Grand Rapids and looked after me for a few days.


We hung out on campus, which is very different from Queen's, especially in size as only about 1500 people study there. One night we went to the opening show for the new freshers which was great, lots of funny skits and videos.

This was the corner stone at the college, where you could just graffiti at will. Apparently it fosters community and expression!


We also went out to Buffalo Wild Wings (or B-Dubz to those in the know), which is the college hot spot for some good grub. Caleb and his friend Andrew taught me baseball and we ordered some wings while I dazzled the waitress with my accent and charm.


It was cool to see Caleb again, visit his town and meet some of his family. We were able to talk rugby and drink Nambarrie tea, it was just like home. They really looked after me and his mum even baked me some cookies to take on the bus to Chicago, SO GOOD!