New York!

(again)

 

Ok, it was that time of the month again so we headed off to Niagara Falls New York for Jo-Anne's allergy shot. After a lengthy line at the border at the Lewisville bridge we ended up at our destination for the night. Hah! Actually we love anything concerning Paris or France, but this one near the Falls wasn't it, but I couldn't resist the pic.



 

We did decide to stay at the Red Coach Inn right next to the American Falls and the park on the US side. This B&B Inn was built in 1923 and had tremendous character, super service, not to mention the perfect location to get to the American side of the Falls.

As you turned around from the above picture you were greeted by the Niagara River in all its roaring glory as it races to the edge just beyond the bridge in the photo below. The buildings in the profile below are on the Canadian side.

In our well appointed room was a fridge with a plate of cheese and crackers, a split of champagne, and some sparkling water, all free to use.  After the snack and at dinner time we headed over to the Griffon Gastropub we have described before; now our favorite dinner place in Niagara Falls on the US side.

There, we split their Chicken waffle sandwich and added a side of bacon jam bruschetta. The chicken waffle was constructed of two waffle halves filled with a baked buttermilk panko chicken crusted chicken breast, jalapeno coleslaw, smoked bacon, cheddar cheese, and drizzled with maple mayo. Yup!

Coming back to the hotel we walked the short distance over to the falls escarpment for spectacular views of the roaring torrent. While the view on the US side isn't as complete as across the way, it is still something in the sunset.

After a quiet comfortable night we went to the restaurant in the Inn for their free breakfast. The restaurant sits at the front of the Inn just next to the entranceway in the photo of the front of the place.

The massive fireplace as you come into the restaurant above and then the quaint bar below; perfect.

The interior is remarkable 1923 and gorgeous with leaded glass and original woodwork. This is the breakfast room and there is more seating visible through the windows and even more on a porch outside where you can hear the roar of the falls.

Breakfast was eggs Benedict for Jo and for me a crab omelet stuffed with asparagus and mozzarella cheese; all done to perfection.

Sitting at the table and looking out the window we could just see the Embassy Suites hotel with its red top on the other side through the plume where we had stayed with the kids two years ago and looked in this direction and wondered what the other side was like.

While there is much less to see and do on the American side, the Red Coach Inn and Gastropub made our trip this month a really memorable one. Back next month for the final shot!

 

RV Life!

 

Last week we got our dose of RV problems. First, the main TV is still in the shop and the repairs got complicated, then the water heater quit, and finally the toilet backed up ... fun on the road!

 

Ok why are we parked in the parking lot of the Molson's Hockey Arena in Barrie? Well, as I said the TV quit talking to us and so we took it out and took it to the authorized repair facility in Barrie in the trunk of the car. Fine. A week later after several phone calls to both the repair guys and the insurance company we came to a stalemate. The extended warrantee on the bus covers the TV but the repair person must personally verify the mileage on the Flying Scotsman. To keep from incurring an additional $75 service call to the bus 15 miles from the store, I agreed to meet the service dude in this parking lot with the RV, within sight of the electronic shop in the picture below. Emilio and I had our clandestine meeting in the parking lot, he looked at the odometer, and we parted ways ... gotta love insurance policies.

 

In theory the malfunctioning main board will be replaced for about 200CDN shortly and we will pick it up at the repair place ... Northern Electronic Repair ... very good folks and super patient with extended warrantee personnel. 

 

As the Flying Scotsman was free of its tethers and it was a pretty day, I then ran it up to Midland, 24 miles to our north, to get fuel and propane ... closest propane to Barrie. We took on 44 gallons of diesel at $3.24 after conversions, not bad; and 18 gallons of propane at $2.59. Ready to roll!

 



Same day, new challenge. Jo-Anne went to take a shower and the water was lukewarm. Man! I tested it and it ran about 100 degrees ... not much more than a normal Texas summer day, eh.

I went through all the normal stuff like testing the element, etc. Even let it heat on gas instead of electric ... same result ... warm. I opened up the heater and let the water out just to make sure there was no sludge in the bottom of the tank ... clean ... but wait, the water in the tank roared out of the bottom at 140 degrees ... so the tank was working fine.

