Happy Simcoe Day

[da]

...Happy Simcoe Day, at least if you're in Ontario. Otherwise, Merry August.

Dan and I took the holiday weekend to go wine-touring around Niagara on the Lake. The weather there is more temperate than the Toronto area, probably the same as the Finger Lakes in New York State. Tons of fruit-stands and orchards, as well as a dozen or more wineries. As far as 24-hour vacation getaways go, it was a relaxing time, and included one of the nicest restaurant meals we've had together, at a restored mansion at the mouth of the Niagara River. Apparently every other couple at this restaurant was celebrating an aniversary (you could tell because there were scattered rose-petals on nearly every other table with a pair of people at it, and we overheard the waiter ask couple after couple what aniversary they were celebrating). Seems like we didn't get that memo.

We did, apparently, get the memo about our Bed and Breakfast. I chose it based on the attractive feature that they didn't mind pets, and the location was good. It turned out to be OK. This morning during breakfast (which was huge; bacon (*) -n- eggs, toast, fresh scones and local-fruit salad, yum) our hostess inquired about how we heard of the place. She was surprised to learn I found it on the Internet; she thought it might have been word-of-mouth. She said that a few weeks ago, they hosted another gay couple with the same first name and a cute dog. Who, it turns out, we've met. I'm sure now she's even more convinced that every gay couple knows each other. (Sigh, if only.)

(*) d. and I occasionally fall off the wagon concerning not eating mammal. Usually for me that is when it comes to bacon, and whenever it would be rude to the host. ...And now our secret is out.

Comments

[mynatt.livejournal.com]

Sounds like a nice vacation. My mother grew up in Virgil, right next door. It's interesting to hear her family talk about watching N-O-T-L evolve from a sleepy country town to its current status as a prime tourism location.

[da-lj.livejournal.com]

hm, does your mom's family still own property in virgil? If not, do they wish they still did? :)

[mynatt.livejournal.com]

My grandmother still lives in the house my grandfather built (it used to be on a small farm, but they gradually sold it off to be developed as a housing). My aunt & uncle own another house, built by one of my great-grandfathers, on a few acres with a pond a few kilometres closer to the lake. They're nice places, but far enough away from the B&B district around N-O-T-L that their property values (and taxes) haven't gone through the roof.

[da-lj.livejournal.com]

neat. It's an interesting ecology, where the properties (apparently) skyrocket but only close to the town... So many B&Bs in a small space, too. Glad the old homeowners aren't all getting shoved out.

I hesitate to make the comparison, but it reminded both d. and I just a bit of Key West. Less tropical of course, and more land for farms on the peninsula, and I suppose less gentrification changes since there is more land to spare. But both enjoy a different climate (lots of different outdoor vegitation), and all the cutesy B&Bs and downtown area.