I have a ton of pictures to post about our recent Niagara trip, so I'll start off with the place where we stayed- Black Walnut Manor. This place was awesome. Jim and I loved it (I mean L-O-V-E-D it.). BWM is close to the road and on a little hill, so it was a little challenging to get a good shot of the place.

BWM has three rooms. We stayed in the 'Retreat' room the first two nights and then moved down the hallway to the 'Return' room. We originally booked only the first two nights, but then as our plans changed a bit once we got closer to our vacation, we ended up adding two more nights at BWM. By that time, the 'Retreat' room was already booked for the third and fourth nights. This was the room we had for the first two nights...
This room had a king size bed and was soooo comfy. It was the best bed ever. Even better than the Renaissance Hotel in Las Vegas (now that's serious).


In the pic above, you can see the double doors that led out to our own private balcony. It had a set of table and chairs out there... very nice for having our morning coffee and tea and then also very nice for... well, read on...
OK, so here's the story about this room. Jim and I loved this room. It was peaceful. It was filled with light. It had a big comfy bed. It had a private balcony. It had a bathroom without a door. Umm... hold up. Yep- the bathroom was just sort of 'part of the room'. This was the one aspect of the room we didn't love. In the above picture, the blue wall you see with the rectangle opening is the only divider to the bathroom to the rest of the room. And you can see it doesn't even go all the way to the ceiling. You may even think I didn't get a wide enough picture to get the actual door in the frame. Oh no, my friends- there was no door. The is the view you see coming into the room...
So, this trip marked six months of dating for Jim and I. We've spent a lot of time together in the past six months and have really gotten to know each other. We've shared a lot, EXCEPT going to the bathroom while the other one is ten feet away. We worked out a good system- when one of us had to 'go to the bathroom', the other one would spend some time outside on the balcony. Thus, the second reason we're glad we had a private balcony. We laughed about our situation, and thankfully wasn't a big deal... we're just glad it didn't rain the first two nights.
While we loved this room, we were anxious to see our other room and to see if it's bathroom had a door. Here's the room we stayed in the third and fourth nights...
This room had a queen size bed and wasn't nearly as comfy- but it DID have a bathroom door! This was a blessing, because it poured down rain on the third day (this would not have been good during any time we would have had to spend on the balcony in the other room!).
Each morning, a tray with coffee, tea, two small pieces of fruit (two mornings we had yellow plums and the other two mornings we had apricots), plus the daily paper was waiting outside our room promptly at 8am.
Then at 9:30 each morning, all of the guests would meet downstairs for a gourmet breakfast. These breakfasts were amazing. Each breakfast consisted of a fruit course, homemade baked goods, and baked dish. The area we stayed at is called 'the green belt' because the area is so condusive to fruits and vegetation. Our breakfasts were made with fresh fruits everyday we were there- plums, apricots, blueberries, peaches, strawberries. Some of the tasty breakfast dishes we had were: blueberry stuffed sourdough french toast, baked peaches with raspberry coulis (all locally grown), blueberry lemon coffee cake, zucchini peach muffins, fruit and yogurt parfaits, plus individually baked souffles and egg dishes. Each morning was very delish (I'm using one of Alison's words). I wish I would've taken pics of our dishes, but I didn't want to give Americans a bad name. They were already a little bitter that we had Michael Phelps.
Black Walnut Manor was awesome- I wish I would've taken more pictures of the interior and the grounds. Carole and Mike are the owners and also live there. They were amazing hosts- they definitely know how to make their guests feel pampered. We can't wait to go back. Jim and I have already talked about returning and also have talked about the big question- do we go with the bigger, better room without the bathroom door again?
I'll post more about visiting the wineries, plus then about Niagara Falls. Stay tuned.