June 11 in Ottawa

Yikes.  Today was quite the day.  It all started off so benignly when we woke up at the Comfort Inn in Edmunston after a reasonably good sleep.  I have to say that that area of New Brunswick is really beautiful with the tail end of the Appalachians and the river.  I suspect there is some really good hiking around there.  This pastoral beauty extended into Quebec but then things slowly and inexorably went horribly wrong.  I was fine driving on the highway even though the signage in Quebec is terrible; often the information you need is given to you right at the last minute.  As a consequence, I ended up having to circle around and get back going in the right direction.  I purchased a GPS before I left and it helped me negotiate Quebec City just fine.  However, I kept making wrong turns and the voice announced several times that it had to recalculate the route.  I swear I heard the GPS sigh at me after about the fourth time.  Anyway, I decided to take the northern route and avoid Montreal and pass through several towns all named Saint or Sainte something or other.  It was about this time when I realized that part of the problem was that I kept getting east and west mixed up in French.  Come on 'ouest' says east to me and 'est' should mean west.  My french mother would be so ashamed.  Once I solved this, I was on my way on route 158 ouest which seemed to go in circles.  I swear I passed Wilfrid Laurier's boyhood home more than once without ever getting off of the same road.  Oh, and my Garmin GPS wouldn't start up.  And my road atlas showed an easy and straight route which it was not.  Basically, I spent the whole day trying to get out of Quebec which, as the day went on, felt more like the Hotel California (you can check in any time you want but you can never leave).  I was never as happy to get to Ontario in my life and I'm not that fond of southern Ontario.

STill, Suggie and I had some nice moments.  We stopped for lunch in Levi and I had that famous Quebec cuisine Shish Taouk which was near a Sushi place that Alexis recommended but I don't eat cat food.  We also stopped at the fort at Levi but they had removed the guns so I was disappointed because, as a good Canadian child, I spent lots of time on school trips visiting forts and farms.  I also saw a plane on a pole and I've always like planes on poles.

I had expected to spend the night in Quebec but in my zeal to get the fuck out of there, I ended up in Ottawa not having made plans with friends to bunk.  Not wanting to be a pain in the ass, I decided to stay at the Delta in the downtown area.  What is really special is that there is a Conservative Party convention in town and this hotel is littered with chuffed right-wingers.  I love the thought of Sugar, the mutt from Yarmouth, rubbing shoulders with our governing elite.  We have a room on the top floor with a balcony (cheapest room).  Oh, and while I'm writing this in the bar having a beer, there is a couple of Conservatives sitting next to me talking about trying to raise their kids to abstain from sex until they get married.   Both admitted that they never did or could and the way their talking I wouldn't be surprised if they shagged tonight.  Oh, both hate Jason Kenney too (along with the rest of Canada).

 These were taken when Suggie was still interested in the scenery of western NB and eastern Quebec.

These were taken while I was driving on a straight road with no traffic around.  I would never put the dog in danger.  I've got more pics on my camera but left the cable in the truck.