Road Trip - Ottawa

We recently had a quick weekend away in Ottawa.  The main purpose of the trip was to see a concert, but we decided to make a weekend out of it! 

As we drove the 401 East of Toronto, I started looking for interesting craft beer and cider stops along the way.  We were lucky to find Empire Cider Co. just off the highway near Trenton. 

This is a tiny operation out of a garage, but they make lovely cider.  We tasted all the varieties and grabbed some bottles to take home.  

Next, we wanted to stop for lunch and found Signal Brewery near Belleville.  This is a brand new brewery in the old Corbyville Distillery, and it's gorgeous!  

They were out of a few of their beers, but the ones we tried were tasty.  They have a huge, beautiful patio overlooking the Moira river, and plenty of seating indoors.  

The food was great too! We had chicken and waffles and pork belly bao buns. 

Once we arrived in Ottawa we wanted to check out some more craft beer.  We headed to Tooth and Nail Brewing in the Hintonburg area of Ottawa. It's a great little brew pub in a fun neighbourhood.

They have their own beer on tap, which Matt really enjoyed, plus craft beer and cider from other breweries, and a nice menu of tasty sandwiches.   

We checked in to our hotel, the Andaz Ottawa Byward Market.  We really loved this hotel.  It is right in the centre of the best neighbourhood in Ottawa for restaurants and bars, and easy walking distance to Parliament and other attractions. 

We walked around Byward Market and took a tour of the Royal Canadian Mint, which was really interesting!  They don't produce currency at this location, but they do make collector coins out of gold and silver.  They have a great gift shop too!

For dinner, we headed to one of the top craft beer destinations in Ottawa, which also happened to be across the street from our hotel in Byward Market, Brothers Beer Bistro.   The beer selection, cocktails, food and service were awesome!

I had rainbow trout with Israeli couscous, romesco, rapini and preserved lemon. It was delicious!  Matt had pulled duck poutine and he loved it.  

The next morning we had brunch at the King Eddy in Byward Market. 

Matt had chicken & waffles and I had a great burger. 

Before heading home, we crossed the bridge to Gatineau, Quebec, where there is an amazing horticultural sculpture exhibit that's free to the public until October 15, 2017. 

Part of Canada150 celebrations, MosaiCanada fills a public park with huge plant sculptures depicting Canadian history and culture.  

It's really amazing! 

We had a wonderful time in the Ottawa region and it left us wondering why we don't visit more often.  We'll definitely be back!  

Road Trip - Bayfield, Ontario

Wow, it's been a while since there's been a new post on this blog! Since we moved last December there has been lots going on and now that it's summertime, we're really enjoying our new yard and garden. 

This is one of the things we've been spending time on.  Our house's previous owner planted beautiful perennial gardens so every week brings a new surprise.  

But last weekend we decided to take a break from our garden and head on a little road trip to Bayfield, Ontario.  Bayfield is a little village on the shores of Lake Huron, between Goderich and Grand Bend.  It's only about an hour from home.  We've been there on day trips several times but this time we stayed overnight at The Little Inn of Bayfield, located right on Main Street in the centre of town. 

The Little Inn is an historic property recently under new ownership and it was a perfect place to stay. We had a little room with a king sized bed on the second floor. Service at the front desk was beyond friendly and helpful. In fact, service was absolutely fantastic everywhere we went in the Inn and its restaurants and bars. 

The first thing we did when we arrived was make a beeline to the Inn's weekly Backyard BBQ, every Saturday this summer from 11:30 am until 3:30 pm or until the food is gone. It's all you can eat for $19.99 per person and the food was surprisingly delicious!  We had pulled pork, ribs, chicken, brisket, corn, potato salad, pasta salad, coleslaw, amazing biscuits, and even pie for dessert. 

We also ordered some craft beer for Matt and a bourbon sour for me.  The BBQ is served outside in a lovely back garden with plenty of sun and shade. The service was once again terrific, especially from the young man handling the grill.

Next we headed for a walk down Main Street, which is great for shopping.  And then we walked down to the marina and main beach.  There are three beaches in Bayfield and we had a lovely time swimming in the lake.

For dinner we headed to the Black Dog Village Pub. We've had lunch here many times and we were looking forward to being able to stay longer and enjoy their extensive beer and cocktail list.  Unfortunately, service wasn't quite up to their normal standards so we were only able to order one cocktail each with dinner.  

The food was fantastic though!  This cauliflower & quinoa salad was so good I can't wait to attempt to make it myself. 

