RAINY DAYS

Wednesday we woke up to our first rainy day. I escaped to do some shopping for camp supplies. By afternoon Carol also needed to escape from the aluminum can we are calling home this summer.

So we did a little more shopping and went to Applebee's for dinner.

Thursday promised more showers but it looked pretty good in the morning so we got up and out. Tom had told us about Niagara Glen, a great park on the Canadian side of the river.
After a short drive, quick visit in the gift shop and a long, long walk down the steps, we were in the Glen. It's a fairyland of jumbled rocks, some the size of houses, mixed with beautiful flowers, green plants, huge trees and wonderful views of the raging river.





It sprinkled just a few drops of rain during our 3 mile hike but it looked like more was coming so we escaped to the truck. When I visited Tom and family here a few years ago we always went to The Silo to eat at least once. It's an old coal storage/shipping facility on the NY side of the Niagara river in Lewiston. It was unused from about 1938 until 1999 when the restaurant opened.


After pigging out on the specialty - The Haystack, sort of a cheesy roast beef sandwich topped with French's French Fried Onions, we drove back across the bridge to Canada.

The package tour we purchased included 4 of the most popular attractions, free use of the buses for two days and a whole bunch of half price coupons to other attractions. Since it was raining pretty hard by now, we chose the Butterfly Conservatory. It took almost an hour for Andrew to get bored. Amazing place. I could have vegged there all day.







NOTE - Emily and I both took lots of pictures in Niagara Gorge and at the Butterfly Conservatory. But ALL of the pictures above are Emily's. 'cause they were ALL better than mine.

Rainy day equals shopping opportunity. We had passed a tourist mall several times but were always in a hurry to get someplace. One of the places in Canada that made us feel like we were in downtown Gatlinburg, TN.



We bought some postcards and fudge, but saved the T-shirt purchases until we were riding the bus. There is a discount place under the Rainbow Bridge but there is no parking there.

Friday didn't look much better weather wise so we decided it was the day to take a ride through the Canadian countryside and go to Welland Canal and see one of the sets of locks.

It was fascinating, we saw a large barge go through Lock #3 and enjoyed the museum. And the first glitch of our trip we've lost those pictures somewhere in computerland.


Then it was on to
Inn on the 20 in Jordan, ON. Tom and Ann stopped there, I think the first time was 9 years ago and all I've heard since then was how wonderful the food was and how incredibly unpretentious and reasonably priced it was for a gourmet meal. They had "dropped in" on their way home one Friday night. The place was full of people in suits and tuxedos and they had no reservation. In spite of the fact that they were in casual travel clothes, with a couple of little kids, the Maitre d sat them immediately and apologized for putting them in the lounge section. THEN he sent someone across the street to the Inn to get a high chair for Casey. AND THEN they had the most wonderful meal they'd ever eaten. I told the Maitre d this story and he said something like, "OK. No pressure here. But we'l try to live up to your expectations." And they did.

The kids each had Chicken Fingers and Fries. But they'd never had Chicken Fingers before where the dipping sauce was plum.

Here's what Carol and I had. She had the hen and I had the trout.

WINEMAKER'S LUNCHEON
Today's Soup or Green Salad
___
Chardonnay Poached Game Hen
puree of potato, wild watercress, natural juices
or
Pancetta Veiled Huron Trout
baby carrots, turnips, purple potatoes, leek veloute
___
Blueberry & Lime Cheesecake
with sour cream and currant compote
$30 without/ $35 with wine

Oh MY ! I've searched their website for pictures, but there aren't any of our dishes. EVERYTHING - the service, the food, the location were as good as Tom had said and since we're on vacation, we could say, "What a wonderful lunch for only $120. !" AND it dropped to less than $100. in US dollars.

OH - and we ate on the patio overlooking the street because the rains never came.

A beautiful ride along the north shore of Lake Ontario brought us back to town where we sat our lawn chairs up on top of the Maid of the Mist building and watched the fireworks.

Life really is good!