That's how I visited the state of New York for the first time.
I went up to visit a high school friend who married a Canadian. She had "landed immigrant status" in Canada at the time. Since I had never been to Niagara Falls (or New York) we decided to drive to the falls, cross the border, and come back (as a day trip). This was in the 1980's. We crossed the border, stayed in New York long enough for me to get out of the car and for her to take a picture of me under a "Welcome to New York" sign, then went back across the border. I remember confusing the hell out of the border agents on both sides when answering their typical questions of who are you, what is your business in Canada/USA, how long will you be staying/did you stay, etc. Try explaining that you are from the USA, you are going over to New York for 15 minutes, just so that you can say you've been in New York.