The Grand V-mount Hotel. Part II

We took the key and went upstairs. The smell was pretty heavy, even in the stairwell. We got to our room, which was right next to the stairs and the only one on that side of the building.

Even though the reservation was stating that it was a non-smoking room, smokers were visiting the place before more than once. A 20 year old TV was standing on the shelf under the ceiling in the corner of the room. The carpet looked pretty old, so we remained in street shoes. Beds looked smaller than the requested queen size, and they were as aged as a bottle of good whiskey. 

I decided to inspect the bathroom, to which Natty reacted with the question: "Is it safe, or would it be better to use a washroom in the restaurant?"

The place was very suspicious. We had to decide what is safer - to leave the luggage in the car and get it stolen by morning or to bring it upstairs and get a company of bedbugs or other parasites with our clothes.

It was getting very late. Making dinner inside the hotel room was out of the question. We decided to start with food and decide on sleep later.
The owners left a town guide on the night table. We found a few options. After seeing a 4.2 out of 5 rating hotel, we were not sure what to expect from restaurants. 

We got outside, jumped into Claustrophobic Blueberry and headed south to find food. The rain almost stopped. The street had very few street lights, so we had to navigate in the dark. After a 3-minute drive the town finished, we had to go back. Whatever was shown on the GPS navigator as a restaurant, probably, went out of business, cause it looked abandoned. We decided to move toward the town centre, starting from crossing the railway track. Meanwhile, two trains passed by, giving us company in this ghost-like town.
We stopped at the Caribou Grill, debating if we should go inside or try some other place. Eventually, we got in. The place looked great! A big wooden house with high ceilings, decorated in the wild west style with some notes of indigenous decor. There were very few people in the  restaurant. A noisy group from Quebec was sitting in the opposite corner; an older couple was celebrating some family holiday right next to us; a few lonely visitors were siting at the bar with their beer.

Here I discovered a very interesting behavior glitch in my friend. Our hotel didn't offer WiFi (expected) and during the day I was the only person who had periodic access to the Internet from the cellphone. Natty and Lis were hungrier for Internet than for food. We took a quick glance at the menu, made our selections, shortly discussed that all of us aren't too hungry and a light meal would make us happy. Shortly after that all three got connected to the local network and dove into the news that we missed during the day. Our waiter Andrew came by to take our order. At this moment guest account kicked our devices from the internet. By the way, while Lis chose some sort of pasta, Natty and I decided to try grilled tenderloin medallions, which were available in 2 sizes - 4 oz. and 6 oz.
The conversation was hilarious!   

Andrew: Ladies, are you ready to order?
Lis: Yes, I will go for chicken pasta

me: I'll take 4 oz. tenderloin medallions
Natty: Do you know why your internet isn't working?
Andrew: It should be working fine. Have you connected to our guest account?

Natty: Yes! It is not working! I got connected earlier, but it kicked me out! By the way, I want 6 oz. tenderloin medallions with mushroom sauce.

me: Erm... Did you want to take a lighter meal?
Natty: I know what I want! So how can I connect to the internet?
Poor Andrew ran to the kitchen and got back with the employee's password for secured network.
Soon we got our food. Medallions were pretty big. I had two of them and last bites were difficult to finish. Natty got 3 medallions. She was, shockingly, not content with her "light meal". Lis and I finished our respective meals and were waiting for Natty. We could not take leftovers to go, because we were going back to the V-mount hotel. Also, tomorrow's schedule didn't include any place with a microwave oven to revive a cold medallion. Ukrainians do not waste food! She had to finish it there and then!
Andrew offered us a dessert menu. On one hand, we were full, but on the another we would gladly accept any reason to stay there longer instead of going back to the hotel. While Lis was drawing and Natty was wrestling with the last medallion, I was trying to make a very important decision - to order or to skip.  

Here I discovered another fascinating habit of my friend. I made the mistake of asking Natty if she is willing to share a cheesecake with me. 

She turned her face to me, started to chew the medallion extremely slowly, with her look saying all at once: I won't eat anything at all for next three days; are f*cking kidding about dessert? I will first kill this medallion and then kill you; and many other words that were not said out loud, but meant to be pronounced.

So Andrew came to check on us again:

- Would you like any sweets?

- We do, but we are so full that we couldn't even think of eating more.
- No worries. Are you done with your meal?
- Yeah, however this restaurant is so nice, that we do not want to go to hotel... (Natty choked on the last piece of meat when I mentioned our luxury stay)
- You may stay here as long as you wish. So where are you staying overnight?
We started blushing
- The V-mount hotel.
- Oh, that one... I haven't been there yet even though I leave in this town all my life
- Yeah, better not to go. You know, at the entrance it says:" For room rental please see bar attendant"!
- What a good idea! So people may drink and stay there overnight instead of driving drunk!
Erm... Sure! That was the reason. As soon as he left, Natty mumbled:
- Good boys from Catholic school never cross the railway track!
So, our dinner was over. We had to go back to the hotel. Our dreams of a glass of whiskey dissolved in the humid air of British Columbia.

P.S. All day long we were ignoring direction of our navigator. Poor lady was constantly complaining:"When possible, make a U-turn".
Evening, we got WiFi, food and red wine at Caribou Grill. Outside, trains were going south one after another. Finally, one train passed in opposite direction. Our reaction: "Look! It finally found the place to make a U-turn!" That was a tough day for sure.