We got back from our road trip to Niagara on the Lake earlier this week. I’m kind of rubbish at writing trip recaps that take more than one post to get out, so I’m going to put the whole trip in this one post.
Originally when we had planned this road trip, we were going to go to Indiana, Chicago and Niagara: Indiana because that’s where my in-laws are buried and for the Husband to see college friends, Chicago because it’s an awesome city and Niagara because the oldest had wanted to go ever since she was eight or nine and read a Geronimo Stilton book set at Niagara Falls. But then I got a last minute gig and we had to re-think our trip and we ended up cutting out the Chicago portion. The Husband and the kids left for Indiana on a Wednesday while I stayed home to finish out my contract. They visited Grandma and Grandpa’s grave sites, cleaned the tombstones, and then went to visit friends.
The Saturday after my show, I was on a 9:50am flight to Indianapolis. I had a moment of pause when I emerged out of arrivals at IND because this was where my in-laws would always meet us when we flew in to visit them- they were not the “We’ll pick you up outside” type people. They passed away ten years ago and we never fly into IND anymore because – well there’s no one to pick up up anymore so we now just drive to Indiana. Walking out into the arrivals concourse and not seeing their smiling faces just made me so sad for a moment, thinking about how the two younger kids will only know their grandpa and grandma through the memories of other people.
The Husband and kids picked me up and we headed to Bloomington, where the Husband went to college and where we met up with the Husband’s friends. We spent two nights in Bloomington. The first day, we had sandwiches at Dagwood, went to Hot Pot for dinner, then Husband, his friends, and the 9 year old played Role Playing Games deep into the night. (Shadow Run – I have no idea what this was, but from what I overheard, it sounded like people doing mundane things while trying to stay alive.).
The next morning we went to brunch at The Village Deli, where the pancakes were as big as my head. They had a cinnamon roll pancake that featured a swirl of buttery cinnamon goodness cooked into the pancake. Afterwards we wandered around the Indiana University campus, the Husband and his friend pointing out buildings and paths from their college days. The students haven’t returned to campus yet, so it was pretty quiet. There’s something kind of magical about a quiet campus, I think – all the simmering potential and the air that important things are waiting to happen. After stopping for ice cream, we said good-bye to the Husband’s friends and then we wandered around Bloomington for a while, we stopped at a few book stores (The Husband and I bought Alexis Hall’s recent book Hell’s Heart to read together – the Husband likes Science Fiction/space opera, I like Alexis Hall; we’re hoping we both like this book.)
Because we have a weakness for public libraries, we stopped at the Bloomington Public Library. They have a huge children’s section, a nice used book store, and a pretty awesome teen section. The teen room was what impressed me the most; it was a space where kids could truly gather. In addition to books, there was an area where kids could lounge and play MarioKart, there were several craft tables with supplies, there was a wall of ukuleles and guitars… And despite all that (maybe because of?) the room was relatively quiet even though it was filled with teens. I really wished our library had a teen room like that. One of my favorite things was they had a gumball machine that would spit out book recommendations. How fun is that? You turn the knob and a little plastic capsule pops out inside is a folded piece of paper:
We also stopped at a record store. The Husband loves buying vinyl. At the record store, they had a classical music section and I leafed through the albums, taking a trip down memory lane as I saw some albums that I remember from my youth. I think one thing that I lament with the advent of music streaming is the loss of album covers – what a lost opportunity for some great art. Such as these ones:
The record store also had listening stations throughout the store. Do you remember those? I used to love going to Tower Records and putting on a pair of earphones and getting to hear the music right there, close and intimate. The kids were getting a little restless, so I perched them on stools and had them listen to some albums and, surprisingly, it kept them rapt for a good 15-20 minutes. Do you remember just listening to music? No distractions, no multi-tasking?
That night we had Indian food for dinner, picked up some groceries from the Bloomington Co-op, then had an early night.
