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.

Aging biker has no thunder in Thunder Bay

We slept well. Mary only woke up once, and I brought her into bed with us. This morning I took the dogs out and Izzy decided she couldn't wait for grass. Instead, she took her big poo right in the middle of the taxi lane smack in front of the hotel's main doors. Thanks, Izzy. Two old bikers and a taxi driver all saw her do it. I couldn't clean it up right away because I had no bags. Romeo hadn't done anything at all yet, so I waited for him to pee, and ran inside to get bags. Had to carry Izzy so she wouldn't decide that the lobby would be an even better place to pee. They finished their business outside and I picked up all their little presents. Then this biker came up to me.

"I was gonna yell at you when I saw you leave that. Thanks for coming back to pick it up."

I'm waiting for someone to say something before I can pick it up. Like, what am I supposed to do? Pick it up with my bare hands?

We escaped the Kenora vortex

So much for the plan to leave on time in the morning. We left Winnipeg around 11:30 after sleeping in at the hotel, visiting Louis Riel's house (very nice and knowledgeable interpreter in costume) and driving by his grave.


Driving through Manitoba was fine, but as soon as we entered Ontario it was like we were cursed. It was not a good first introduction to the province. The roads were terrible and we must have hit at least six different construction sites. We decided to go into Kenora, the first biggest town, for lunch and ended up getting sucked in for over an hour. It was a vortex. We only drove 2.5 hours from Winnipeg and got out of Kenora at 3pm. Then it took till 4pm just get past the next exit to Kenora due to all the godforsaken road construction. And the speed limit in Ontario is 90km/h, and they're sure to remind you by posting a bit sign detailing the ticket prices as you enter the province.

We pressed on after stopping for lunch/diaper/boob/pee on a pull-out on Dogtooth Lake, very appropriate. Ate some leftovers from the night before.

It was a long, tough haul and there were no shacks to look at. There were few towns but lots of cottages and foreign license plates to see. We got into Thunder Bay at 8:30 and are paying $90 plus the $10 dog fee plus tax for a room at the Victoria Inn. It has a pool, though, and high speed internet. I think Scott went and "accidentally" billed the room $7 for the privilege of playing some video games. He was playing around with the service, which he never used, and thinks it might have happened. Grr.

Tomorrow it's a stop at 344 Richard St. to see if my dad's childhood home is still standing, the onward to Sault Ste. Marie. We may try camping tomorrow night, weather depending. The KOA campground offers tent sites with wifi access. Weird, but okay!