I’ve had “write blog post about Ontario” on my to do list for an embarrassingly long amount of time. Sometimes with writing the issue is just sitting down and getting started!

I think the best thing to do at this point is tell you the highlights and share some pictures. We were visiting my sister Leslie and her family in Chautauqua, New York and thought it would be fun to extend our trip by visiting Niagara Falls, and then I got into the idea of camping, and a trip plan was made!

We camped two nights near Niagara Falls at the Niagara Riverside Park Motel and Campground. We had a nice spacious site that was in the back corner. Louie had never been to Niagara Falls before, so we saw the Falls (they are beautiful, but wow the surrounded area is insanely touristy and trashy), and then we did the Hornblower Cruise (formerly Maid of the Mist.) It was fun to be in Canada hearing phrases such as “toonie sized hail” and “sorry.”

The weather was beautiful as far as temperature, but we did have to dodge a few storms. On our second day we did a hike at the Niagara Falls Nature Glen, went to Niagara-on-the-Lake and had lunch (at the Prince of Wales Hotel, VERY GOOD) and walked around, visited a winery (Trius Winery) and sampled some ice wine, and had a delicious dinner at AG Inspired Cuisine (also VERY Good!)

The next morning it was a bit rainy but we managed to pack up. Our next stop was Selkirk Provincial Park for one night, but we took the scenic route and drove by Lake Erie, visited Ridgway for breakfast, Port Colburn for a snack and to see the drawbridge, and finally to the park, where we walked along the beach and did a hike through the woods before setting a fire and relaxing. The birds were unbelievably loud!

The next day we drove to Pinery Provincial Park where we would stay for two nights. This park was much bigger and was on Lake Huron. It was slammed with Canadians in trailers having a good week at the beach! We were stuck in traffic for 45 minutes just to get into the park, but after that it was not so bad.

We walked along the Lake our first night, but the second day we canoed on the River, took a hike and then went to swim in Lake Huron. This didn’t last too long because it was cold and we decided we were took old and tired to try to wait out the cold until we got used to it, but it was invigorating and a lot of fun!

We relaxed by the fire the second night until the rain came, and then it stayed overnight. After several lovely nights where rain was predicted but didn’t show up, we got rain on our last night and ended up having to pack up frantically in the rain and drive to the first restaurant we could find for coffee. Our drive home was uneventful and overall, it was a lovely trip! We got a really good sense of the southwestern part of Ontario and got to see 3 Great Lakes as well as Niagara Falls, and we had some lovely nights camping and enjoying the fresh air.