The next day, we set off for Niagara Falls, by way of Detroit. Why Detroit? Well, the Husband really wanted to try genuine Detroit style pizza. Have you ever had Detroit style pizza? The crust is thick and they put the sauce on top of the toppings. It was very filling for sure.
After lunch, we got on the road again. We made a little unplanned detour in Sarnia, Ontario – the town where I grew up. I started to write about that pit stop, but the post got long and I had so many thoughts, so I’m going to save that for another time. We arrived in Niagara on the Lake around 9pm – enough time to unload the car and turn in for the night.
We had three full days in Niagara, and we managed to pack them very full – perhaps a little bit too full. Here’s how our time in Niagara On The Lake was spent:
Day One: Rental bikes and theatre.
Apparently a big thing to do at Niagara-on-the-Lake is to do a bike tour of the wineries. We aren’t big wine drinkers, but we do like biking. A couple weeks before I had found a place that rented bikes. I wrote them and asked if they also had 20″ and 24″ bikes to rent. The folks at Zoom Bikes got back to me within minutes and said, “Yes!” Zoom Bikes, coincidentally was a ten minute walk from where we were staying, and our first full day in Niagara-on-the-Lake, we walked over at 9:30am and picked up our bikes. I highly recommend Zoom Bikes – the staff there was super friendly and helpful in telling us which routes to take, they provide helmets and bike locks and each bike has a basket and bell. You can do a half day rental (3 hours) or a full day rental (until 8pm.)
We spent most of the day biking the trail alongside Niagara Parkway. The trail would have taken up all the way to Niagara Falls, but we didn’t feel up to doing the whole thing. Instead, we biked for about an hour and a half along the Parkway before turning around and coming back. The trail was nice and smooth and had good views of the Niagara River. On the way back, we stopped at Walker’s Market for sandwiches and baked goods. I had a butter tart, a bit of Canadian deliciousness that I never see in the States.
After lunch, we biked to Fort George National Historic site, a military fortification that was originally completed in 1802 by the British Army. It was largely destroyed during the War of 1812 and very little of the original buildings remain. It was a nice historical stop – they had costumed re-enactors who answered questions and engaged visitors. We watched a musket demonstration, wandered through buildings, ate cookies baked in a hearth oven, walked through a tunnel to a look out tower. The kids had little activity books to fill out.
After Fort George it was a five minute bike ride to Queen’s Royal Park, which was on the mouth of Lake Ontario and had a little strip of beach. We weren’t prepared to go into the water, but the 6 and 9 year old took off their shoes and socks and built dams with rocks while the Husband and the 14 year old relaxed in the shade.
Around 4:00pm, we biked back to Zoom Bikes to return our bikes and head back to our rental house where we rested before our next adventure. I have to say, when I first got the idea for a family bike ride, I was a little nervous about the two little kids, but I would say we biked maybe 10 or 15 miles that day and no one complained. Family bike rides are going to go on our list of vacation activities, I think.
The next adventure as dinner and the theatre. Dinner was at a local Irish Pub (because every city has one, even Kyoto, Japan). After dinner we headed to the Shaw Festival. Ontario has two world renowned summer theatre festivals: The Stratford Festival (which specializes in Shakespeare), and the Shaw Festival (which specializes in works either written in the lifetime of George Bernard Shaw, or set during that time period.) Growing up in Sarnia, we would often go to the Stratford Festival, but we never went to the Shaw Festival. I’ve always wanted to see something at the Shaw Festival, so this was a dream come true.
The theatre complex was stunning. There are two (maybe three?) theatres on the site, with an airy courtyard between the spaces and also a lovely garden out back where patrons can sit and enjoy nature as they wait for their show to start. In the garden, there were trees with poems attached to the trunk, each poem listing the staff member who chose it. I thought that was such a personal touch.
We saw an adaptation of the book Wind in the Willows and it was wonderful. The performances were high energy, the set was clever and inventive, and the show was performed in the round, which always lends a sense of intimacy and immediacy. I don’t go to a lot of straight plays, and I always forget how wonderful it is to see actors playing off each other, finding their own rhythms and paces.
