Hi Candace ! Hope you enjoy the board.
Sure, if you're going to Minnesota you might trade CD$1 at par even at stores. These days, the Canadian "smaller dollars" are worth about 87c US. Anyone giving you a US $1 for a CD $1 is throwing their money away.
The strengthening US Dollar has recently brought as much as $1.30 Canadian, and the trend is positive for the US. If you have a lot of Canadian $$$, might want to hold 'em. Or not.
Here is the hard data :
http://www.x-rates.com/d/CAD/USD/graph120.html 
