Only in Canada

Montreal was amazing. I'm so glad I went. We didn't end up doing everything we said we would, but who ever does? Unfortunately I had to drive, but I expected to. We took the Cavalier and the Bronco, and made it up the 220miles without hitting any snags. Turns out I go to school closer to Canada than I do to NYC. After checking into our cheap ($20/night!) hotel, we checked out the bar scene on Cresent Street. It was pretty touristy, but we ended up finding some fun places. We progressed from an Irish pub to a classy bar to a dance club to a McDonalds. The next morning we checked out The Underground which was really convenient since it was pouring. We didn't do much shopping but the place was huge and really cool to walk around and get lost in. After that, we took the Metro over to a casino. Alex taught us craps last week so we were all prepared to play. I put in $40, was up $75, and then ended down $24 by the time we left, but given the fact that it was my first time gambling and we got a good three hours of entertainment plus free drinks, I think I did pretty well. Sometime when I have more money (or am 21) I'd like to do it again. After that we got dinner at an Italian place where they spoke only French, but had great pasta and were very tolerant of us being annoying Americans. We then recovered from our losses at the hotel and headed out again for the night. Saturday night was slower and we only ended up going to one bar, but we walked around the streets a lot and had a really good time. We had to check out by noon Sunday, which also meant get our cars out of the garage so we just headed back early, which in retrospect was the best call we could have made. After making a wrong turn and ending up a few miles behind Nick's Bronco, we see almost the worst thing you want to see when on a road trip in another country: Nick jogging down the side of the highway. The bronco had lost a bearing and he was looking for it, which was hopeful but stupid. A highway patrol guy saw him break down and called us a tow truck, who brought us to the closest car garage that might help us. Because it's a Sunday, the place was closed and we started to panic. We had to consider having to leave the Bronco in Quebec and try to find another way to get everybody home because there was no way seven people were fitting in my car across the border. After making a bunch of phone calls and having a backup plan of getting picked up by a friend, we find out that the guy who owns the garage just happens to be there and also just happens to collect used Ford parts. Talk about getting your asses saved. One bearing and $160 later, we got back on the road, across the border, and home safely. We got back about 5 hours later than we planned to, but wow did we get lucky. Word to the wise: don't take Broncos on long car trips.
Aside from that though, I had a great time. Here are a few pictures. There aren't many of me, since I was taking them all.


L-R Lauren, Nick R, Z, Alex at Peel Pub

Nick T and Nancy at Peel Pub

Nancy, Alex, and I at another place

Nick T, Nancy, Lauren and Nick R

Nick and I