Lexi's Adventure

If you've ever walked through the doors of the Travel Quest office you will, without a doubt, have met the friendly mascot, Lexi!  Yes, Lexi is a dog! She's a loveable 7 year old cast away whom we adopted about 5 years ago and she is now in the habit of accompanying me to work every day. 

We had been talking about just doing a quick getaway for a change of scenery and while we debated the pros and cons of flying to a destination, based on the amount of time we had, we decided we'd head to the Fargo, ND for a couple of nights.  Exotic?  Well, not exactly but really all we wanted was change so it seemed like a good choice.  Another pro was that I found a hotel in Fargo...and they accepted pets! 

Having never taken a pet across the border, I did my due diligence and researched exactly what paperwork etc would be required to take her.  Fortunately there wasn't much required other than her most current record of inoculations to prove all was up to date and that the rabies vaccine has been administered.  Wouldn't you know it - US customs didn't even ask to see any paperwork on the dog at all when we crossed over. 

We stayed at the Country Inn and Suites on 13th in Fargo and I have to give a shout out to the hotel staff!  Everyone was fantastic, helpful, friendly, professional and thrilled to see Lexi upon arrival!  The rooms were spacious, very clean and aside from restricting us to the main floor because we had a dog, there wasn't really anything more we could have asked for at that price!  The rooms had a mini fridge, in-room coffee as well as microwave and not only did they include a hot and cold complimentary breakfast that offered everything from cereal to waffles, fruit and bagels to eggs and sausage but they also had 24 hour coffee, tea and cookies in the lobby.  Best of all was happy hour in the breakfast room turned lounge!  Every night featured a different drink special and complimentary snacks from 5 - 7pm.  Was it 5 star dining?  No, but  the breakfast and snacks were tasty enough and was all included in the cost of the hotel room.

The pool on the Sunday morning was well used by plenty of kids swimming before the mall and box stores opened at noon but the rest of the time there was maybe 2 or 4 kids or maybe even none at all.  The hot tub was more like a hot bathwater but even that was ok by us...after all, they accepted pets!  Apparently the hotel also offered a complimentary shuttle to the West Acres Mall as well but we did not utilize that service. 

So, while taking your pet on vacation isn't always an option, nor is it always sensible, our first experience with pets and hotels was very favourable and for short getaways I would consider doing this again.  Wouldn't you know as we crossed back into our country, even Canadian customs did not ask for any paperwork for Lexi!  Murphy's Law I suppose: had we not brought the papers, they would have wanted to see everything and turned us away without a doubt! 

If/when our plans take us to Fargo again, we'll be sure to stay at the Country Inn and Suites because they made a great impression on us with their service levels...and they accept pets!