Ruth and the sunset at the island of Dhiffushi, Maldives.
Where are Kevin and Ruth now? Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

Where are Kevin and Ruth going next? Kuwait City, Kuwait on March 31st.

Sunday, April 21, 2019

The water level is higher than I've ever seen it!

First thing on the agenda yesterday was to pick up our transportation. We're here for 16 days and there's always lots of visiting to be done so we needed a car. I started looking for a car rental as soon as we booked the flight back at the end of January.

Car rental prices change regularly, so you have to check regularly. Also, when you make a booking, you can cancel that booking without penalty. So you need to book the cheapest you can find, and then continue to look in case a better deal comes along.

I also use the Autoslash price drop alert service, and in this case it ended up saving me about $35 on the whole deal.

I booked with Thrifty Car Rental here in Ottawa for a total price of $477 CAD ($360 USD) for a 16 day rental. At $29 CAD ($22.50 USD) per day, it's not a fantastic price, but sometimes the deals simply don't come along and you have to do what you have to do!

We ended up with a nice 2018 Nissan Sentra. Black, with all the bells and whistles. A nice car to drive for a couple of weeks!

From there, we picked up some groceries and beer and wine for dinner, and then up to Ruth's father's house in Galetta.

The house is located right across from the (Canadian) Mississippi River.

This area had a very typical winter this year with lots of snow. That snow has pretty much all melted now, and combined with lots of rain the last few days has caused some prime flooding conditions. In fact, the water level is higher than I've ever seen it, and I've been coming up here since 1983!

The Mississippi River at Galetta, Ontario.

Lots of water going over the dam.

The perils of owning waterfront property.

This old cabin is getting a little wet.


There's normally a cow pasture here!

Road closed.


Fast moving water.

We had a nice dinner yesterday with some of the family. We went and picked up Ruth's dad from the senior's home. Our daughter Lindsey came with her family, and our son Alex with his girlfriend and we got to meet her parents as well.

After dinner we had a rousing game of LCR...

Son in law Justin with grandson Cameron.

Ha... everybody was pretty enthusiastic with the dice rolls!

Granddaughter Sadie, Alex's girlfriend CJ, son in law Justin, and grandson Cameron.

Sadie, CJ, Alex, Kevin, Ruth, Tony, Lindsey, Justin, Cameron, and Chester the 135 lb Rottweiler.

Ruth and her dad Tony with Sadie and Cameron.

Lots of fun. Ruth and Lindsey put together a big roast leg of lamb and everybody helped with all the fixings. Delicious!

Today, we're off to have dinner at my sister's place with my mom and my other sister.

Temperature is warming up a bit, supposed to go to 16C (61F), but no sunshine yet.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The popular Coleman Quad Cooler Camp Chair is on deal of the day today only. This is a great quality chair for twenty bucks! Blue and Red colors available at this price.

And in Canada...





20 comments:

  1. Love the family photos...always nice to see the at home side of RVers! Happy Easter.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Kathy! We are loving our time back with the family. :-)

      Delete
  2. Wishing your entire Family a Safe and Happy Easter.

    It's about time.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you! We hope that you both had a wonderful Easter with your families as well.

      Delete
  3. Lots of rain and the high-water levels really take there toll. So nice to get together with the family and love the family photos too. Now enjoy a nice dinner with Kevin's family to round things off. Happy Easter.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you George! Yes, it is definitely nice to be back and spending time with our families.

      Some areas nearby are getting hit hard with the flooding, it definitely hasn't been and easy spring with lots of snow melt and lots of rain.

      Delete
  4. Not a bad rate on a rental - in my opinion Thrifty is the best car rental company in Canada. National is good but is always higher and National owns Thrifty - I have gotten a couple of $15 a day deals with Thrifty (I always check thru Expedia). I book a lot of car rentals for hubby - Budget is the worst. They usually don't have great prices and we've gotten some really crappy (as in smokey burns on the seat/dirty cars) car rentals through them. Alamo is pretty good too although I haven't gotten any rock bottom deals with them. Looks like a fun family time - so glad you get to come back and share these memories with your kids and still travel the world. Happy Easter!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I don't think we have ever had a bad car rental, as in the state of the car but yes, it seems that our best price is normally with Thrifty at least in Ottawa anyhow. We have a car rental in Calgary with Hertz, so we will see how that one works out in a few weeks time. Kevin always has his eye out for the best price possible and unfortunately this was the best he could do, this time around.

      It has been wonderful to get back and spend time with the family, and yes we definitely had a fun time playing LCR. It certainly wasn't a quiet evening. :-)

      Delete
  5. Happy Easter to you and your family, looks like fun!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you! Yep, it was a lot of fun and just a little noisy. :-)

      Hope you had a Happy Easter as well.

      Delete
  6. Great family photos! Check the deals for seniors on car rentals. I saved over 50% on a car rental in Moncton in Feb $170 vs $360. There was a tiny box I had to check off to get the deal.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Interesting, I've never heard of that. Which company was it, and what did your daily rate end up being with taxes included?

      Delete
  7. I sure enjoy your blog and tour travels, what is the dice game you are playing?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We are glad that you are enjoying our posts.

      The dice game is called LCR (Left, Center, Right), you can buy it at Walmart for about $6 or so. It is an easy game to play and it is the most fun when you play it with a big group of people. We play with money but you can use tokens/chips if you want.

      Delete
  8. Ruth, is that a picture of your Mom on the wall at your Dad's house ? It's a lovely picture.
    ~~Kelly

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes it is, thank you! I really love that picture of her. :-)

      Delete
    2. Ruth, take a picture of it with your phone, then you'll have it close by......Kelly

      Delete
    3. I already have a copy of this picture on my computer and have done for many years! :-)

      Delete

There are more comments on our facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/TravelwithKevinAndRuth

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.