We've been married for almost a year now - October 10, 2005 will be one year and this may very well be actually posted on that date. Regardless, we decided to go on an adventure for our anniversary - just get in the car and drive with no particular destination in mind except perchance Montréal. Thursday night, we pack for our trip so that we can leave directly from my office when I get off at 6:30PM. Well unfortunately, we forgot Matt's passport and my birth certificate so we meet at the house, gather those items and some cds and off we go. We make it to New Hampshire and the rain starts. OOPS!!!! We forgot just how bad our windshield wipers were and I can hardly see the road or the cars around me so we detour at Manchester and can't find anything open - no AutoZone, no auto store at all. Back on the road we go and stop again at Concord b/c the rain is getting heavier. Finally we find an AutoZone that apparently closed 17 minutes before we got there, so we head to Shaws and there is nothing there either. Drats spoiled again!!!!!!

However, Matt has an ability that I do not - he can ask people for directions - so he asked the lovely customer service ladies at Shaws in the area and they give us perfect directions. We find Target, purchase new wiper blades and lo and behold - we can see again. Matt is now in the driver's seat and we stop at Applebees for dinner. However, after eatting there - we know why we never go there - we ordered spinach and artichoke dip that was hideous tasting - we ate abou 1/4 of it and sent back the rest. Matt's burger smelled like burnt rubber and my chicken fingers were just dull. Back on the road we go - after almost 2 hours in Concord NH - definately considered a stop on our adventure.

Now we're getting tired and it's approaching midnight - so we stop in Lebanon - no hotels to be found. Fortunately the gentleman at Fireside Suites was nice enough to have a list of the hotels in the area with available rooms and we head to White River Junction, VT to get a room at the Hampton Inn. Decent enough room for $179/night. Unfortunately the coffee we bought in Lebanon after the first hotel rejected us, kicked in and we stayed up till almost 3AM watching Mr. and Mrs. Smith (a pretty good movie if I do say so myself - definate chemistry between Brad and Angelina and they play off of each other really well.)

Saturday morning we are back on the road after a very mediocre breakfast at the Hampton Inn - but it was free and for $179/night we were eatting it - of course we stopped at Shell and bought some candy and cookies and a digital camera b/c we forgot ours and picked up some real coffee at Dunkin Donuts - back on the road....

Finally we make it to the Canadian border - we're sitting in line and I take out my license and birth certificate and once more comment and wonder on the fact that my driver's license has my married name on it and my birth certificate has my maiden name on it but they never ask for my marriage license to prove the link. So in essence, any terrorist or alien who has the same first name as me and the same birth date can use my birth certificate with their driver's license to get into Canada. I'm still very confused as to how this makes sense. Then we approach the gate and get asked some very important questions - do we have any alcohol in the vehicle...do we have any tobacco products? They don't ask if we have any illegal narcotics or firearms - or bombs or hazardous materials - nope - just alcohol and tobacco.

Of course, the highlight of our border adventure was my husband lying to border patrol. The question was "when was your last visit to Canada?" his answer..."Never been" - um....Matthew - we were just in Nova Scotia in July - and WE JUST HAD THIS CONVERSATION 20 MINUTES AGO and last night and last week. OH well....

So after traveling over some pretty bad roads for a piece, we make it to Montreal - we drive around looking for a hotel for about 20 minutes or so and finally we find a Sheraton that we decide to try. Luckily they had rooms available and with our triple AAA discount - the room was $149 Canadian - much cheaper in American dollars I'm sure. Well we are off to see the wonderful city of Montreal (including the casino if I can convince Matthew).