Oh Canada
June 26-28. We cross into Canada at Port Huron for just a couple days. My daughter-in-law sent a letter about being able to make all decisions in the care of Halyn, but the border agent asked if I had a letter giving me permission to allow me to take Halyn across an international border...oops. Ah, but no worries, she saw our excitement and gave us no more hassle than that question. This is Halyn's first trip to another country. Did you know you have to ask for a stamp on your passport? We found that out when we discovered we had nothing on our passports.
We are in Canada for only 3 days. Our first stop is in Stoney Creek, Ontario. A Harvest Host site is only an hour drive to the falls. What a perfect site for Halyn's first winery experience. She even gets to do a tasting and picks out a sparkling juice to take to Ohio for our 4th of July celebration.
For more than 210 years Puddicombe Estate Farms & Winery has harvested its own fruits to provide fresh produce and a wide variety of products such as hand-baked pies, jams, jellies, cookies, tarts, strudels, cider, fudge and wines. They started in 1797 as cattle farmers. In the early 1900's they became fruit farmers.
1940 saw the planting of the first vineyard and today they are a working farm of approximately 300 acres of fruit. To keep up with changing times the owner Murray Puddicombe along with a wine master Jim Warren, formed a partnership and Stoney Ridge Winery was brought to this location. Also born at the same time was a general store, bake shop, and cafe. Introduced a few years later was an agricultural train and a pick your own operation.
Little Pudd is the original train from the world famous Crystal Beach Amusement Park. Little Pudd has been with Puddicombe Farms since 1997 and is considered an agricultural touring train on the farm. The ride takes you through the orchards, vineyards and by the waterways. One of the favorite attractions on the farm. We settle in the pear orchard after our train tour and wine tasting next to the caboose that is also available as a bed and breakfast accommodation. We have apple pie for dessert that was just freshly baked. Once the farm hands have come in for the day, Halyn is impressed that we have the entire place to ourselves.
Daybreak and I let Halyn sleep while I make the drive in to Niagara. Good choice. Very little traffic and Tim Horton's won't open until 7am. Neither Halyn or I have had Tim Horton's Donuts. We arrive at the falls a little after 6am and the only folks around are workers getting ready for the the throngs of tourists. I thought I didn't care if I ever went to Niagara, but I was wrong. It is so worth seeing. I must say being there at sunrise is the best. No people in our photos to start the day. We are also able to park in the lot for free.
After roaming for a bit, we will move up to our boondockers welcome site and regroup. The place we are staying is within walking distance of most places. We look over the choices of attractions and choose a package that allows us to go underneath the falls, walk the rapids, an IMAX movie ride with history and geology of the falls, the boat ride up to the falls and access to the city bus for two days. Even though we use the bus all day both our pedometers say we walked just over 7 miles!
If you want to experience a first-hand lesson in the raw power and peril of the Niagara River There is a boardwalk that allows you to be up close and personal with Class 6 white-water rapids. There are many viewing platforms that put you right at the river’s edge. This self-guided tour includes many stories about the geology of the Niagara Gorge and the plant and animal life.
We decide to regroup and go check-in with our host up at the top of the hill before coming back down for our boat ride. This boondockers welcome spot is the back parking area of a triplex. No views, well take that back we can see the Skylon Tower, but it is perfect central location. Our host is really helpful and offers us an inside rest in his AirBnB so we can cool off and charge batteries before taking the bus back down for the boat and later the night show. I am really grateful for the free overnight as all of the tours and food and souvenirs are some serious cha-ching!
On Clifton Hill there is a whole assortment of amusement attractions... like walking through the Wisconsin Dells with Ripleys and go-carts and games of all sorts. We only take the Skywheel 175-feet above Niagara Falls for the view of a lifetime! The Niagara SkyWheel gives us a breathtaking panoramic view of this spectacular natural wonder. When it's all said and done Halyn thinks the Skylon Tower might have been the better bet. Who knows, everything is "breathtaking" as she so aptly says over and over.
Not the best video. We are getting drenched!
We definitely are squeezing a lot into one day. We are questioning our sanity about staying for the fireworks. We are so tired we can't make decisions for something to eat and decide on a restaurant near the fireworks, but by the time we get there it's closed. Back to Tim Horton's for a grilled cheese sandwich. Halyn is wise and grabs a sweatshirt not knowing how cool it will get and we end up snuggling as we wait for the show to begin.
We are grateful for our bus passes to get back up the hill and into bed. Can you tell, Halyn is just done for, but we are glad we did all we did.
If you're interested here's the breakdown of the attractions we chose. There is so much more to do here.. it would take days and seriously deplete your bank account:
The Niagara Falls Adventure Pass Classic $56.49 per person...definitely a good deal.
Includes
Lanyard and scan card loaded with attractions admissions (makes life easy, no standing in line for tickets)
Admission to Journey Behind the Falls
Admission to White Water Walk
Admission to Niagara's Fury interactive 4D show
Admission to Hornblower Niagara Cruises' Voyage to the Falls Boat Tour
2-day hop-on-hop-off transport on WEGO buses
Skywheel was $11.29 per person
Onward,
Catherine and Halyn