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.

We're officially the suspicious city folk

Just a quick post with no photos as I'm on dial-up here.

I hope this doesn't become a pattern, but we got going later than we wanted to from Dave and Amy's house. We made our way out of Calgary far easier than we made our way in and safely arrived at Drumheller, where Scott got his stint in the Royal Tyrell Museum of Paleantology. Mary had a good time, and Drumheller was cool with lots of neat dinosaur statues throughout town. We weren't impressed with the visitor's centre, where it took far too long.

Then we started driving straight east. And driving, and driving. First I found it interesting, then boring, then we started to have fun spotting all the strange little anomolies dotted along the big fields of nothing.

We stopped for lunch in a little town just before the Saskatchewan border called Oyen. It was a bit creepy. We ate at the Oyen Family Restaurant and the food was great with awesome prices, but the waitress eyed us up suspiciously the whole time. You're not from here, I'm sure. She didn't speak a word to us unless spoken to and didn't even offer us menus until we asked.

Driving driving and driving some more, Scott was clocking an average of 130. We stopped for gas but I didn't keep track of how much. It was $1.14 in Kindersley, Saskatchewan.

Now here we are at Lorraine and Esther's house in Grandora, outside Saskatoon. Lorraine is my step-dad's sister and Esther is her partner. Visiting them is Esther's 4-year-old granddaughter, Elliot, a cute little thing who certainly loves our dogs whether they want her to or not. She calls Izzy Spot because she looks like the dog in her books (the old school Dick and Jane books).

Lorraine is a massage therapist and Scott has hit her up for a massage. Stinker. I'm jealous so I might, too.