anniversary in niagara

(Some beautiful Christmas decorations along the Falls at night)

All summer I kept saying how I wanted to take Phil to Niagara Falls. He hasn't been since he was very little, and after I went with my sister at the end of June, I remembered how much fun it was and couldn't wait to go with him. We never got a chance to go in the summer, and I was thinking of what would be a great first anniversary present for him, and a friend of mine gave me a great idea when she told me that Groupon was having some amazing deals on hotels in Niagara Falls, and that there's a bunch of stuff you get with the booking of the hotel. So I looked up some different options and finally decided this would be a fantastic anniversary present, and to be able to get away from work for a little bit as it's getting crazy for the holidays.

I told Phil to book off the days from work but what we were doing remained a complete surprise until about two weeks before we left, I finally told him what we were doing on those two days I told him to book off. He was so excited, and I was so happy because up until then, I'd been excited all by myself. We left last Wednesday morning, and drove to Niagara on the lake where we had a wine tour at Diamond Estates Winery (pictures below). I've been to wine tastings, but never a tour, and to get to see the actual cellar floor was very cool, and our tour guide was very informative. We did also get to taste some delicious wines which I was excited about, and Phil, who is really not a wine drinker, really enjoyed it too and actually liked some of the wines. We then went to Chocolate FX for a chocolate factory tour, which was a little shorter and I wasn't really able to take pictures, but we learned about how chocolate is made and it was also very informative and cool, and we bought some yummy treats from the gift shop afterward. Both of these tours were in Niagara-on-the-Lake, so we decided to have lunch there and walk along Queen Street, the main street in the town. It was so festive there and decorated for the Holidays, and they played Christmas music on the street. It was also a little colder there than here, so it really got me in a festive and holiday mood.

We then drove to Niagara Falls and checked into the hotel and just relaxed there until dinner, which we ate at The Keg at the Embassy Suites Hotel, overlooking the falls. After dinner, we walked around and walked down by the falls, which was all lit up in rainbow colours at night. We also walked through a park that was decorated with lights and was just so beautiful.

(Clifton Hill lit up at night)

(The Falls lit up with rainbow lights at night)

The next morning Phil and I watched Home Alone to start off the day of our actual anniversary, since it's our anniversary movie (it's the movie we watched last year on the day we officially started dating; not to mention it's just about my favourite Christmas movie), went for breakfast, and walked around the Falls and Clifton Hill to see it in the daylight. This time of year is very low tourist season, so the streets were pretty empty, but not too empty, and it was perfect. Also when booking this trip a couple months ago, I was very nervous that the Falls would be frozen over and it would be unbearably cold in mid December, but this is one time I was thankful for our very mild winter.

(Clifton Hill in the daytime)

After hanging around Niagara Falls for most of the afternoon, we headed across the border to spend the evening in Buffalo. There's a few record stores that Phil likes to go to that we don't have here, and I've been dying to go to Target. We ate dinner at the Cheesecake Factory (a must while you're in the States in my opinion), which was basically the perfect ending the most amazing two days. It was so great to be able to get away with Phil and go on a road trip. I have so much fun with him and can't believe a year has flown by so quickly. I love you!

(Peppermint Bark Cheesecake at the Cheesecake Factory in Buffalo; my absolutely favourite!)