Niagara on the Lake

Many years ago we were traveling through

Canada and discovered the beautiful little 

town of Niagara on the Lake.  I always tell 

people who are going to visit Niagara Falls

to see the wonder of the Falls and then get 

in your car and drive about 20 minutes north

to Paradise.

Today is our 24th Wedding Anniversary.  We

wanted to take a little vacation to celebrate and

ended up going the week before our anniversary

since the kids were still home from school and could

puppy sit.  When we were thinking about where to 

go, Mr. Wonderful suggested the Niagara area and

we decided to go for High Tea as a treat.

And the place to go for High Tea is at the

Prince of Wales Hotel in Niagara on the Lake.

It is a beautiful old hotel that was built in

1864.  Queen Elizabeth stayed here during

 her visit to the town.

We decided to have our tea in the Drawing Room

since it looked like the perfect place to do so.

This is the table we chose, we were told it

was the best place in the room for tea.

We saw a large party have tea at this table

and though it looks comfy, they were having

trouble juggling tea cups and plates.  It is much

better to sit at an actual table if you can.

The tea arrives first, you have many choices.

I went with a spicy blend that was a lot like

Constant Comment,  Mr. Wonderful went with 

an orange pekoe.

Then the tower of treats arrives.  There are

tea sandwiches, scones and sweets.  On the

side you have a choice of Devonshire clotted

cream, jam and butter.  We took our time and

slowly climbed the tower, we couldn't finish

all of it.

After tea we strolled around the town

to walk off all we had eaten. The flower 

displays in this town are spectacular.

I wish I knew their secrets for such lush

blooms.

The Main Street is filled with shops to 

browse through.  Try to get off the crowded

Main Street though and walk along the side

streets to see the beautiful homes of the town.

For theatre lovers, this town is the home

of the Shaw Festival.

While admiring a floral display, I found a 

feather, I always think that is good luck.

After our walk we visited a few local

antique stores and then took a drive 

along the Niagara Parkway.  Winston

Churchill said this road was "the prettiest

Sunday afternoon drive in the world".

The area is filled with wineries that 

offer tours and tastings.

And there are countless fruit stands.  This

area is filled with fruit farms.  We were on

the hunt for the tiny golden plums that our

son Brennan had discovered many years ago.

Success!

They were delicious.

We ended the day with a visit to one of North

America's natural Wonders, Niagara Falls.  I

have been lucky to visit the Falls many times

and I still find it breathtaking.

How Things Change...

Years ago, we were campers.

We found communing with nature, sleeping 

under the stars, cooking on the campfire to

be fun.  Well, except for the bathrooms.

Once we started staying in nice hotels on 

business trips and renting condos and 

apartments on trips overseas, my camping

days were over.  Marble bathtubs, down

pillows, jacuzzis and saunas in the bathrooms

were divine.  

I realized when you were the Mom, camping

was a whole lot of work.

Every Spring, the Sunday ads were filled

with the latest camping gear.  We bought 

so much stuff through the years that we had 

a shed filled with every camping item you

 could imagine.

Mr. Wonderful was about to send it all to

Goodwill this summer.  I said, hold on a bit 

longer, the kids may want to use it,  they 

are getting to the age when we first started

camping.  And lo and behold, a few weeks 

later Katie said she was going on a camping

trip, could she use our stuff?

Wonderful has a few vacation days that

he has to use by the end of August.  We

are spending a few weeks in Playa del

Carmen, Cozumel and Cancun in 

December and next summer we are planning

another BIG trip so I suggested we save 

money by taking a camping vacation next

month.  He said, you? camping?

Well, I'm thinking of it more as just cheap

accommodation.  I don't plan to hang out

at the campground all day, I have jam packed

plans for the days and figure we will just head

back at night and crash.

Last night before bed we went outside to look

at the stars and the temperature was in the

40's F.  Very odd for our summers, much more

like Fall.  Here is how our conversation went:

Me: Brrrr, it's cold.

Wonderful: Imagine if it is this cold when we 

are camping.

Me: Well....

Wonderful: So, we should look into hotels.

Me: But, we can cuddle up and throw on 

extra quilts.

Wait a minute!  Am I actually trying to 

convince you to go camping?

Ohhh, how times have changed....

One of our best vacations ever was back before

we were married.  We spent a few weeks in the

Canadian Maritimes, we camped the entire time.

It was fantastic, the scenery was beautiful, the 

people we met were lovely and we ate lobster

for at least one meal a day.  

Nowadays, you hear about glamping or glamorous

camping.  Well, we were doing that decades ago

except we called it Out of Africa camping.  We brought

our china (we actually had china just for camping) and

crystal and set up a beautiful campsite.

We drove to Maine from New Jersey, took the 

Bluenose ferry to Nova Scotia and then explored

all of Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia.  We 

would take these little ferries shown above to take

you across a little strip of water, but it could save 

you a hundred kilometers of driving.

It was unforgettable.  

So, if all goes well, we will be heading into 

western New York and up into Canada by 

way of Niagara Falls.  

Stay tuned and I'll let you know how the

camping goes...