No room at the inn

What a loooooong day. We got lost forever in Montreal trying to meet my friend Susan, met her briefly for lunch (she got the bill - thanks Susan!), then got lost on the way out of town. We zipped through the rest of Quebec and decided to push through all the way to Moncton. It didn't work, and we ended up in the dark in New Brunswick with a hysterical child and no room at the inn. This is a mostly rural area. Why is it so popular?

We're at the Best Western in Woodstock paying $120 for a $180 room, and the night manager had us sneak in the dogs ($25/dog otherwise, and they aren't even supposed to be on this floor). What happened to camping? I don't know. It was really fun watching Scott flirt with the manager from my vantage point outside in the van. If I didn't know him, I'd think he was a woman. He kept kicking up his leg like a girl getting kissed for the first time and making sweeping arm movements. It was cute. But we got the cheapest rate we could get, so I guess it all worked!

A brief accommodation review

Nelson
North Shore Inn
An older hotel that could use some updating, but the beds were amazingly comfortable, they had high speed internet, a complimentary computer, and a continental breakfast. About $80 for two queen beds for two adults, a baby, and two dogs.

Calgary
Dave & Amy's House
New home in a Calgary suburb. We had a futon mattress on their living room floor, but it was free and we got breakfast and good company.

Saskatoon
Lorraine & Esther's House
Great older house in a quiet area outside the city. 15 acres of property, home-cooked meals, and an in-house massage therapist. Free.

Winnipeg
Quality Inn (Pembina)
Very nice updated hotel and a nicely furnished room. Nice big TV and free wifi. Unfortunately, boys hockey teams were booked into the same hotel that night and were rather noisy. Scott also had no hot water for his shower in the morning, and their elevator door didn't open when something was in the doorway (ie. man, stroller, etc.). I was told the manager would be in touch, but I had to call several times the Monday after we stayed before I got her. She discounted 10% off the price because, she said, we already had quite a low rate. We paid $83 plus tax for two queen beds. I don't recall if there was a dog fee.

Thunder Bay
Victoria Inn
Nice hotel with pool, waterslide, and free internet (LAN). The staff was friendly and we had no problems, and they even sent a fax for us at no charge. I think we paid $90 for two queen beds.

Sault Ste Marie
Super 8
New, clean hotel with free internet. They waived the dog fee. It was $83 plus tax, government rate. We had some girls soccer teams who made some noise at night, but that was quickly resolved with a complaint to the manager.

Ottawa
Comfort Inn
Very nice night staff who waived the dog fee. Free wifi, but our TV didn't work and we lost wifi around 11. The next morning, the office ladies fawned all over Mary and the manager gave her a rubber duck. They discounted are stay by 50% for the lack of TV and internet, so we only paid $50.

Montreal (Laval)
Best Western
Two queen beds, TV that works, and wifi. Dogs stay free. It's further away than we'd like to be from downtown, but downtown was more expensive. Free breakfast that was hot and served at the table (we ordered eggs, bacon, and roast potatoes), and Mary got some fruit and yogurt!$100.

Bonjour

I couldn't have picked a better doggie daycare at random from the phone book. It was actually just a pet supply store and groomer, and the owner took in doggie daycare dogs. Romeo and Izzy were his only daycare clients that day. We were worried, because Romeo can be an absolute jerk to other dogs. However, he's breedist - the only dogs he's accepted right away without incident have been cocker spaniels. His favorite are blondes. The owner, a pleasant Russian man and former veterinarian, breeds cocker spaniels and had his nice blonde male in today along with his assistant's (wife's?) two cockers, a blonde and a red. The kids seem to have had a great four hours there and were fed good organic food and Russian sausage all day.

We, on the other hand, got lost in downtown Ottawa and ended up going 7 storeys down in a parking garage with no elevator. The attendent made us pay anyway when we left. We finally found parking right across the street from where we were going, Scott's Museum of Civilization. It was nice, but not as cool as he remembered. A good half of it was dedicated to Aboriginal culture and artifacts, with a huge collections of West Coast native stuff, like totems. We were like... been there, done that. UBC's Museum of Anthropology and Victoria's Royal BC Museum cover it extensively, and we also couldn't help but think it was just stolen culture. We did see the ancient canoe that was recently discovered in the rafters of some Scottish museum and returned to Canada for restoration. Mary liked the Children's Museum (I'm sure she'll remember it for the rest of her life). Otherwise we were glad tickets were only $10 each.

After we collected the dogs we headed east to Quebec. We stopped at the tourist bureau just across the border and a very helpful woman named Andreanne helped us book the cheapest hotel we could find that took dogs without charging a huge dog fee. We're in the Best Western in Laval. After we took our stuff in, we ventured into downtown Montreal to find a restaurant. Instead we got lost and frustrated and came back to the hotel after an hour and a half. I discovered my purse was missing and Scott went to search for it (I found it under the bed, grr!) and came back with Subway. So we're in one of the most beautiful cities in the world that's reputed for its excellent restaurants, and we're eating Subway subs for dinner.

Part of what got us lost is Scott forgetting the French directional words. "I don't know what Quest is." "It's not Quest, it's Ouest! West! Go West!"