![\"untitled-0940\"](\"https:\/\/maureensmusings.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/untitled-0940.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nI loved the Maid of the Mist (although that\u2019s quite the misnomer)!\u00a0 I have no idea why we have never experienced this as a family and\u00a0now want to take my family back there to make up for this serious over-sight.\u00a0 For a mid-September day we really lucked out with the weather \u2013 sunny and warm (about 25C \u2013 that\u2019s mid-70\u2019s for you, Linda) \u2013 so getting wet was okay.\u00a0 And, get wet I did!\u00a0 You\u2019re given these lovely blue plastic ponchos and, knowing my hair looks better \u201cmisted\u201d, I tied the strings tight around my neck but kept the hood down.\u00a0 Big mistake!<\/p>\n
We cruised out into the middle of the river and moved slowly past the American Falls \u2013 lovely.\u00a0 So far, so good.<\/p>\n As I was at the back of the boat, I didn\u2019t actually see the \u201cchange of weather\u201d coming.\u00a0 But it came, fast and furious!\u00a0 All of a sudden, as we drew closer to the Horseshoe Falls, gale force winds blew in and brought a torrential downpour with them.<\/p>\n Have you ever tried to untie tightly tied plastic strings with one hand, while you hold your (thankfully waterproof) camera in the other, while the wind whips your plastic poncho up around your head?\u00a0 That took a little longer than it should have and, although I was successful in finally getting my hood up, not before my head was so wet I had streams of water running down my head, my neck, my face, and off my nose by the time the boat turned around and I was front and centre!\u00a0 I had to take my glasses off, as I couldn\u2019t see through them.\u00a0 And most of my pictures of the Canadian Fall are so obscured by water (who knew?) that they aren’t worth posting!!!<\/p>\n The Falls are an amazing sight at the best of times but you really need to see them from below to get a very, very different and very, very impressive perspective.\u00a0 Great fun \u2013 and I\u2019m not kidding.\u00a0 This will definitely be on my list of places to take visitors in the future!<\/p>\n We had a tour guide who joined us when we disembarked from our bus at the Falls.\u00a0 Dirk never stopped talking from the time we got back on the bus until we arrived at the Golf Club for lunch.\u00a0 Now I know that sounds a little judgmental, in a negative kind of way, but NO!\u00a0 Dirk was a wealth of information, and entertaining, too.\u00a0 That was a trip down the Niagara Parkway like I\u2019ve never experienced before (probably because I’ve never had a tour guide before).\u00a0 He started with a history of the Falls and, as we passed by hydro plants, monuments, vineyards, farms, tourist attractions, forts, and more, he had fascinating details about all of them.\u00a0 I can\u2019t remember everything, but these are the few details that made an impression…<\/p>\n Lunch at the golf course was lovely.\u00a0 We had a private section to ourselves, laid out with a fabulous buffet of chicken, salmon, veg, salads, and breads.\u00a0 It also included one glass of wine and an apple crumble a la mode for dessert.\u00a0 Not only was the food delish, the view was pretty good, too.\u00a0 The rest of the dining room was full of what appeared to be retired folks.\u00a0 As NOTL is a bit of an upscale locale, I couldn\u2019t help but speculate at the combined wealth in the room that day.<\/p>\n A few miles down the road, one can find Chocolate FX, a small but yummy chocolate factory and retail outlet.\u00a0 We had a tour, which didn\u2019t take long, and enjoyed some free samples when we got into the store.\u00a0 Maybe it was because we were all full from lunch, but I don\u2019t think too many people bought that much.\u00a0 I know I only had three samples and left empty-handed.\u00a0 But I know where it is and will surely go back!<\/p>\n The winery was another story, though.\u00a0 We ended up at Fielding Estates, on the Beamsville Bench \u2013 a swath of land with an ideal climate, just under the escarpment, that’s home to\u00a0seven wineries.\u00a0 Steve and I have only been to two or three local wineries and, wouldn\u2019t you know it, this was one of them.\u00a0 Oh, well, wine tasting is always fun and they have excellent Ice Wine.\u00a0 I always take advantage, and came home with two bottles that will sit in our fridge until the right moment comes along.<\/p>\n Twenty-five of us left work at 9:15am and arrived back just before 6:00pm.\u00a0 The ride back was a lot less rowdy than the ride out.\u00a0 It didn\u2019t seem tiring while we were having fun, but it sure was a jam-packed day and we were all pooped (and happy and quiet).<\/p>\n So, why have I not done this before?\u00a0 Who knows, but maybe we shouldn\u2019t be so complacent about where we live.\u00a0 There are lots of other local touristy things we could\/should be putting on our bucket list.\u00a0 Perhaps you\u2019ll read about them here, in future posts…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In the 30 years I\u2019ve lived in Mississauga, I\u2019ve been to the Niagara region many, many times, and am familiar with lots of history and many points of interest.\u00a0 But yesterday, I did something for the first time that most Read More …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37,7,11,36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-725","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chocolate","category-niagara","category-wine-tasting","category-work-trip"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maureensmusings.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/725","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maureensmusings.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maureensmusings.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maureensmusings.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maureensmusings.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=725"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/maureensmusings.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/725\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":756,"href":"https:\/\/maureensmusings.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/725\/revisions\/756"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maureensmusings.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maureensmusings.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maureensmusings.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a> 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