But why wasn't hot water getting to the sinks and shower? The culprit is in the photo below. Having run out of options I got on line and in a super YouTube video from a veteran RVer he explained what to watch for with the outside shower pictured below.

If you use this thing for many outside cleanup tasks like I do, make sure you turn off both faucet knobs at the top of the picture and don't use the simple turnoff switch on the shower head itself. For some reason if you just turn off the shower wand and leave the faucets open it allows cold water to mix through the valve assembly and you get cool water in the house. Wow. Thanks to YouTube and the Internet and it saved an expensive trip to the RV dealer.

And finally, just to make sure that my day wasn't challenging enough, the toilet backed up. This was more of a normal thing in Flying Scotsman I and yet this RV has been very free of this problem. Just too much stuff and not enough water going through the system to keep it flowing well. About an hour of vigorous pushing of an old hose through the pipe got us flowing again.

Hot shower, functional toilet, and maybe a functional TV ... what more do you need. Oh yeah, next week we run over to New York for Jo-Anne's monthly allergy shot.

Canada Vacation Ending

 

While it was way too quick the kids and grand kid only had a few days to spend with us old guys in Canada. We had done a bunch of neat things with them over the week and as they were to leave from Toronto we thought we'd go back to the African Lion Safari about 20 miles to the west of Toronto, and then they could go to the airport from there.

 

We had taken Leighanne there when she was young and so it was fun to go back when she now has her own young one.

 

As we came into the park we hit their signature area of the animal safaris and spent a bunch of time gawking at the expanse of African creatures grazing as they would be in their homeland savannah. While we spent a bit of time doing this, which was of interest to the adults at a leisurely pace, grandson Ev quickly bored with the slow pace and was ready for more.

 

So we took another train ride which was really great through the forest and ponds on the park and fortunately went by the elephant venue and said, "hey let's go for a ride."

Once there we were loaded up on Maggie's back by the very patient handlers and helpers and took off on the ride.

This was a first for all the passengers and Maggie plodded along the path with the handler giving quiet comments to the beast, which she obeyed almost immediately ... really cool ... even pausing when he said, "picture time Maggie," and she stopped and posed.

The park was vastly improved over the last 30+ years, including an awesome water splashpark, animal shows, train rides, and much more. The water part of the park is worth the entry fee alone if you come prepared with suits and all the water stuff.

Earlier during the visit we also celebrated niece Danni's birthday with a Bar B Q at the Waterford where great g'pa Bill lives. They let us use a very private room which really looked like a private dining room/kitchen and they supplied the decoration and service and we supplied the meal.

And then a really neat dialog between Ev and great g'pa. We had brought out an album of Ev baby pictures and leading up to about a year ago and it was neat to watch.

There's about 90 years between these two as the younger explains to the elder who everyone in each photo is including himself as a baby. We hadn't seen him go through photos like this and maintain the concentration and story telling with someone older ... priceless!

Beach Time

 

 

Having a really neat day at about 75 degrees and beautiful we decided to take the kids up to Wasaga Beach. Wasaga is about 20 miles to our northwest and is advertised to be "the longest freshwater beach in America."

 

Jo-Anne spent a lot of time there during the times her dad was stationed at CFB Borden. They would rent a cottage at Wasaga and she has many memories of this beach ... only then you could drive a car down the hard packed sand and park it where you wanted to enjoy the sun and sand as a teenager.

 



 

Here's Ev in his glory using dad as a springboard to leap into the clear fresh water of Georgian Bay. The water doesn't get more than waist deep for more than 300 yards out into the bay ... really cool unless you want to swim of course. Hey no jellyfish!

And then pop and the kid creating some neat sand castles.

Until Brooks finds out how gravity works and goes feet over head in the shallow water ... fun!

Then I thought I'd try the zoom feature on the camera as Ev was quite a long distance from the shore ... again only a few feet deep but a long way out from us but clear in his moose floater.

 

And then as Brooks kept saying, "Its sooo cold .... cold ... so cold!"

Yep, they, or whatever you are looking at do shrink up in the cold water!