After the play, there was a Q&A with the actors, which we stayed for. It was really fascinating to learn about the unique nature of the Shaw Festival – they are truly a theatre company, where everyone is there for the whole summer and plays parts in multiple shows – they might be a lead in one show and then in the ensemble of another show. I was proud of the kids for asking questions even though it was mostly grown ups who stayed for the Q&A. The family also gave me a hard time for not asking the stage manager (who was moderating the Q&A) a question – I feel bad because they were right, no one ever asks the stage manager questions… I really like theatre that has these audience events – if you ever go to a show that involves an Q&A afterwards, I highly recommend going.
Day Two: Niagara Falls
This was our day in Niagara Falls. We were originally going to take the WeGo bus from NOTL to the Falls, but we couldn’t get the purchase to go through online, so we ended up taking and Uber. Originally I hadn’t wanted to drive in because I had read that the parking can be really difficult and expensive. We later discovered that if you are willing to walk 15 or 20 minutes away from the main drag, you can find parking for $10-$20 for the whole day. If we ever go back to Niagara Falls, we will probably try that option.
Niagara Falls has gotten really developed since I was there as a kid. Back in the 80s and 90s, I remember there being a Ripley’s Believe it or Not and a Wax Museum but that was it for non-falls related entertainment. Now, the Clifton Hill area a few block from the Falls is lit up like a Vegas amusement park and there is no shortage of ways to be entertained or to spend one’s money, both at the Falls itself and at Clifton Hill.
Knowing that there were so many things to do in Niagara, we focused on just two things – the iconic boat ride to the Falls and a visit to the Niagara Parks Power Station with its tunnel to the base of the falls. The Boat Ride is the must do of Niagara and I remember doing this as a child. The Power Station seemed like a really cool perspective of the Falls. Our Uber dropped us off at the Power Station at 11:00am, and we got tickets for the 1pm tour.
To pass the time before the power plant tour, we walked over to take in our first views of the Horseshoe Falls. The Falls are huge. It is a lot of water travelling very fast. Niagara Falls is such a popular destination that it almost feels like a cliche, but seeing it never felt cliched to me – it just felt awesome and almost meditative to watch the water flow and hear it roar. I felt like I could just stand there and watch it forever.
For lunch we had brought some sandwiches from the Budapest Bakeshop in Niagara on the Lake (more on that below), so we found a table outside and ate those before heading to the Niagara Power Station. The Power Station was built in 1906 and then decommissioned in 2005. It is now a museum that combines history and science. Visiting it is great for people who like a little bit of nerdy information with their tourism. It was fascinating to think of how all the water was used to create electricity. The tour even took us up to the original offices of the Power Station and back to one of the control rooms.
The last part of the Power Station visit was a descent down to a tunnel that had been used to feed the water back into Niagara River. The elevator is glass so as it took you down you could see the inner mechanics of the power station. The tunnel now provides a walkway to the shores of the Niagara River where you can get a view of the bottom of the falls.
We spent the rest of our time at the Power Plant exploring the various exhibits – there was a good combination of hands of activities and informative placards. There was an audio tour included with admission, which I’m always down for an audioguide!
Soon it was time to head off to our boat ride. When I was growing up, the boat ride was called The Maid of the Mist, but I’ve learned that Maid of the Mist is actually the boat tour from the American side. The tour from the Canadian side is called merely Niagara City Cruises. We picked up our complimentary red ponchos and boarded the boat. The 6 year old didn’t want to go to the top level, so I rode in the bottom level with her. The views were still stunning, and we got VERY wet. The boat took us past the American Falls and then close to the base off the Horseshoe Falls. It was such a sensory overload of an experience – water spray everywhere, the roar of the water coming down, and the amazing sight of the falls. And on the way back to the dock, we even saw a rainbow!
