I’m going to be visiting the 'rents next week and mom has suggested that we head down to North Dakota for the state fair on starting on the 18th of July. We would be driving.
I just realized that my passport has expired - if I have my drivers licence and birth cirtificate is that going to be enough, or do I need to let mom and dad know to cancel the reservations?
Cheers.
Heading down to North Dakota from where? If by down you mean south, and if by south to North Dakota I can presume you mean you live in Canada, I’d say it couldn’t hurt to get one. Months after September 11, 2001, my stepfather needed a passport to drive from Washington State into British Columbia. Two weeks ago, a co-worker visited Victoria, B.C., and didn’t make mention of passports at all.
FISH
You would be best off having a valid passport. The US border personnel seem to be highly variable in their criteria for allowing people to pass to and fro, and many Dopers here have posted of recent woes.
Well, I can’t get one. I’m leaving on Wednesday, and the passport office takes a miniumum of one week to renew.
So, seeing as I can’t get a passport:
I’m coming from Manitoba (Canada). I’ll have a valid drivers licence and birth cirtificate.
No go?
If the border isn’t terribly far, you could drive down into the U.S. for twenty minutes to find out if they check you for a passport. Somehow, I don’t think the border guards would respond well to a phone call such as, “Say, I’m trying to get into the U.S. with insufficient identification for… a party. Yeah. A party. And I’m going to meet some… citizens. Yeah. So, are you guys cool with it if I just, y’know, turn up at the border with some potato salad?” 
FISH
Right.
Well, the trip is about 3/5 hours I think - I can’t really do that.
Perhaps we’ll just have to go to the boarder, with my drivers licence, birth certificate, statement of health care and expired passport and hope for the best.
At least my IRL name isn’t Osama. 
Should be okay. The requirements haven’t actually been modified to require a passport, and I believe most of the passport woe stories have actually been airlines requiring passports to board their US-Canada flights, not customs agents turning people back after the trip.
Yah, that’s what I thought too Gorsnak.
I mean, I’m going to the Minot Fair with my retired 65 year old parents in their 5th-WHEEL CAMPER.
I think 3 pieces of identification should be enough. I hope. 
Here’s the list of concerts:
http://www.ndstatefair.com/2003fair/concerts.html
I wonder if I can convince my folks to go to the Alice Cooper/Ted Nugent show…
Actually, Daryl’s Racing Pigs sound pretty good too…
The legal requirement is proof of identity and proof of citizenship. A state-issued (not church-issued ) birth cert in conjunction with a Canadian driver’s license meet that requirement, but I wish I could assure you 100% that all border guards follow their own rules. So 99.9% you should be fine, unless you run into some moron who doesn’t know the law. The law has NOT been amended to require Canadians or Mexicans to carry valid passports, so your plan sounds like a sensible one. If they give you crap, politely ask to speak to a supervisor.
Eva Luna, immigration paralegal
Ah - excellent. (Well, except my BC is provincal - but I assume that’s ok. :))
I’ve flown a number of times since 9/11 into the US WITH my passport and haven’t needed to provide it. Hopefully, this will be the same.
(There’s a Bunny Barn at the fair too!)
Last time i crossed the border into the US from Canada was last August, at the Peace Arch crossing between Vancouver and Seattle.
Neither i nor my two friends were asked for passports. The woman just asked us what we were going to be doing in Seattle, and waved us on through.
I’ve seen racing pigs! I can’t remember where, and I don’t know if they were the same ones. But, I highly recommend you go see them, if you can. It’s one of those things everyone should experience once, although I don’t think anyone should have to experience it twice.
There are few sights in this world more bizarre than six or eight young pigs in racing vests shooting out of the starting gate, and tearing around a track like the wolf is on their heels, while a bunch of otherwise reasonably normal-looking people cheer for their favorites. And, lemme tell ya’, those little guys move!
This is gonna be SO COOL!!
Do you think if I state my intended activity to be “View Racing Pigs” I’ll get more hassle at the boarder?
I agree! I saw the racing pigs at an NYC street fair some years back. Not a very large “track” as a result, but still pretty wonderful.
Just keep Alice Cooper away from the Bunny Barn. Or am I thinking of Ozzy? Still, it can’t hurt.
And PLEASE keep Nugent away from the racing pigs, he’ll be wanting one for dinner!
Cool - I’ve just been checking out some of the sights - it looks like theres a Zoo! (I LOOOOVE Zoos!) Also a couple of museums, pretty decent shopping (horray the CDN $ is currently OK) and a couple of gun clubs. <snort>
Gosh - I’m kinda hoping that they’re gonna let me in. Maybe I can talk my mom into going to OLP and 3 Doors Down with me.
Hopefully it was clear before, but I meant “state” as opposed to “church,” i.e. government-issued rather than issued by a private religious authority or hospital. Obviously y’all up there don’t have “states” in the same sense that we do.
Hope you have a great trip!
You were clear Eva Luna - I was just joshin’ you a bit.
I’m very excited. Woo hoo! Racing Pigs!