A DAY AT NIAGARA-ON-THE-LAKE (WITH A BABY)

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For all the times I have made a trip out east, I surprisingly have never visited Niagara-On-The-Lake.

So this time, with our very last-minute planned trip to Toronto, I was adamant that we fit a visit to ice wine country into our schedule.

Here was the plan:

• Get up very early in the morning
• Grab breakfast at some trendy spot in downtown T.O.
• Leisurely drive out to Niagara-On-The-Lake
• Tour and taste at 3-4 different wineries
• Enjoy a late lunch on some cute patio overlooking some vineyards
• Cap the day off by taking in the magnificent Niagara Falls

Yea…that is NOT at all how things went down. I was very ambitious with my plans, considering that we had to incorporate the schedule of an 8-month old. Is this a new parents thing? Just a bit ambitious with most things, not realizing that baby will more than likely dictate the schedule?

Baby Badau slept in later than usual, probably due to the really long travel day the night before. This coupled with trying out my new laissez faire attitude (because, you know…that’s pretty chic.), resulted in us not leaving our accommodations until about noon!

Still feeling like we can do it all, we drove over to ultra cool Lady Marmalade to try to catch brunch. After finding a parking spot, paying for it, and waiting in line to be seen by the hostess, we finally conceded that it wasn’t smart to spend any more minutes of our day in the city. So, we Google Mapped the closest Tim Horton’s and made our way toward it.

Unfortunately, the closest Tim Horton’s was in the core of downtown Toronto. Far from ideal, but we didn’t realize how non-ideal this was until we were about 5 minutes away from the location, realized it wasn’t a drive-thru, and remembered that it was lunch time rush hour!

So this idea was abandoned as well and I thought I would be really smart in Google Mapping a Tim Horton’s along the way just off the Expressway for a quick pop through. Except that this led us to a Tim Horton’s kiosk inside a movie theatre where they only serve a limited menu. *palm in face*

Two ham and cheddar sandwiches later, our raging hanger was cured and we removed our feet from each other’s necks. And we were (merrily) on the road again.

What an ordeal!

20 minutes away from our destination, Baby Badau woke up screaming. Most likely from sitting in his car seat for much longer than he comfortably needed to. So, bring on another detour to a roadside gas station for about 15 minutes to feed and calm him down.

OK. So how about some Niagara-On-The-Lake now! Our one day plan for wine country now clearly truncated to a half day. The plan of touring 3-4 wineries turned into only one and we had to make our selection count. So we chose Jackson Triggs Estate Winery simply because we like their wines. No sophisticated, educated thought about it here. Just familiarity. Hey, this trip seems to still be salvageable…

We were so lucky to catch the very last tour of the day. Our guide was very talkative and down to earth, and we learned a lot about how the unique climates caused by the vineyard’s proximity to Lake Ontario helps to create world-class white and ice wines. Peppered generously throughout this educational experience was the chance to sip on four different wines.

Can I just take this moment to shout out Ergo Baby!? I’m in love with this carrier. Baby Badau loves the forward facing position which allows him to see the world. And no one on the tour even batted an eye that I had a baby strapped to me.

We personally ended our tour with further tastings in the salon. After sipping on about 6 more wines, we walked away with two wood crates with the intent to display the empty case on the shelves of our future home bar. We travel pretty light, so we’ll have to worry about the shipping back to Calgary later. YOLO!

After such a lovely afternoon indulging in wine, we stopped at the neighbouring big red barn – Oast House Brewers – for a late lunch (basically supper) on their patio. The Barnyard Brisket is a must-try when you’re here!

Thank goodness for our Guzzie & Guss Perch Chair. We love that we can pop this thing onto any table, it takes up zero floor space, and baby can be right in on all the action with us like a real human. We definitely feel hip and ultra cool when using it.

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Since it was so late in the day already, unfortunately we didn’t have time to stroll through historic downtown. Such a shame! This is something that we’ll have to make a priority next time we’re here.

We did take the scenic route through town toward the Falls, though. I fell in love with Niagara-On-The-Lake on this drive and can totally see us retiring here! It’s so quaint and beautiful.

Finally, we make it to the Falls as planned, except that neither of us were dressed accordingly. It’s COLD AF here! So after $20 for parking and a $100+ spend on hoodies that we will never wear again, we spent a short while checking out the scenery and then hopped into our vehicle for the drive back to Toronto.

I would not have been able to do this trip and enjoy it without my ErgoBaby Omni 360 baby carrier. This carrier is a MUST for any parents who refuse to slow down after having a baby. Just pop him in and take him with you wherever you go! Realistically, of course, he’s still our boss and life fully revolves around him. But hey. We gave it the good ol’ college try!

Next time we head out east, we’ll do another trip to Niagara-On-The-Lake and plan to check out these other notable wineries

• Wayne Gretzky Estates Winery – this facility is also a distillery and looks really cool and modern. The Wine, Whisky & Beer tour looks like a great place to start. The other one I think would be a must do is the Whisky Bartender: Cocktails 101 tour because I’m a sucker for a hands-on instructional experience.
• Peller Estates Winery – they offer a tour that takes you through their vineyard which includes tastings and food pairings. Their sunset winery tour also looks incredibly romantic and offers a different experience.
• Two Sisters Vineyards – the twilight tour looks fantastic, and ends with an Italian inspired picnic.
• Stratus Vineyards – this winery has some pretty unique tours. The food and wine lab seems like it will be an interesting experience, with one hour of discovery regarding salt, sugar, acid, fat and protein work with your glass of wine. Stratus also has a tour that partners with Oast House where you taste wine and beer to note the differences and similarities between the two.
• Inniskillin Wines – I know Inniskillin for its ice wines, and while I’m not a big fan of this ultra sweet wine, I think it is still a must to taste and learn about ice wine when you’re in the Niagara region.
• Chateau des Charmes – I love anything French, and this estate gives me all the south of France vibes.

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