Toronto

 

 

On the 26th we decided to take the kids and grandkid down to Toronto and then go over to the islands just off the coast to the south. We had never been and being Sunday and the weather at 75ish and clear we said, "let's go."

 

As we got there the ferry line contained about 1000 people so we opted for a water taxi for about $3 more and no one in line ... cool. 

 

Below is the Toronto skyline from the boat as we approached the island. There are three islands just to the south of Toronto; one has the city airport, the other has a yacht club and marina, and the center island, our destination, has an amusement park, beach, pirate venture, and many walking paths and picnic areas.



 

Once into the amusement park we let Ev pick his choice of rides. His real fascination is with trains and this one was a long ride through some older weeping willows and other mature trees through the island. This park has been here since the 1800's and is a favorite for the folks in Toronto to escape some summer heat.

And old Grandpa acting like he is 5. Actually it was a pretty good log ride and Ev was really unhappy at this point by the amount of water that his Gramps had splashed on him in addition to what washed over the front of the log. Good fun on a warm day in some really neat shade trees.

Ev in his little boy glory driving the car and clanging the bell ... this ride probably not changed much in over 100 years.

And then in a more somber moment looking at the swans and their new young ones ... he doesn't pause much, but this was a cool moment.

On the way back to the city waiting for the ferry to the left of the picture you can see the relationship to the city. About a 15-20 minute ride on the ferry but you get the iconic views of Toronto that you just can't get while matching bumpers with the 3 million residents over there.

Center Island is a must do location for a weekend if you are in Toronto, especially with kids. Even without the young ones it was a really neat location for a day in the park with wildlife and picnics and we were glad Ev had talked us into this one ... especially when you feel that you are in this oasis so far ... but so close to so many people.

 

The vacation begins with animal time.

 

The kids got into Toronto on time and into the RV at the KOA. After a night of trying to get used to the RV life with noises, different beds, small space, etc., we headed off to the local zoo for a starter adventure.

 

We have been to the Elmvale Jungle Zoo before and were impressed with the number of zoo type animals in a small county place. As opposed to the larger metropolitan zoos, in this local place you can get right next to all the animals and feed them up close and personal.

 

 

 

Everett at first was hesitant to feed the critters but got into the act as he is here feeding an alpaca.

And then a very new baby goat.

But when the mama goat licked a bit too much ... poor Ev said, "Mom, the goat tongue is yucky!"

Taking a break from the animals we headed downtown Barrie for some food. We had heard about the grilled cheese emporium on the main street.

This place was a super hit with both the adults and kid as the variety of grilled cheese sandwiches was awesome ... never thought you could do so many things with the genre ... only item on the menu; I mean mac and cheese in a grilled cheese .... wow.

And the grandson with the sign out front advertising his approval for this neat eatery.

The Kids Are Coming!

 

In planning for Leigh, Brooks, and grandson Ev's arrival here in Barrie this summer, we decided to let them have the Flying Scotsman and we moved us seniors over to a B & B about a mile from the KOA. We have driven by this place many times over the last several years and admired the house and horse property. It was about $100CDN a night or about $80 US ... not bad considering the cabin we had put the kids up in years prior was $200CDN a night.

 

This is the Hackney Horse Bed and Breakfast owned by Henne and Frank who are avid horse lovers.

 

 

The 140 acre property is gorgeous and there are 15 carriage horses on the place. We got a queen bed room with bath on the lower floor at the front, just to the right of the porch in the photo above. The fixtures and finishings are quite new and all inspired by European design and function and has central heat and air. Every morning you are greeted with Henne and her special crepes including all the fruit, sugar, yoghurt, and any other toppings you could ever want; if you want eggs she's cooking what you want!

Below is a shot of one of the horse pastures to the rear of the place, looking from the patio, and Henne has put in a full time effort to keep the flowers this beautiful.

Coming out of our bedroom and looking out the front door we were greeted every morning with this view of the beautiful horses grazing in one of the front pastures.

We got into the B & B the night before the kid's arrival, to get our stuff out of the RV and over to the new place, get the cat to his hotel for the night, then allow us the next day on the 23rd of July to go to Toronto and pick them up and get them over to the RV to settle in for the next week of fun and touring central Ontario.