The boat ride was short – maybe 30 minutes, but I think it was the kids’ favorite activity of the trip. Following the boat ride we headed to dinner. We walked through the very crowded and neon touristy Clifton Hill area to the quieter area a few blocks further away for some Indian food. For some reason Indian food is one of our go tos when we travel – I think we like knowing that the food will be flavorful and we’ll get good vegetarian options.
Afterwards we got some (mediocre) boba and walked back down to the falls. One of my favorite memories of visiting Niagara Falls when I was a kid was when the Falls were illuminated at night. I really wanted to stay for that experience again, which meant staying out a little later than planned since the lights weren’t turned on until 8pm. I have to say, when the lights were turned on we were still half an hour until sunset and the skies were still bright, so the effect was a little underwhelming, but as the skies got darker, the lights on the falls became more saturated. It wasn’t as magical as when I was growing up, but it was still really pretty to see.
Around 9pm, we hopped in an Uber back to our house, we were all exhausted from our big day of walking and adventures.
Day Three – Hiking and Small Town Shopping and Beach Time:
Our third day started with a walk into town to get our van. Early that morning, the Husband had taken it to a charging station in town and since the parking meters turned on at 10am, we wanted to get the van before we had to pay for parking. It was almost like a mini date! We stopped to pick up a cinnamon sugar chimney cake from The Budapest Bakery – these were a new to me treat – dough is wrapped around thick cylinder and baked. Then the inside of the cylinder can be filled with sweet or savory fillings. (We had bought a bunch of their chimney cake sandwiches the day before to eat at Niagara Falls.)
Then we wandered a little down the street of cute shops. Not much was open before 10am, but one shop that was was Beau Chapeau hat shop. I love hats and had bookmarked this as a place I wanted to visit. The store was FULL of all shapes and sized of hats. And they also had an area where they built and repaired hats. This was a lovely shop and I walked out having indulgently refreshed my hat collection. I can’t wait to wear all my new hats.
After we got back to the house, we decided to head out for a hike. The 14 year old stayed behind, so it was just the Husband, me, and the 6 and 9 year olds. We went to Niagara Glen to visit the Nature Center and go for a hike. The hike took us to some gorgeous vistas of Niagara Gorge.
The hike was quite a bit steeper than I had thought it would be, so even though it was a short hike (maybe 90 minutes round trip), it was pretty intense in parts. We stopped at the halfway point to eat the peanut butter and honey sandwiches that I had brought. After the hike, the 6 and 9 year old changed into our swim suits and headed back to the little beach at Queen’s Royal Park, where we played in the sand and swam in the lake for a couple hours. The kids were really obsessed with building a dam and once I figured out that the water a few meters out was less rocky and actually had a nice sandy floor, I hung out there and swam back and forth. It was a nice cooling way to relax after our hike.
Around 4pm, we walked over to meet up with the Husband and the 14 year old at Balzac’s coffee shop. Next to Blazac’s was Fritters on the Lake, a shop that was recommended multiple times on Reddit (where I get a lot of my travel ideas, tbh.) They make only one thing at Fritters on the Lake – apple fritters. Basically they take apple rings, dip them in batter, fry them, and sprinkle them with cinnamon sugar. They also came with a little container of caramel sauce. The whole thing was divine.
After our snack break, we wandered around Niagara on the Lake for a little bit, checking out the various cute shops. I stopped at the candy store and picked up a bag of licorice – they had salted licorice as well as chalk licorice, two of my favorite kinds. We also stopped at the grocery store to stock up on our favorite Canadian snacks:
Then we picked up gyros and falafel for dinner from Gyros on the Lake (“On the Lake” seems to be a big thing here.) and sat in the nearby park and ate it. The Husband and the 14 year old had tickets to see Funny Girl that evening, so they headed off to the theatre.
