![\"untitled-0124\"](\"https:\/\/maureensmusings.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/untitled-0124.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nPort Stanley <\/a>is a bustling little fishing and cottage community on the north shore of Lake Erie, about half an hour south of London.\u00a0 We\u2019ve experienced its charm in three seasons, but never in the winter.\u00a0 We suspect it might be a little sleepier at this time of year… And the Kettle Creek Inn<\/a>, that we have enjoyed in the past, is on the Ontario Finest Inns <\/a>list. So, unique little shops, a beach or three to stroll on, a few other treats yet to be disclosed, and a cosy home away from home \u2013 here we come.<\/p>\n We have arrived…<\/p>\n Our inn package included one dinner so we took advantage of that on Friday night.\u00a0 When on the shores of Lake Erie, one must eat perch or pickerel.\u00a0 We started with scallops that virtually dissolved in our mouths, served on a Bibb lettuce leaf and topped with sprouts and a pineapple salsa.\u00a0 I had the perch dinner and Steve had the pickerel \u2013 again, cooked to perfection.\u00a0 For dessert, he had a yummy (of course I tasted it!) mascarpone cream tart and I couldn’t pass up my most favourite dessert ever – cr\u00e8me caramel (served in a bowl, at my request, so I could easily scoop up all that sugary goodness that normally gets left behind).\u00a0 With our taste buds fully satisfied, and a bottle of Pinot Noir between us, we stumbled the 50\u2019 back to our room and passed out.\u00a0 What a way to end a busy week!<\/p>\n But wait! We still had 3 days ahead of us…<\/p>\n Saturday was the only day with pre-arranged plans.\u00a0 After a late and lazy continental breakfast at the Inn, and a little music time in our room (yes, we brought our guitar and ukulele), it was Posh time.<\/p>\n To my greatest surprise (and pleasure) Steve had arranged for a couple\u2019s massage \u2013 a first for us!\u00a0 Posh was a hop, skip, and a jump from the Inn, a small yet lovely little spa nestled into a quiet corner of a warehouse-type building.\u00a0 An hour and a half later we left, completely relaxed and smelling like coconut oil from tip to toe.\u00a0 That would have been enough treats for one day, eh? But, nooo…<\/p>\n Last Family Day (Valentine\u2019s Day) weekend, we hung out in Hamilton and were fabulously entertained by Blue Rodeo <\/a>at Hamilton Place.\u00a0 This year, coincidentally, they were back in town, only this time at the Budweiser Gardens in London.\u00a0 And that\u2019s exactly where we went!<\/p>\n I love their music \u2013 the melodic tones of Jim Cuddy, and the hypnotizing harmonies by he and his co-writer, Greg Keelor.\u00a0 All seven band members\u00a0put on an energetic show and, as usual, played for longer than their normal 2-hour time allotment.\u00a0 They did NOT disappoint!\u00a0 And this time, they had an opening band – The Devin Cuddy Band<\/a>.\u00a0 At first I thought we would be exposed to some mediocre nepotism but, seriously, you should check them out!\u00a0 Jim\u2019s son, Devin, is a \u201cchip off the old block\u201d.\u00a0 He writes his own songs, plays a mean piano, covers a range of music categories, and sings every bit as well as his dad.\u00a0 His lead guitarist, bassist, and drummer are no slouches, either.\u00a0 They thoroughly entertained us for half an hour and left us wanting more.\u00a0 So, it was rewarding to have them come back on stage at the end of the 2.5-hour Blue Rodeo session to join in on the closing number, a long and mesmerizing version of \u201cWe Are Lost Together\u201d.<\/p>\n So, here we are, Sunday evening…<\/p>\n We had a long and wonderful sleep last night.\u00a0 First, by the time we got back from the concert, it was 1:30 when we fell into bed.\u00a0 Second, the mattress on our bed is magical and neither one of us can feel the other one move.\u00a0 Finally, we were exhausted and, apparently, needed a good sleep-in.\u00a0 We missed our complimentary continental breakfast, but who cares when you\u2019ve had a satisfying sleep?\u00a0 Instead, we made our way to Roxy\u2019s Diner and indulged in good \u2019ol fashioned bacon and eggs.\u00a0 Then strolled around town a bit before we headed to the shops and the\u00a0beaches!<\/p>\n (Roxy’s Diner – missed the sign…)<\/p>\n There are a few interesting shops in \u201cThe Port\u201d and, although I\u2019m not a shopper, I do appreciate unique products.\u00a0 I made two purchases today \u2013 a most unique and beautifully crafted necklace from Guatemala made from seeds and seed pods; and a wrought iron accomplice to something I will make and will reveal in the future through my Facebook page (sorry, but you\u2019ll have to wait a few months).<\/p>\n Port Stanley is also home to three beaches \u2013 Little Beach, very close to our Inn and the one we\u2019ve strolled on before,\u00a0the Main Beach, which is much, much larger and the one we\u2019ve purposely avoided in the past as it\u2019s been, in our opinion, over-crowded in the warmer months, and the much smaller West Beach, which I didn’t know existed until now.\u00a0 But no one can complain about it being too hot and too crowded in February – especially this February!