27 JUNE 2003 FRIDAY
i probably should have done a bit of work today, but, oh well. we spent the morning finishing up packing and setting up the apartment for our extended absense. we bid farewell to the piglet (sad little one!) in the afternoon and headed off to hamilton, ontario. we will stay there overnight and fly out to calgary tomorrow.
the border crossing in niagara falls was pretty trivial. the woman merely asked our citizenship, how long we were staying, and if we had any tobacco or alcohol. she didn’t even ask for any identification. perhaps canada wants to encourage tourism in the area because of the SARS outbreak. i almost miss the days when i got hassled all the time at the border and various checkpoints; i guess i don’t look as dangerous compared to when i was a surly youth.
before reaching our motel, we ate dinner at kelsey’s restaurant … “your neighborhood bar and grill”… perhaps they co-opted the slogan from applebee’s. kelsey’s is much better than applebee’s, however, and they have far more vegetarian options. i had their veggie burger, and it was very very good. amanda had a sauteed mushroom salad. all the food would have been reasonably priced if it were in us dollars, so it ended up being quite inexpensive.
we stayed at a super 8 right beside the hamilton airport. it was a bit of a challenge finding it as we did not have detailed enough maps or directions. the directions i pulled off the airport’s website did not match any of the road signs. regardless, we eventually found the motel. cassandra checked us in, and she was very chipper considering how late it was when we got in. curiously enough, they take discover card, which is unusual outside the us, but i did not realize that until later after i had paid with my mastercard. have to build up my double cash back bonus! we had a very large suite, which was totally not necessary, but i guess all the rooms were suites for some reason. amanda and i watched a few law and order shows on tv before going to bed.