Ohhh Canada!!

Jul 1 - Niagara Falls ON to Niagara-on-the-Lake (NOTL) ON ... with some other stops thrown in: 34 miles round trip (unloaded)

Niagara ON is famous for ice wine in large part to the efforts here ... 

No packing. No decisions as to where to stay tonight. Plans for day already made. 

You may have figured out that we arrived in Ontario in time to join in on Canada's birthday celebrations - it's Canada Day!

Our plan for today was for some site-seeing in the area, specifically to see what NOTL had to offer.  I'd heard quite a bit about this town and the area while living in Ottawa some years back. This is wine country. The region is protected somewhat from the worst of the winters cold and the summer heat by the nearby Great Lakes and the Niagara escarpment. I learned all this on a wine tour later today.

We worried at first that nothing In NOTL would be open. WRONG. We had an overwhelming number of interesting options involving food drink and music: winery events, parades, outdoor concerts, neighborhood foodie fairs, and fireworks ...

Our must do list was short: wine, food, fireworks. Throw in a parade and some site seeing around that and we are done. 

Being on bikes eliminated some options immediately - too far, or time of the event  meant we would have to go back and forth too much.

Getting out of Niagara Falls was easy, even going down the main tourist drag. The path along the Niagara River is beautiful and interesting. We saw first hand some of the main points from yesterday's history museum: the Whirlpool, Adam Beck I and Adam Beck II power generating plants, and fort George.  

First stop; Niagara botanical gardens. Of particular note is the area with beds dedicated to specific plant groupings: plants referenced by the bible, edible flowers, medicinal plants, ...

Lunch at inniskillin  

Happily, our next stop was right on the parkway: Inniskillin. The Inniskillin winery was holding an all day wine and food event in addition to the normal tastings and tours. Given that this area is known for its ice wines, going to a place that is known for just that seems like a good plan. We availed ourselves of all that was on offer, including two different ice wine flight tastings, and picking up some ice wine, THE best option here. We didn't think this through fully (probably the food and wine coma), as now we are stuck carrying these bottles. And not just for today, but for the duration of our stay in Ontario.

We arrive at the town of NOTL via fort George, where the bike rack is overflowing, an unusual sight, and a sign of how many people are in town.

Our objective in town is to catch the parade. We've been told that it is very small: "nothing but a car pulling a cake down the road."  Then people line up to get a slice of cake in Simcoe park where the parade ends. Obviously this is REALLY good cake, because there is a pretty good turnout for this small town parade. But it's still small enough that we just happen to have picked a spot next to the proud owner of the two cars holding the dignitaries for this parade, and we are filled in on some history of the cars as well as the  car passengers. Then there's a small fife and drum band and then the enormous (let's say roughly the size of a twin bed) Canada birthday CAKE. The decorations on this poor cake are having some existence failure as they go by, but that does not stop everyone from joining the crowd following the cake into the park, although it is slowing progress as the baker has to keep stopping the cake to do on-the-fly repair work.

I have to mention here that there is NO police presence anywhere. The road is not blocked off, no one is guiding the crowds, and no one in official uniform is preventing  cars from driving down Queen street where the parade route is.  Somehow this all works out, not always elegantly, but with great civility and general courtesy. And absolutely no honking. Welcome to Canada indeed!

I can't battle the crowds with my bike in tow for cake, though I REALLY want to. 

So we spend some time wandering the very crowded Queen street, which become a series of incredibly expensive homes, then scope out Lake Ontario before heading to our next and final NOTL destination: Supper fair.  Food trucks, tents, live music, and a very neighborly feel. The chicken curry is amazing.

Back to Niagara Falls via the parkway again.

Remember I said it was easy getting out of town in the morning?  Coming back was very different. Masses of cars were headed into town to see fireworks. Every parking lot was overflowing and people were staking out comfortable spots to watch the fireworks later.

I join the throng after leaving the bike in the hotel room.

Fireworks over Niagara Falls

When the fireworks begin, it is wall-to-street people. The fireworks are being set off from the Niagara River, so from the point we are al at, they explode just above the heads of all the people in front of me, and they are very close. It's really spectacular.

Once the spectacle is over, we must all fight our way back to our beds. It's a lot of people, but much less worse than Boston 4th of July, and for once, I've got a hotel room in walking distance.

Heading home