Quick Trip

You might of noticed I was gone for a few days. Yearly visit to  Gabe's parents in Canada.

We go every September. It's still warm up there ( not this visit) and we celebrate his parents anniversary and his mother's birthday. They don't travel to the states anymore and it's the only time we get to see them.

Gabe did an upgrade on the GPS and found out once the upgrade was done our Canadian map was gone. Major issue. The hotel we stayed last year with Max was gone along with any route we took. There are limited places to stay with Max and we needed to not only get a Canadian map back in the Garmin but find a place to stay.

A new map installed, which you know was an additional cost Gabe went to the travel booking sites to find a place where we could stay. He will not spend a hundred dollars a night on a place and it also had to be somewhat close to  where his parents live. He did find a place at a good price and so that part of the trip was taken care of. More about the hotel later.

We always leave in the middle of the night to travel. It was 3:30 this time so we could get through the city without much of a problem. There's always traffic on the LIE and traffic is awful around the city so it was nice to get on the NY Turnpike and head north. I wondered what people thought when they saw a truck with a Florida plate heading north!

I picked up a few books before we left on places we could check out with Max. That was a waste of time. Gabe said he wasn't a milkman and we don't do little "stops". It's lets get on the road and get there. I did get to see Plattsburgh. We needed to walk Max and it was a good time to fill up the truck with gas. Gas is cheaper in the states so this was the last stop before crossing the border.

We walked around and I took a few photos and we were in the historical part of town. I managed to get a few photos and off we went. If you want to see photos I added them to shutterfly.


There wasn't a line to get in at the border and we  gave the guard our passports and Max's papers from the vet. The usual questions and then the last question was a surprise. The guard asked if we owned guns. We have never owned a gun of any kind in our life! The guard asked - no rifles, shotguns? We said no. When we were on our way we wondered why he asked us. Then Gabe thought it was because of Max. The guard saw a Lab and since they are know as hunters the guard assumed Gabe hunted. It might be a normal question that they ask now but it totally surprised us.

We couldn't check into the hotel before 3 and we got there around 2:30. When we pulled up the place on the outside was a dump. It was next to a major highway and with heavy road noise I knew I would't get any sleep. The only place to walk Max was the cemetery in the back of the hotel.

When he booked via one of the web sites he had to pay in full and we were stuck there, for better or worse. The worse came when he told me our room was on the second floor. We pulled to the side of the hotel and there were stairs but they were the open type. No back on the step and steps had holes . Gabe knew I wasn't a happy camper and said he would take Max up and see how he handled the steps. I went up with them- the stairs swayed- not a good sign. The walkway to the room was a ledge that looked like it was going to fall apart at any time. Heading back down the stairs swayed and Max freaked out at the top. Gabe got him to come down but that was it for all of us. We needed a room on the first floor or we were out of there and on our way back home.

 In the office Gabe asked for a new room on the first floor and was told the rooms on the first floor were newly redone and no dogs were allowed. Gabe was ready to cancel and noticed carpeted stairs inside the building and came back and said lets see what the room is like and bring Max in. Why the desk clerk didn't tell him that when he checked in is something we will never understand. Stupidity has no borders.

We didn't bring any bags just Max and after checking out the room we decided to stay the night and if we had any problems would be out the next day. To our surprise it was quiet, didn't hear any road noise. Gabe said  it was creepy walking Max in a graveyard in the night but he was ok with it, we stayed the extra nights.

Gabe's mother called before we left and told us there weren't any parking spots for visitors. The owners of the building are adding another complex for assisted living. This presented another hurdle for us. 

We drove to Longueuil in the morning and weren't sure what we were going to do. Before we took Max for a walk Gabe stopped at the complex and asked the lady at the desk if there was  a place we could park. She told Gabe that his father made arrangements to move his car to the construction site and we would take his spot in the apartment complex. No dogs are allowed in the building and since the truck was parked right outside their window we could keep an eye on Max.

Max didn't get any sleep while waiting for us, any little noise his head was out the window checking out what was happening.

We had a nice two day visit and ended with a wonderful dinner at their favorite place- St. Huberts.

I did pick up a cup of Tim Horton's coffee which I love and went to the grocery store to pick up some for home.  The grocery stores are fabulous. If I lived up there I would be there all the time. 

Another early start for the trip home. I was smart- I packed warm clothes it was 31 degrees when we left.

Weather like that glad we are headed to Florida soon!