Well-traveled Wilson's Wordless Wednesday

Road Trip - Day Three

As part of our planning for this trip, I saw that nearby was a very quaint and picturesque waterfront town called Niagara-On-The-Lake, the lake being one of the Great Lakes, Lake Ontario. This may well be one of the prettiest towns I've ever visited, if not the prettiest! It has a lovely historic district filled with lots of unique shops. But the best past for me was all the flowers! Everywhere you looked, the town was just dripping with flowers! The sidewalks were lined with large beds, the shops had potted flowers flanking their doors, buildings had window boxes full and porches sported hanging baskets. It was a version of heaven, for sure!

This is how it looked, everywhere!

 

What an appropriate name for this hotel as a spot to pose my Welsh Corgis!

This town was SO classy, even the dog water/treats were served on a Silver Platter! Really!

Some of the sidewalks looked like this........Hmmmm, what could a maple leaf stand for?

Both liquor stores I saw, here in Niagara-On-The-Lake, and in Niagara Falls, had this cute sign in their windows ......

There's that maple leaf again!

It was a very warm day (but still much nicer than home temps!), so after finishing up on the main street, we headed to a park right on the lake. There was a small beach area where the boys were able to cool off. They promptly found a stick and did a few rounds of fetch. I think you've all seem enough "swimming with a stick" pictures to last you a lifetime so I'll spare you those :-)

Here are a few posed shots after the swim.The lake is a gorgeous blue! That's Fort Niagara on the American side in the background (or so I was told).

Enjoying the shade and watching the seagulls.

We took the QEW (Queen Elizabeth Way) highway to get here, and took the Niagara Parkway on the ride back. It winds though endless wineries and along the banks of the Niagara River. Here's another example of the beautiful water....

The wires are for a tram ride, but it wasn't running at the time.

We headed back to the room. The dogs were exhausted, we needed showers and a break before heading out to see 4th of July fireworks.

Here's the end of the evening, the American Falls as dusk was falling around 10PM.

This last picture made me smile. Look at the sign of our times....So many people holding up their smart phones to record the fireworks.....

I see little white phone orbs everywhere!

We got up early the next morning and bugged out! It was a short but very sweet trip! The ride home consisted of an hour (!) stopover at the duty free shop (with me baby-sitting the boys, a very long hour indeed)  at the border,  followed by a long line through customs, followed by missing our exit in Buffalo and taking the l-o-n-g way through the area.

As the sign in the liquor store said: I Heart Maple Leaves! .....I Love Canada! It was a great trip!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Road Trip, Day Two - Part Two

After the fun of riding the Maid of the Mist, we walked back to our motel and got Jimmy and Wilson. We drove them to the upscale side of town to save ourselves a very long walk. Here there is a fancy Marriott highrise looking right at the top of Horseshoe Falls. The rooms must have wonderful views! There is a lovely brick paved path running all along the top of a hill above the falls, behind a fancy mall and casino, and eventually coming out to a road that heads down to the Welcome Center. It was planted with all sorts of pretty plants and flowers.

Here we are at the start of the walk......

It looks like you could almost jump right in!

There was a storm blowing around and it made for some interesting light. This picture makes it look like dusk but really it was just afternoon.

Click to enlarge the falls.

Between the Canadian side and the American side runs a bridge. It carries both cars and pedestrians across the border. It is called the Rainbow Bridge, due, I am sure, to the many rainbows cast by the spray of the falls. It was cloudy so we didn't see any. Needless to say, I had no plans to walk my dogs across a bridge called that!

There was no way in hell I was walking my dogs across the Rainbow Bridge!

We turned off the pretty brick path, and headed down to the Welcome Center area which is down a steep hill.

A nice photo-op!

I really wanted to get some classic "in front of the falls" pictures of the boys. But, alas, the walls and fencing made it difficult, as well as all the milling people. I tried to get John to hold each boy up for a shot but he was too embarrassed! Heaven forbid someone he didn't know and would never see again, might think he was some dog weirdo! I guess I am used to it :-)

We wondered around a bit more and then headed back to the car. We drove around, through a park, past some interesting old buildings, etc. It was dinner time for the boys and they had had enough outdoor time to take a break.

After settling them back into the room, we headed out again! We did ALOT of walking on this trip!

The main tourist area on the Canadian side is like a beach town on steroids! There are endless ways to entertain yourself or your kids. Mirror mazes, glow in the dark indoor putt-putt golf, Dracula's Castle, a Ripley's Believe It or Not...and the list goes on! Here's an idea of what it looks like.....

Look at that full moon!

A ginormous Frankenstein atop the Burger King!

A real man in thick gold paint. This 'Elvis' statue came alive if you paid him a tip.

We wandered around, shopped in the t-shirt/junk stores, and finally walked back to the room around 11PM. It was a big day and I was asleep the second my head hit the pillow!