Tiny towns in northern New York... there are too many to count. There's only one place I'd risk my life driving through lake effect snow whiteouts to come home to. So here's my nod to Alexandria Bay, a nod to River living.

1. “Oh, so you live in Canada?”

Technically, no… but kind of. There’s more Ontario license plates on the road than New York plates, you can’t go a day in my summer job without receiving some amount of Canadian currency and hockey is one of the few things that will get locals out of their houses in the winter. All that’s missing is a Tim Horton's.

2. JRECK Subs are love, JRECK Subs are life

Subway will never compare to the necessity that is JRECK Subs. There is no better way for a mom to bribe you to come home to visit from college than the incentive of free JRECKs. I am a proud Jreckkie for life.

3. Tourists… everywhere

There’s no such thing as an easy parking spot in summer unless you want to parallel park, something I haven’t done since my driver’s test. Tourists love pictures and feeding animals. There’s a reason why the seagulls on Casino Island are so huge… and greedy.

4. There is no such thing as getting lost

There’s one stoplight and only a few main roads. If you’ve gone to Canada, you went too far.

5. Jaywalking is reserved for the locals

I don’t think I ever properly used a crosswalk until my freshman year of college, and even then I almost got ran over. Jaywalking is the perfect way to cut corners past the slow-walking tourists and try to beat the lunch crowd to any food place in the Bay. It’s a right for the locals. On the other hand, any local will admit they have cursed out a tourist that decided at the most inconvenient moment to cross the road (and then stand in the middle of James Street taking selfies while you consider running them over).

6. You’ve been to Boldt Castle more times than you can count

Countless field trips during school made everyone pretty familiar with the Bay’s claim to fame. From taking Uncle Sam’s boat tours around the river to exploring the castle as more and more rooms are restored each year, Boldt Castle remains as one of the most beautiful places I’ve visited in my lifetime. Of course, a boat tour on the St. Lawrence wouldn’t be complete without the shrieks of gullible passengers saying, “I see the international line!” as the boat crosses into Canadian waters.

7. Pirate’s weekends. Enough said

It’s a perfect excuse for a whole town to dress up like historically-inaccurate pirates and get drunk. What’s not to like? Unless you are the unfortunate ones cleaning up the night’s wreckage the morning after.

8. No one’s sure what goes on at Deer Island

Owned by the Skull and Bones society of Yale, the secret society is just that: secretive. Ivy League ragers? Illuminati picnics? The world may never know.

9. It’s not summer until the drive-in movie theater is open

There's nothing like spending a summer night inside of a car with the air conditioning blasting, watching a movie on the big screen. Minus the whole being eaten alive by every mosquito in Jefferson County that managed to sneak into your car.

10. Not knowing exactly how many islands there really are in the Thousand Islands

1,864? 1,738? A lot? Hey, if Canada and the United States can’t agree on the official number, then a rough estimate is good enough.