Day 8 June 17, 2012

Today is our 40th wedding anniversary, so we started it the same way we began forty years ago. After a breakfast of fresh fruit, stuffed French toast, and coffee on our balcony, we walked the seven blocks to St. Patrick's Church and went to Mass. The priest was Fr. Gerard from Newfoundland and had a definite accent. We celebrated the 99th birthday of a parishioner by singing "Happy Birthday" to her. It brought tears to our eyes remembering Dad & Mom, "Les & Lou", who would be celebrating their 99th and 100th birthdays this year. It was a great way to start our day! We walked the ten minutes back to our B&B, Park Place, to change for the walk to the Falls and ride on the Maid of the Mist. We figured we probably walked about five miles today! Not knowing quite what to expect, we donned our raincoats and boarded. First, we went by Bridal Veil Falls and then headed further into Horseshoe Falls. It was a whole new perspective! It was thrilling, scary, and fun, but we made it! We walked as far as we could and then headed back to Park Place to our balcony and wine happy hour. W We made reservations at Canyon Creek for dinner, showered, changed, and drove to the restaurant. We got a booth overlooking the Falls with windows on two sides. Perfect! Our server was so nice. She brought us champagne on the house! And a little dessert, which we could not finish. We each a great steak and, of course, a little wine. It was the perfect ending to a perfect day. We feel so blessed to be here together and loving it! Hitting the road tomorrow, first, Dayton, then St. Lou. We'll be on our way, family!

Day 7 June 16, 2012

Well, Lynn wants to start the blog with what we did this morning but I wanted to start the way we ended the day with the Niagara New Vintage Wine Festival. OMG was it nice!! So I guess we will start at the beginning of the day. We were witness to a celebration of the 100th anniversary of Christ Anglican Church's bells. We were so blessed to be part of the history of this area. The man who built the house of our B&B, also purchased the carillon bells for the church. They have not tolled for five years, but in commemoration of the War of 1812 Bicentennial,they rang today. Mayors of Niagara, New York and Ontario spoke today. The Mayor of Niagara, New York made special mention of the many connections between these two countries. It is the longest peacefully defended border in the world. It was very moving. Larry and I sang the "Star Spangled Banner' and "O, Canada". After spending several hours with our hosts Carol and Gary we also met the members of the Doran family whose great great grandfather built the home we are staying in. The town historian was also here and made for a very informative afternoon. We then got ready for the Niagara New Vintage Festival. It was at the vineyard of the 2011 Grape King Mr Hughes. What an evening!!!!!!! In the middle of a huge grape vineyard was music, 32 wineries, and 8 chefs. It was like driving between 32 different wineries and being able to have wine tasting at each winery and going back and having as many tastings as you like. WOW that is a lot of wine!! And then in between you were able to taste absolutely delicious foods prepared by top notch chefs. We had beef, lamb, pork, salmon, chicken, deserts, and oh yeah a lot of wine. Simply fabulous. There was a great band playing and Lynn and I had an absolutely perfect and fun evening TOGETHER! Wow are we lucky. They had these great big balloons that had lights in them along the way, Really neat. AND you should have seen the port a potties. They were simply amazing! After 4 hours of just a great time (together) all we needed to do was to make the 30 minute drive back to our B and B. And yes we did and to all a good night.

Day 6 Friday June 15, 2012

We started today with a delicious breakfast served in our room. We ate on our own private balcony. A beautiful morning! We had homemade quiche, bacon, homemade muffins, juice, fresh fruit, just perfect. Then we started up the River Road with our first stop at the Butterfly House.(and we mean butterfly house). Butterflies everywhere! Species and colors we have never seen. One even landed on the camera as I was trying to take a picture. Many of them would change colors as they landed on different plants. Really amazing! Our next stop was a scenic overlook of the whirlpool basin. You can see the cable car cables in the foreground. Needless to say, we did NOT take the cable car across the whirlpool. We passed the Niagara Power Plant, a hydroelectric dam. We drove on to Niagara-on-the-lake, taking note of wineries along the way. We passed acres and acres of grapes. Niagara-on-the-lake is a beautiful little town and the ride there is the most scenic we've seen. After a little shopping, we got back in the car to head toward some wine tasting. Our first stop was Peller Winery, the largest in Canada. Next stop, Inniskillin Winery. It had been a weather-perfect day for shopping and tasting! At our innkeeper's suggestion, we traveled west to the Welland Canal, which connects Lakes Ontario and Erie. Big ships are often seen at the Locks here. Once we arrived at our B&B, we had our usual happy hour. Then planned for dinner. After dinner we walked about a mile to see all the hoopla surrounding the Nik Wallenda walk across the Falls. We got a peek at the Falls itself, but plan to return when the crowds are gone.