I Could Live in Canada

We got home last night around 11. Today it was back to the grind. My life isn’t really much of a grind, it was more like getting back to the usual after a very nice vacation. Toby’s the one who brings home the bacon, which is what he was doing in Buffalo while I ran around seeing the sites. After work one night, his boss took us to Duff's for some wings. I'm not sure what the draw is there. Why would anyone purposefully choose to eat little bitty wings and legs with very little meat on them and then douse them in some sort of Cayenne pepper sauce? These people need a trip to NM to find out what good hot sauce is. Or maybe they need to head to the South for some good fried chicken and not those itsy, bitsy, grease pieces. Sorry, I was not impressed.

When Toby got off work on Friday after lunch, I drove him down Elmwood and around Main Street Buffalo to a funky bicycle store. I wanted him to see the old houses in that area, which I find fascinating. Then we headed up to Niagara Falls – the American side. We parked the car and walked around the State Park. We paid good money to put on trash sack ponchos and funky throwaway sandals and go down close to the Bridal Veil Falls to what is called Cave of the Winds. Although there is not really a cave there, it was fun to stand out so close that the falls are actually hitting you. I think it was worth the money- especially since you get to keep the shoes (I think they will make great lake shoes). Back at the top, some beautiful, young tourists who apparently did not speak English asked me to take their photo. I did, and then realized that they were deaf. When I tried out my signing skills, that didn’t work either. It turned out they were from Serbia, but we did manage to communicate a little – I thought that was just pretty cool.

After we left the falls, we headed to Niagara on the Lake, Ontario. The border guard who we talked to was very serious, and very pretty. She kept a serious face as she grilled us on our comings and goings before saying, "I’ll probably see you at the wine festival tonight," and flashed a big grin. Once across the border, it was not far to Niagara on the Lake. What a beautiful place! Vineyards and orchards! Gorgeous homes and wineries! The old town area was lots of shops similar to Fredericksburg, TX. What made this area especially nice was the flowers – I’m not a plant person, but these were impressive. The old part of town is right on Lake Ontario and the Niagara River. We did not tour it, but Ft. George is one of the attractions in Niagara on the Lake. Across the river on the American side was Ft. Niagara. The sailboats leaving the river and headed out on the lake were beautiful. You can actually see the Toronto skyline across the lake.
We made it to our B&B to check in and meet our hosts, Lynne and Ken, who happen to be from Glasgow, Scotland. Lynne was very talkative and friendly, but sometimes a bit difficult to understand – like when we told her we were hoping to do some bicycling, she replied, "Well, there’s lots of psychopaths out there." It took me just a second to realize she had said, "cycle paths." A huge bubble of laughter irrupted from me. I tried to keep it in, but another one escaped before I got myself under control. Toby and I referred to ourselves as psychopaths for the rest of the trip. After checking in, we went back into town and had supper. We were visiting with another couple at supper while sitting outside on the porch of the Grill on King Street, when a skunk walked within 20 feet of us, crossed the street and went down the alley. Pretty wild!

Several years ago while in Banff, Alberta, Toby and I stayed at a B&B, which was very nice, but for breakfast they served bear food – you know, fruits, nuts and berries. It was okay, but after hiking the mountain and walking all over town, we were hungry. This time I made sure our B&B said "full breakfast" on their website. Ken did not disappoint us. He made us great breakfasts starting with fresh fruit from the area. There were two other couples (sisters with their husbands) from Buffalo at the B&B. They were quite friendly and handy giving us advice on buying wine and taking it back to the USA. Of course, they turned out to be totally wrong, but that is another story. I will post more photos tomorrow and give you a few more thoughts. It is good to be home. I'm glad we did not have to call Jesse to throw our bail.