Canada -or- What Were We Thinking?

On our first day of our “car cruise”, we drove from Dayton, OH to Buffalo, NY. That was so we could spend the second day in Niagara Falls. We took a tour there, just so we could see everything in one day without the hassle of driving or parking. It cost a bit, but was well worth the money.

Our third day was between Buffalo, NY and Albany, NY, with a stop at Cooperstown. I’ve always wanted to visit the Baseball Hall of Fame. Now I can say I’ve been there. Quaint little town, too.

Today’s leg of our vacation was between Albany, NY and Montreal, QC. We traveled through the Adirondack Mountains by way of Lake Placid (just so we can say we’ve been there!). It rained a little during our scenic drive, but not steady, so we were able to put the top down on the car through most of that side trip.

So, a trip that should have only taken a few hours, became several because of our side trip. But we didn’t care. We weren’t sure what to find in Montreal. We only picked it because we’d never been. After being in Niagara Falls and going over to the Canada side, we were kind of prepared when it came to traveling to Montreal.

What we weren’t prepared for, besides the pouring down rain, was the fact our Garmin did not work in Canada. We couldn’t plug in the address to our hotel.

Thank GOD we had maps. I’ll never wonder if I’ve gone overboard again. Still, driving into the city, with the rain pouring down, not sure WHERE we were supposed to go and then finding everything written in FRENCH, it’s no wonder we got lost – and boy did we ever.

Did I mention it was pouring down rain? And that I was the lucky one driving at the time?

We managed to find a tourist information place (how my husband managed to KNOW the blue “?” signs were for information is a miracle unto itself) and they helped us get on our way. Then the trick was to find our hotel. It’s not like it was tiny, and it’s right near the airport (but then I did get lost trying to find the stupid airport, now didn’t I?). But the first two times I followed the sign pointing to our hotel, I got on the wrong road. Turns out you can’t get to the road the way you THINK. On the third try we ended up going through the parking lot of the hotel across the street!

We did not site-see in Montreal. Once we got to the hotel, that was it for me. Besides, it’s still raining. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were under a flash flood advisory (Dayton would be with this amount of rain).

Needless to say, I’m worried about getting out of the country. We can program our next stop (Bangor, ME) on the Garmin, but we’re not sure if it will list the roads we have to drive on in Canada. At least we have our maps. I’ll never go on another trip without them!

Oh, and I didn't get my 500 words written, but I was close.  Better than I thought I'd do after the day we had.