Well, actually it's been 14 - but who's counting.  N and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary in the Niagara area.  I love Niagara-on-the-Lake and that is where I wanted to stay but alas there were much sweeter deals to be had in Niagara Falls so we opted to stay in Ontario's "mini Vegas" and enjoy the relatively close proximity (10 minute drive) to the peace and serenity that can be found having a picnic while staring at beautiful vineyards.

We got a beautiful "falls view" studio suite at the Niagara Hilton.  While it was a beautiful room with great views of the falls, our stay was not without it's share of problems.  First, our room was supposed to be non-smoking, but there was a faint smoke odour and there were ashtrays in our room.  When I called the front desk, they claimed that this was because people like to burn incense in their rooms.  I laughed because cigarette smoke and incense hardly smell the same.  They did offer to come deodorize the room but I was annoyed that they had lied - there is no way our room was non-smoking.

We dined at Brasa, a Brazilian Steakhouse in the Hilton.  It was an all-you-can-eat steakhouse with a large salad bar and where "Gauchos" walked the floor with spits of different cuts of meat.  You waved a disc at them if you wanted them to come to the table and then they'd carve the meat right at your table.  It was very very good and very very expensive (though everything about Niagara Falls is over-priced).  We got up to fill our plates at the salad bar and when we returned to our seats (which had been a wonderful, cozy spot by a window with a nice view), they had seated new people at our table.  We were then re-seated but we didn't get as nice a spot the second time round.  However, the staff were very professional; they apologized profusely many times and we did get a free dessert for the inconvenience.  Even with the little bumps, N and I agreed that we would return to Brasa. 

We had a delicious wine with dinner.  It was called, "Red Moose,"  a 2007 Zweigelt from Konzelmann's Winery in Niagara-on-the-Lake.  Konzelmann's is our favourite Niagara winery and this wine is fantastic.  We stopped there on our way home and picked up a few bottles.  If you are lucky enough to see this one at your liquor store you should give it a try.  We loved it.

After dinner, we wandered through the Fallsview Casino and then took in the fireworks over the falls (there are fireworks every Friday and Sunday evening in the summer).  Overall, it was a great way to celebrate 5 years!

The next day we had the buffet breakfast at the hotel and then spent the morning wandering around "kitchy" Niagara Falls.  If you have never been, imagine walking into the biggest tourist trap known to man-kind and there you have it, Niagara Falls, Canada.  We stopped at the Rock N' Bowl and bowled a few games and then wandered down to see the falls up close.  

In the afternoon, we wandered throughout Niagara-on-the-Lake.  We snacked on fresh fruit and took in the loveliness and small town charm of the place.  We walked the main street, bought jam at Greaves (best jam ever!), checked out the fruit stands, visited a winery and then declared our mini break over.  Time to head back to the big city.

 Late August = fresh peaches in the Niagara Area.  Yum!

My flickr set from this trip can be found, here.

 

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I know that as part of your Canadian education, you learn that the Great Lakes are big. Neil and I are not sure we realized just how big until this last camping trip we took up to Bruce Peninsula National Park. I mean, on our drive out east we noticed that it took two full days to drive around the top half of Lake Superior... but it wasn't until we were out on the water that we realized that there are points where you cannot see a point of reference along the horizon. The islands off the tip of the Bruce are scattered just like the Gulf Islands off the West Coast of BC -- the big difference being that here we are on a lake and not transversing the Strait of Georgia out into the Pacific Ocean. Neil said that you get an idea of scale when you realize that our campground was at the tip of the Peninsula that juts out into Lake Huron and our campground was located on a rather sizable lake in the middle of the Peninsula.

Thursday, we left for one night of camping. We'd have liked to camp two nights but we could only reserve the one night and we had hoped (fingers crossed) that we could find something for Friday night. In the end, we just had two very long and hot/humid days. The drive started out in true K & N fashion... I gave Neil the map and soon we were 40km in the wrong direction. Not a problem, he realized the error of his way and we were soon turned around. We made stops to look around in Owen Sound and in Wiarton. Arriving in Tobermory, we made our way to the campground, set up camp, browsed the trail maps and then set out in search of a swimming hole. Let's face it, the big draw of the area is the crystal clear blue waters of Lake Huron. The water was cold but it felt very nice given the humidity and the excessive sweating that occurred as a result. The horse flies were really bad and we got very bitten. The biggest downside was that between sunscreen, bug spray, bug lotion, sweat, dirt from the hike back -- we were DISGUSTING when we got back to our site and there were no showers at our campground. Upon arriving back, I can to the realization that I'd have paid upwards of $20 to be able to shower.

We had hot dogs and beans for supper (classic campfire fare) and then I roasted marshmallows. It never really cooled down until about 10 minutes after we went to bed. Then began the intense lightening and thunder... and then the heavy downpour that lasted about 10 minutes. It was enough to clear up some of the horrible humidity as the next day was hot and dry. The next morning found us paying for showers at a highway gas station. Sounds gross but these showers were coin operated and super clean. We then ventured into town for breakfast and an Island tour by boat. We figured that since we had to drive back that night we'd have a lazy day -- so we went on an hour and a half boat tour... saw some shipwrecks and islands. We'd have liked to disembark on Flower Pot Island but we decided to save that for another time.

I've got pictures in a Splashr presentation here.