Road Trip

Our trip to Montreal started with a lot of fun. My philosophy paper presentation went very well, I got to meet some interesting graduate students from Canada and the U.S., and we found a great Irish Pub to have dinner. It was great to just get out of our usual routine and be someplace else. We were, however, rather unimpressed with the roads and sidewalks. Perhaps, the people of Quebec just get sick of all the snow they get each year that they just give up on shoveling, as there was slick spots and icy sidewalks everywhere.

We did get to do a little sightseeing while we were there. The Biodome and Olympic Park area were covered in snow, so they weren't too enjoyable to see from the outside (although the buildings are pretty remarkable architecturally), we enjoyed the nature and animals housed inside as we stepped into a tropical rainforest.

Then came the snow - a whole foot of snow. Our Saturday flight was cancelled, so we had to stay in the hotel another night. On Sunday, we took a taxi to the airport and stood in line for three hours only to find that our second flight was canceled, and the only flight they could offer us wouldn't go out until Tuesday. We decided to look for other options. After speaking with virtually every car rental place at the airport, we managed to find one vehicle through AVIS that they would allow us to rent (apparently, a car must have U.S. plates to go back to the States). We had found our ticket home.... But the adventure had just begun.

We didn't have a map, and the directions we received on Amber's Blackberry were extremely confusing. So, we had to start out with a small map of Quebec provided by the nice guy at the AVIS counter and his directions. Needless to say, he didn't know his way around the States and ended up adding another hour to our trip; however, it was quite possible the shortest route to the States for which I was thankful. The road conditions in Canada were horrendous. On several occasions, we encountered extremely icy areas on the highway, one which nearly landed me in a ditch as I sailed across two lanes diagonally until I regained control. Thankfully, we were given an SUV (and I have a wife who was persistent in calmly telling me to slow down!).

In all honesty, we seriously drove across the entire state of New York. From the Canada line, we went down I-87 for a couple miles and stopped at a McDonalds so I could detox from the tense drive. We headed West on US-11, going through dozens of small country towns with great views of hills and fields. At Waterton, we got on I-81 South, where we encountered blizzard-like conditions for a couple dozen miles or so. Then came Syracuse, where we hopped on I-90. Past Rochester and Buffalo, we entered Pennsylvania north of Erie where we finally made our way down on I-79 down to Pittsburgh. After two stops for gas (and coffee), and over 600 miles later, we finished our twelve hour trip around 3:15AM this Morning to the song, "Just another manic Monday"... so true...