\u00a0 What a difference but, to our surprise, neither Little Beach nor Main Beach\u00a0was empty!\u00a0 Regardless of whether or not you like winter, or feel it\u2019s lasted too long by the time February rolls around, you cannot deny that a cold, snowy, and sunny winter offers us a most enchanted perspective on our worlds.<\/p>\n Common opinion around these parts is that this is the first time in about 25 years that Lake Erie has frozen to the extent that is has this year \u2013 almost all the way across to the US shore.\u00a0 (Apparently, all the lakes, except deeper Lake Ontario, have mostly frozen this year.)\u00a0 Little Beach is on the east side of the port channel and is protected to the point where the ice and snow combo is relatively flat. We walked out quite a distance and got some photos of the shoreline that one would normally only get from a boat.<\/p>\n (the happy couple…)<\/p>\n But frankly, Little Beach was a bit boring, so we jumped into the car and headed over to the larger, Main Beach.\u00a0 This section of water isn\u2019t protected at all so we were rewarded with lots of ice heaves and interesting snow formations.\u00a0 Walking out was a little more challenging as the snow was deeper and very inconsistent.\u00a0 Then there were the \u201chills\u201d we had to climb which, once at the top, provided some very nice photo ops.\u00a0 Top that off with the ice Inukshuks we stumbled across and the brilliant sunset, and I\u2019m hoping you agree our hike out onto the lake was well worth the extra layer of clothing and the effort.\u00a0 (We never made it to West Beach.)<\/p>\n Ice for as far as you can see…<\/p>\n We were contented to stay at the Inn tonight for dinner, as both of us were sleepy from the wind and sun \u2013 and our red faces were visible proof.\u00a0 They served THE most delicious creamed potato and roasted garlic soup, which would have been enough with some bread, but we did also indulge in the perch dinner again.\u00a0 This time, we each had only one drink (wine for me, beer for Steve) and passed on dessert.\u00a0 And now we\u2019re wondering if 10:00pm is too early to go to bed…<\/p>\n Even though we have to head home tomorrow, we still have the whole day ahead of us and we have some ideas on how to make the most of it.<\/p>\n Well, we sure weren\u2019t in any hurry to get out of bed and get going today \u2013 again.\u00a0 So we missed the continental breakfast \u2013 again!\u00a0 But the Roxy Diner welcomed us back with open arms and we ended up having lunch (as it was close to noon by the time we finally got there).<\/p>\n I could tell you that we roamed through the ice caves of Crystal Beach<\/a>, or visited the historic village of Sparta, or strolled through the snow-covered forests of the Springwater or Archie Coulter Conservation Areas \u2013 tres romantique\u2026\u00a0 As you might guess by now, we didn\u2019t engage in any of these wonderful activities so perhaps another visit back to this neck of the woods (so to speak) is in order.\u00a0 We did drive along the Talbot Trail, which took us along the water\u2019s edge as far as Port Dover. We saw miles and miles of frozen lake, and miles and miles of wind turbines.\u00a0 We chatted and sang, sang and chatted, and eventually made our way back home just before the sun set.<\/p>\n Six days ago I didn\u2019t know I\u2019d be whisked away.\u00a0 Six days ago I didn\u2019t know I\u2019d be wined, dined, massaged, musically entertained, and just basically pampered and catered to.\u00a0 Six days ago I knew Steve was\u00a0a great guy and, at the end of it all, he\u2019s still my\u00a0Valentine.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I seem to recall saying something around the same time last year about not celebrating Valentine\u2019s Day, but we did.\u00a0 And here we are preparing for what promises to be another lovely weekend away \u2013 starting in less than 72 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":[19,41,42,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-777","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blue-rodeo","category-port-stanley","category-spa","category-valentines"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maureensmusings.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777","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=777"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/maureensmusings.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":809,"href":"https:\/\/maureensmusings.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777\/revisions\/809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maureensmusings.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maureensmusings.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maureensmusings.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a> \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a> \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0 <\/a><\/p>\n<\/a> \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a> \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/a><\/p>\n<\/a> <\/a> <\/a><\/p>\n<\/a> <\/a> <\/a>\u00a0 <\/a>\u00a0 <\/a><\/p>\n