After dinner we were still thirsty so we headed to the Ashwood Inn's bourbon bar.  This place has been nicely renovated and has a huge patio.  

We headed back to our Little Inn for one last cocktail in their wonderful bar.  

We had a great sleep and in the morning we were delighted to find that breakfast was included with our room rate.  The breakfast buffet had eggs, bacon, sausage, cold meats and cheeses, excellent chicken and roasted vegetables, salads and desserts, plus juice and coffee. It was an unexpected treat. 

Before leaving Bayfield we stopped at the cutest bird store I've ever seen. Porter's Hill has a great selection of bird feeders and seed, plus other great gifts. And the service is extremely knowledgeable and friendly.  We will be back here for sure. 

On the way home we stopped by one of our favourite places, Twin Pines Cider House. We've been here several times but were pleased to see they now they have a new tasting room on the main floor.  We picked up some cider and glasses and headed home. 

It's so great to have such a wonderful getaway so close to home. Bayfield is definitely close enough for a day trip, but it was very relaxing to stay overnight. We will be back soon for sure!  

  

Trip Report - Akumal Bay Beach & Wellness Resort, Mexico

When Matt and I travel, it's usually not exactly relaxing. We generally like to explore new places like San Diego, Iceland or Nashville, and end up walking or driving a lot. Or we go to Las Vegas which is always fun and exciting but not exactly restorative.  

We took this picture right in front of our resort!

This time we decided to indulge our love of swimming and snorkeling and visit an all inclusive resort. We did some research and looked for places that had good snorkeling right off the beach so we wouldn't have to take excursions away from the resort to snorkel. We read about Akumal Bay, which means "place of the turtles" in Mayan. It's a sea turtle feeding ground and nesting area, and the bay is generally always calm enough for snorkeling right off the beach.  We couldn't say no to snorkeling with sea turtles so we booked it!

Road Trips: Winter/Spring 2015

We've taken several short trips so far this year but I realized I haven't mentioned them much here on the blog. So it's time to fix that!

Back in December we took a drive back to Lexington, Kentucky for a few days for Matt (the Beer Baron)'s birthday. He had a fantastic time at Beer School at the Beer Trappe where he tried plenty of beer and met some friendly locals. 

Southern USA Road Trip - Asheville, North Carolina

When planning our road trip to Nashville, we discovered that Asheville, North Carolina was not too far from our route, so we decided to make a little detour to check it out for one night.

Asheville is located in the Blue Ridge Mountains and has been named the best beer city in the USA many times.  There are over a dozen craft breweries and great restaurants in the town so it seemed like the kind of place we'd enjoy.  

We stayed at the Aloft Asheville hotel located right downtown.  We loved this hotel - from the decor to the service to the location.  The rooftop pool even has a nice view of the mountains.  

Our first stop was a quick lunch at White Duck Taco's new location downtown, right across from our hotel.  We tried the Banh Mi Tofu, Bangkok Shrimp, Korean Beef Bulgogi and Fish tacos.  They were all great but the shrimp and fish were our faves.  Every place in town sells local craft beer so we had some here too.  

Then we headed down the street to Wicked Weed Brewing.  They have a great brewery and restaurant right downtown.  Matt tried the Black Angel black sour cherry ale and it was his favourite beer of the whole trip.  He tried a few other kinds of beer in their downstairs tasting room and bought some bottles to bring home.  

We headed back towards our hotel and stopped for a coffee at this coffee bus.  Matt had a "shot in the dark" which is a brewed coffee with an espresso shot in it!  I had a dirty iced chai.  It was just what we needed to keep us going through the evening. 

We visited several other pubs and got some pizza for dinner.  It was a great night and a very fun town.  

When I do research for our trips one place I always look for information is the travel section of the New York Times.  The next morning we headed for breakfast in West Asheville to one of their recommended places, Biscuit Head.  

This meal was insane.  I had fried chicken on a biscuit with sweet potato butter, sriracha slaw and a fried egg on top!  Matt had a country ham biscuit with scrambled eggs, cheese, fried green tomatoes, and red eye gravy which is made with coffee!  We also ordered an extra plain biscuit so we could try the butter & jam bar.  We tried jalapeno butter, orange chocolate butter and banana butter with chunks of banana in it.  We also had cherry Dr. Pepper jam and green chili jam.  Outstanding!

We were sad to leave Asheville and wished we had more time to spend there.  But even the drive out of town and back to Tennessee was gorgeous on the Blue Ridge Parkway through twisting mountain roads.  A fantastic detour.  We will be back!