We had only planned on one theatre excursion on this trip, but Wind in the Willows was so good that they Husband and 14 year old wanted to see a second show. One of the wonderful things about the Shaw Festival is that student tickets are only $28, so it taking the kids to see theatre didn’t break the bank. They said Funny Girl was also really really good. The show had six understudies going on that evening, which was unusual and the Artistic leader who came out to do the curtain speech gave a shout out to all the technical departments (including stage management!) for pivoting and putting six understudies on. I thought that was pretty cool because techies never get shout out and applause.
Meanwhile the other two kids and I headed back to our rental where we packed and did laundry and had showers and basically had a low key last evening in Niagara On The Lake.
And then we went home….
We went home via the Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, NY, which I would also highly recommend. It’s a museum devoted to, as you would figure, glass – there is both glass art and glass artifacts, and it’s all breath takingly stunning. There are also opportunities to take part in glass activities – we did the sand blasting because the activity was rated for all ages and you could take that home with you right away. The museum also had opportunities to do glass fusing, etching, flame working, and glass blowing. For sand blasting, we used tape and stickers to make a design on glasses and then using sandblasting techniques created a frosted look on the glasses.
After doing our sandblasting project, we took one of the tours then wandered around the museum on our own. The kids really liked the hands on science exhibit and we got to watch someone make a wine glass using flame working technique. I loved how the exhibits were a combination of the exquisite (see below) and the mundane – there was a whole exhibit about Pyrex and Corning ware.
We spent about four hours at the Corning Museum and then got in the car to continue home. We stopped the night in Camp Town, just outside of Harrisburg, PA where we had spent our reading retreat a month ago. It wasn’t a conscious effort to return to Harrisburg, rather it was a convenient place to stop since we like to stay at hotels in the Marriott family. In the morning, we spent an hour wandering around Mechanisburg, including some time in an vintage good store where we found some plates and a table top tennis game for the kids from the 1970s. Then we had lunch at Millworks, the brewery/ artist studio we had visited last time we were here, and grabbed coffee and chai at Denim Coffee, another of our favorite places from our reading retreat. We were on the road again by 2pm and then home by 5:30pm.
It was nice to get home not too late – we unpacked and clean up and ordered pizza and watched The Princess and the Frog for movie night. I had never seen that movie before – it’s delightful.
As nice of an adventure we had over the past week, it felt so cozy to come home and go back to having pizza and movie night.
Grateful For on this trip:
-That we had a safe road trip. And the Husband for driving almost the entirety of the trip. I think we are embracing the road trip as our summer activity. International/ plane travel is great and all, but I think it’s good to also explore what’s just around us.
-That we were able to see friends in Indiana and they made time for us.
-Our Bookings.com host who were super responsive and even sent us a detailed list of places we could charge the van. The house was perfect – we could walk to the cute shops of Niagara on the Lake. The house was well furnished – there were toys and games and craft supplies for the kids. There was a fitness area in the basement so I could go yoga and some strength training. Everything was labelled. I mean everything – light switches, cupboards, drawers. I liked not having to guess where things were. I would definitely stay there again.
-That all three kids are now old enough and proficient enough on bikes that spending a day biking was a feasible plan.
-That our contractor came and fixed our water damaged wall while we were gone and we came home to his beautiful repair job.
-Nature. And the fact that Niagara Falls, despite being a huge tourist destination, is still an amazing natural feature.
-That the kids were in a relatively good mood and got along in the car, mostly.
-Museums. For being full of beautiful and fascinating things.
-That, back home, our friends came over and fed the fish while we were gone.
-Time together with the family.
Well that’s the recap on the trip! I know I usually put our dinners on these weekly recaps, but it’s all in the recap. And if there is no dinner listed, it meant that we ate peanut butter and honey sandwiches and apple slices for dinner. I would say all in all it was a good trip. There were some unbloggable mishaps – not my story to share – but hopefully we got through it all okay. If anything, I would say I would have loved to spend one more day in Niagara on the Lake. The one thing we didn’t have was a lot of down time and NOTL is the perfect setting for some downtime. I’ll remember that for the future because I hope we do go back again.
Have you ever been to Niagara Falls? What kind of activities do you seek out when you travel?