Road to Niagara

We started our day with yet another wonderful breakfast….appetizer included.  I’ve already been warned not to expect anything like this at home!  I suppose that means it’s back to Wheat Chex and soy milk…oh, well, it was wonderful while it lasted!

Until this trip we had never stayed at a Bed and Breakfast before..and never really wanted to.  We’ve now stayed at three, each very different and have loved all three.  The first was Harpswell Inn on a remote peninsula in Maine.  This inn had nine guest rooms and each was extensively decorated to a given theme: Longfellow, Radcliffe, Lilac, etc.  We were within steps of the sea and a lobster dock where we learned so much from Albert.  We also got to know the innkeepers quite well.

Our second B&B was the Cornwall Orchard B&B, nestled in the farmlands and maple trees of Vermont.  This inn had five guest rooms, moderately decorated but still nice. From here we rambled through two states visiting historical sites and looking at fall foliage.  We really got to know the innkeepers because of two reasons. First, because their wifi had been broken for several days and I fixed it.  (Didn’t spend all those years on the Help Desk for nothing!)  Second, because we were their only guests for the last evening we were there and had wine together after their wifi was working.We even got to order our breakfast on our last day blueberry pancakes, of course!

Finally, the Petite Auberge, tucked in the midst of Canada’s largest city (Montreal) yet still remote on a tiny backstreet named Argyle.  Here, we stayed in an incredible belle époque suite…actually more of a mini-townhouse style with a downstairs kitchenette.  We were steps from the Metro that we took all over Montreal. And, we were within blocks of Rue Crescent which reminded us of a French Washington Avenue.  Interestingly, we did not meet the innkeepers…not once.

Three B&Bs, all very different, but all quite memorable.  We would highly recommend any of the three and would love to visit them again.  I’m sure we’ll be staying at more of them over the coming years.

Okay….back to the trip. What was I talking about?  Oh, yeh, breakfast.  Love it, but now it’s time to move on.  Today’s destination, Niagara!  Our drive was to have taken 7 hours, but instead it was closer to nine due to congestion in Toronto and an accident or two.  Finally, we arrived in Niagara.  We checked in to our hotel and then headed to the falls on foot.

The drive was worth it…these falls are incredible.  We got to see them by day and then we had dinner in a rooftop restaurant and got to see them lit up at night.  We walked home on a street lit up like a state fair carnival and then stopped in at a TGI Friday’s to have a drink and to watch a curling game.  What a way to end our last day in Canada, eh?