I woke up early again to go to the gym and get my workout in before starting the day’s events. This was again followed by the morning coffee routine.

Breakfast

As we’re almost ready to leave the hotel and get started with the wine tasting, my mother-in-law discovers her wallet is missing. We take apart the room and can’t find it. We double check the car and it’s not there either. At this point we begin to retrace steps to see where she had it last. I start calling places beginning with where we were last. I was on phone duty since my mother-in-laws phone wasn’t working in Canada for some reason.

While all of this was going on Maura was trying to get her Integrity Toys convention reservations for our October trip to Florida. This was all another hassle going on at the same time. The hotel internet wasn’t working fast enough and we later found out that someone in Russian had accidentally crashed the servers.

Everything ended up working out though as Maura got her reservations and we located the wallet. After calling Creekside, and being remembered by the lady that answered the phone, I called Conversations cafe where she had dropped her purse. They fortunately had it and had tried to call to alert her. However, since her phone wasn’t working, we didn’t get the messages.

So back to Conversations Cafe to reclaim the wallet. This cut into our day a bit as it was about an hour’s drive there and back.

Once back in the Niagara-on-the-lake region we decided to try a new winery that had opened up. Big Head wines has a huge facility and you might miss the entrance trying to find the parking lot. Once in we were offered two types of tastings. We could go with a an a la carte method or we could sit through their pairing that takes about an hour and costs $60. We had other wineries to try so we went with the a la carte method. We didn’t end up buying anything but we’ll definitely make a stop in the future.

From there we found ourselves at Frog pond. They are an all organic winery that we’ve never seen before but we were off our typically beaten path by this point. In the parking lot you can see some of the farm animals they keep including a rooster and some goats.

By this point we figured it was time to have my mother-in-law actually taste some ice wine. The nearest place with the best rating was Ice house. That’s all they make is ice wine and they have some very unique flavors. We did a tasting there but didn’t hang around for long as there wasn’t really any seating and ice wine is too sweet to drink a lot of.

Continuing on the road we were on took us to Coyotes run. This place I liked and will need to stop back at some point. They have the same wine made from two different types of soil for you to sample so you can see what a difference it can make.

We wanted to stop by one of the most impressive looking wineries and one of the first ones Maura and stopped at on our first trip. Southbrook is hard to miss as you’re driving by. The main building has a long wall that extends almost to the road. The whole complex is built to be environmentally friendly. The offer an amazing view of the vineyards and they have some great wines.

Maura bought the last bottle of a wine made with orange peels.

We had one more wine stop left in us and that was one of my favorites as well.

Jackson triggs has a an impressive entrance from the road that looks a little like barbed wire until you realize that it is just the grape vines. We did a tasting of course and bought a bottle.

By now we were in the mood for some lunch. We decided on The Pie Plate. It was another new place for us and we weren’t sure what to expect. We missed it the first time we drove by but eventually found it. The food was good and I was able to grab a beer. Something I was craving after so much wine.

Then we headed back to the hotel to take a break. We had dinner plans in Buffalo. My mother-in-law’s birthday was coming up so we wanted to do something special. What she didn’t know was that two of her friends from Pittsburgh were going to drive up and meet us in Niagara but there was an issue with their passports so they couldn’t cross the border. Maura, in her sneaky, behind-the-scenes way, worked to find and reserve a new spot.

The place she chose has a good reputation apparently as the border guard knew of it when I told her where we were going.

Buffalo Proper is like a lot of places we like. They have a unique atmosphere and are a combination of restaurant and great bar. We all had a great time and my mother-in-law was greatly surprised to see her friends. The food was great and we ended the trip on a high note before driving back across the border and resting up for our return trip in the morning.