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Well Montreal was an adventure to say the least! We made decent time getting in on Saturday afternoon. Saturday night several of us decided to go
out for dinner. While dinner was happening... the weather took a wild turn for the worse hitting Montreal with insane record winds, snow drifts, partial
freezing rain & snow. We didn't let that affect our great dinner, laughs & good time though. We all made comments now and then as we looked out the
window next to our table about how bad the weather looked.
Our time at the restaurant came to an end and we decide to brave the great outdoors and go back to the hotel.... and just getting to our cars from the
restaurant that was 20 feet away was an adventure LOL.
The roads were treacherous you could feel the wind blowing the cars on the streets and the ice flicking against the windows - which didnt help since the
roads were covered in ice & snow. You couldnt see 10 ft infront of you. We turn onto the street that the hotel is on and it was a scene from a movie.
Cars & trucks and a couple of busses askew, some jammed into snow banks, some hung up on snow piles - IT WAS A MESS.
Now, in situations like this... my experience has been that many passer bys are "every man for themselves" - but not this crew of people I had the
privilege of having dinner with. The guys (Grant, my Jeff, Steve, Mike, Matt, Drew, Kyle) jumped out of our 3 car convoy without even thinking and
began pushing busses, cars, trucks for perfect strangers (Susan [Matts wife] and I supervised of course lol because Susan only wore a light jacket and
I have a respiratory disease that doesnt tolerate weather like that very well).
After helping everyone - we weren't able to get our own vehicles back into our hotel and we were forced to abandon them at another hotel wayyyyy
down the street and walk back to the Holiday Inn Pointe Claire. I was ready to just lay down and die after that walk so I cant imagine how those men felt
after pushing all those vehicles and then making that trek back to our hotel.
I wanted to thank Grant, my Jeff, Steve, Mike, Matt, Drew & Kyle for showing me that chivalry is not dead. I am very proud of you all! Thank you for the
great dinner and your company.... it was an honor. Kudos, Gentlemen!
The next day the weather was better, but still many of the roads hadn't been plowed yet! Unfortunately, due to the terrible weather we had several
cancellations from vendors and not as many people that was anticipated to come were able to show for the same reason. But the show must go on!
We had a great show considering and there were many many happy vistors grabbing up all the wonderful deals to be had. Thank you to Grant and his
team..., the vendors that were able to make it and the visitors that came out to see the 2nd Montreal Expo. It was still a success despite the
rollarcoaster of events that mother nature threw our way - and it's clear that Montreal is going to be an exciting venue for future expos!