Niagara-on-the-Lake

Well, Dennis had a conference for work in Niagara and so I was able to tag along, thanks to a bunch of competent people back home to manage the homefront!

We left last Friday and arrived in Hamilton at midnight only to find out that the car we had arranged to rent (with a GPS) was not available...because the rental booth closed at 9 pm!!!! So we had to rent a different car...a Hyundai, (Krista and Robby will be proud!) and it was a nice little car, but NO GPS!!!! So when you are in a completely strange place, it's pitch black and we're going by the Google Map instructions...let's just say it was an adventure!

Prince of Wales Hotel
Niagara-on-the-Lake is a quaint little lakeside town about an hour from Hamilton, 2 hours from Toronto, where it is surrounded by Vineyards and historical points of interest. All the homes and businesses are pillars, posts and dormers. It's like walking into a storybook town! I loved it all! Trisha Romance is from there and I have a painting of the gazeebo on the lake, just like the one photo here. We stayed at one of the Vintage Hotels, The Prince of Wales. It was like living in a palace for a week. Our room had a king size bed, a rose on my pillow each night. The maid would turn down the bed and the blinds each night and there was even a towel warmer in bathroom!

George Bernard Shaw. This is a "play" town with the Shaw Theatre there are plays written by Shaw all year round...and others.
Lake Ontario (way bigger than I thought!) Toronto is across the way, and on this day we could see the CN Tower in the distance.

Now this is a TREE!

Taylor didn't even know he had an ice cream shop!

The town clock tower, chimed on the hour.

Brock's Monument...very cool shot hey? (The one of the full tower with the sun behind)

Some homes in the town...
A vineyard...

Our room.

The washroom off of the spa, with porcelain sinks and etched inlaid glass for stall doors!

In the foyer above, and below is a shot of the hallway off the foyer with embossed metal on the walls...amazing!

This bronze casted girl is in the foyer as well.

My breaky the first day...yum! It was served on a silver platter with a silver dome. For a moment we thought we were the guests of honour...we thought we were a pretty big deal...and then I saw a bunch of trays outside other rooms sitting in the hall for pick up and they were on silver platters too. Rats! Had me going for a while anyway!

On the weekend, we traveled down to New York State which was only minutes from our little town. We shopped and crossed back over. We went to Niagra Falls and explored behind the falls and got some cool pics. This town is very touristy and the kids would have fun...it reminded us of California...Hollywood, with all the Ripley's Believe or Not studios and wax museums.

Behind the falls...

Not behind the falls...but above the falls...

Tunnels under the falls. Dennis, this jacket is way to big on you!

Crossing the border and Frankenstein at Burger King...he was super hungry. I think he's having the Whopper!

From a distance we actually thought these people were real!

Den went to work on Monday, and I worked out in the hotel with 3 old men. It was interesting to say the least! I just kept my IPOD in my ears and ran (on the treadmill that is!) Then my next event was to have a little Reflexology and a pedicure. Ahhh, this Spa (which is in the hotel) is like an oasis. It aesthetically pleasing and the service was amazing! I met up with one of the other wives, Carmen, and she and I went walking around the lake and the town where I was able to take some great pictures. In the evenings, we usually had a dinner and networking event. We ate AMAZING food.

Carmen, Colleen and I had High Tea in the Drawing Room on Tuesday. What a very cool experience. I didn't really know what High Tea was...now I do. We were seated and we chose our own teas, I had some exotic Jasmine herbal tea that is from some far off place and said it rejuivinates, lifts the spirit and something about being "fix" whatever needs fixing...I was pretty sure "fix" had nothing to do with spaying or neutering, so I decided I could use a little "fix" and it was delish! So then, they bring each of us a 3 tiered silver platter with little sandwiches and desserts that were to DIE for. Homemade breads and a scone that you layer with freshed creamed butter, raspberry preserve and then clotted cream. Holy Cow! It was one of the best things my taste buds have played with in a long time! Kate and I are going to TRY to replicate it, but not sure how successful we'll be. It took almost 2 hours to get thru it and we had a very good time.

Can't forget this...spectacular salt water pool and hot tub. The artwork in here was so detailed and intriguing!

The previous day, there was discussion with Dennis and a few others about how Dennis had never had a candy apple in his entire life. Can you believe this? I didn't even know this little tidbit. It came up because there is a candy shop with very extravegant treats and we passed the window and saw these candy apples (traditional) and then the ones with a twist...like this...yup...Oreo cookies pasted on with caramel. So Carmen and Colleen were clever and bought one of each and gave them to the guys to present to Dennis. We were having High Tea when they told me what they did and I laughed! It was brilliant...so Dennis was presented with his candy apples just before his presentation on Monday after lunch and it was a great laugh.

Horse-drawn carriage rides around the town...

The business portion of the trip wrapped up at noon on Wednesday which meant time together before we came home on Thursday. Dennis has never had a professional massage and so I booked a couples massage. It was AWESOME...although Den was nervous because we were assigned one masseur and one masseuse. He wanted nothing to do with the masseur, so I had to talk to the Spa and make sure I had the guy!

We ate with Carmen and Dan at a little fondue restaurant and it was so cool...I'd never had fondue outside of our family fondues with chocolate. This was so good...

Our trip back was very eventful, with a snow storm in Calgary, diverting us to land in Lethbridge and sit on the tarmac for over 2 hours! We had been up since 4 am and the plane ride was 4 hours plus this little 2 hour jaunt...then another couple hours in the Calgary airport and finally home...

So, back to real life...for now!