Well, dearest fellow travelers, we decided to ignore your advice completely. Rather than go to DC or Cape Cod or Kentucky or any of the delightful places you suggested, my sisters and I decided to make this road trip an international adventure. We really do appreciate the thoughtfulness of your suggestions, and I certainly hope to be able to check them out in the not too distant future, but we decided to go a different route (pun!).

We thought, Emily lives in New York so let’s have Lisa and Heather fly there and save one person flight expenses, and she can contribute what those would’ve been to the rental car. Ta da! Money saving.

And the destination is… Montréal!

Here’s what we’re looking at:

ITINERARY

Day 0
Lisa and Heather fly in to New York, NY, crash with Em and Lizzie

Day 1
New York, NY to Lake George, NY — 4 hours
leave in the morning, get in for lunch, spend the afternoon and evening doing light hiking, taking pictures, making a good dinner

Day 2
Lake George, NY to Montréal, QC — 3 hours
take a leisurely morning, drive a bit around looking at trees some more and singing musicals, arrive in Montreal in time for dinner/setting up wherever we’re sleeping

Day 3
Biodome! Frenchy things! Poutine! Casino! Queer times!

Day 4
Variations on above

Day 5
Montreal, QC to New York, NY — 6.5 hours
L&H fly home on evening flights

DETAILS OF WHAT TO DO, WHERE TO GO

Adirondacks / Lake George
Auto Touring
Scenic Byways Map
Example of Accommodations with efficiency kitchen (good for making dinner and save money!)

Montréal
The Village
Casino de Montréal (keno, slots, table games, etc.)
Other Things to Do
Biodome (indoor zoo that reconstructs specific ecosystems, includes penguins, supposed to be really cool)
Le Drugstore (mostly lesbian club, 3-6 floors of bars/dancing/etc.)

COSTS

Car Rental
$280 ($40/day + taxes/fees) + insurance + extra driver fees, about $330 total, except that Emily has agreed to pay the average of the flight costs for me and Heather, since she’d be buying a plane ticket if we went anywhere else. Em will pay about $200 for the car rental price, which leaves the remainder at $50 each.

Gas
approximately 700 miles total, average rental car is 30 mpg, 12 gallon tank, 350 miles per tank, need 3 full tanks (have to return it full), $50 per tank, $150 total gas, $50 each.

Food & Drink
I’m hoping we can do light breakfasts, sandwiches for lunch, then maybe go out for dinner kind of thing, to cut down on costs. So a mix of grocery stores and restaurants. Probably $150 each.

Lodging
Day 2 accommodations will probably be a place like this motel for $60/night ($20 each).

We decided that three nights in Montréal is enough time to really get comfortable, and sleep well, and feel good about where we’re staying. We’re looking at Vacation Rentals and Air BnB for more home-like places to stay in Montréal. Those look more like $70/night for 3 nights, or $70 each. Probably $100 each total.

Entertainment
Biodome=$17
Gambling=$30? 40?
Museums=$20

Probably safe to budget $100 each for this, since miscellaneous costs will come up.

TOTAL
$450 per person for the week, + L&H round-trip tickets

So whaddya think? Have you been to any of this places? Any recommendations on what to do/what not to do, etc.?