Coffee, Wine and Tea

 

Our last day to tour - so it's a coffee, wine and tea day!!

 

We knew we were heading about 1/2 hour north so checked out a couple of places in Lockport to have coffee - one place we couldn't find and the other place wasn't open on weekends - are you kidding?????  A coffee place that isn't open on weekends????  I've never heard of that!!  But while we were looking for the one coffee place, we discovered we were right at the Erie Canal!!  And I fondly sang the song I remembered from elementary school -(and Patty and Teri remembered it too!!) - I've got a mule her name is Sal, 15 miles on the Erie Canal - She's a good ole' worker and a good ole' gal, 15 miles on the Erie Canal!!  Now just put a little tune to that and you're all set!!

 

We walked on one of the widest bridges in the world, and yes it was HUGE!!!

 

Here's a picture of the actual Erie Canal - there were lots of facts and figures about it but of course I've forgotten them...........

We ended up having coffee at Panera Bread - not real original I know but that's all we could find!!  Then we were off to the Black Willow Winery!  It was a nice place and after the loud, crazy gals that were in there left, we had a nice relaxing tasting!!  Mark this down now - Becky bought a bottle of wine to bring back!!!  Yes, I loved it and it was sweet which is right down my alley!

Next we headed towards Murphy Orchards which we discovered was very near Lake Ontario so we drove up to the lake to take a peek at it - it was cool and windy out and there were lots of whitecaps on the water - BRRRRRR!!!

We arrived at the orchard farm and went into the old brick house that has been partially restored for our "tea".  The house was built in 1850 and is a neat old house - the owners are restoring it room by room!

There were 3 different tea rooms and we chose the one with the fireplace!  The table was set very nicely and Patty and Teri ordered their tea while I opted for apple cider - and let me say it was the BEST apple cider I have ever tasted!!  Yes, they sell the package of spices for it and I bought 4 packs!

Our dainty sandwiches soon arrived along with our water which was served in the tiny coca cola glasses - how cute!

Besides a tray full of bite size desserts - 5 for each of us - they served the best scones I have ever tasted with homemade cherry jelly and whipped cream - it was all so delicious!!

They also have a nice little store in one of the rooms where I purchased some jelly!

After our tea, we headed out to the barn where loads of apples, veggies, honey, jam, jelly and all kinds of things were on display to purchase!  And in the back room were all types of antiques, along with a concealed room (which was beneath the barn) where you can view the entrance - it's believed that the owners of the home helped smuggle slaves into Canada - very interesting!

Heading to the next winery, we saw a lot of fruit trees and this particular one was still loaded with bright red apples!!

The Honeymoon Trail Winery was our next stop - a fun place where we had a really nice guy who chatted with us during our wine tasting!

Onto the next winery - A Gust of Sun - the cutest place that is fashioned after an Amish barn!  They had a beautiful upstairs room as a place you could sit with a glass of wine and a very unique bathroom that was shaped like part of a barrel!!  The girl who waited on us said we had a choice of 4 tastings for $3.00 or 5 tastings along with CHOCOLATE pairings for $5.00 - gosh, guess which one we chose????  Even though none of the wines were really my favorites, eating the chocolates paired with them was quite fun and delicious!!  I think all 3 of us ended up buying the chocolates that day - mine was dark chocolate with raspberry, strawberry and blueberry mixed in!!

I thought this pumpkin display was so cute - everywhere you looked on our drive around the countryside had pumpkin displays!

Our final winery stop was Niagara Landing Wine Cellars - it was probably our least favorite because it was so busy and the guy who waited on us wasn't very friendly!  But we still enjoyed the wine and I had fun at each place, trying to guess the name of the granite at their bars and checking out the fabrication!  I even got some cute ideas for granite cheese boards!

We headed back to the hotel to drop off our packages and decide where to eat dinner that night - of course the restaurant we wanted to eat at was already booked up so we ended up going to Buzzy's for some New York style pizza - it was great!!!  And Patty ordered some tiramisu for her dessert as her birthday was just a few days away - HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

And that was our Niagara Falls Adventure Trip!!!  We headed to the airport the next morning and all flew home to our respective destinations!!  It was ONE fantastic trip and the best part was spending it with the 2 best sisters that anybody could ever ask for!!!