Steve and Julie gave us a a true introduction to Canadian winter fun with Hockey-mania 2006! Our second night in town we went and saw the Old Timers versus the Ontario Provincial Police at the Civic Center. Jay and I figured it was something like watching Terry Bradshaw and Joe Montana play the Police Football team, but the element of awe at the players was, unfortunately, a little lost on us damn yankees. Despite our ignorance, we do have a great love of hockey and this was a fantastic kickoff! It was also incredibly cute when the Police, who were getting plowed, got some “help” from the PeeWee league and you had little 8 year olds flopping around the ice and falling at every turn.

The next morning, we got to see Yanick play his hockey game (he is #15). Way to go Julie for being an awesome hockey-mom and being a great cheerleader for the kids! Unfortunately, Yanick’s team was not victorious, but they put up a great fight and I think the other team probably cheated! The kids may not have been Olympic hockey players, just yet, but they gave it 150%, they did a great job of skating up and down the rink and getting right back up after a spill. I don’t know what was cuter, watching these kids slip and slide on the ice or Yanick doing a great impression of the kid bundled up in a Christmas story, down to his taped up knees holding up his leg warmers! Yanick, you did a great job and Jay and I loved watching you!!!

And don’t think hockey ended there…AT this point, the hockey bug had definitely bit Jay and, after a trip to Canadian Tire with Pappou, he wound up with new ice skates (and a hockey stick and puck). After a fantastic dinner at Steve and Julie HUMONGOUS new house, Steve, Yanick, Jay, and I trekked outside and hit the skating rink in their backyard for a game of homegrown hockey! In the end, I don’t know if we would have looked any better than the kids slipping and sliding earlier, but we sure did gain a new respect for them!!!

A few weeks ago Jay and I watched a Travel Channel special on Icewine. Ooh, that sounds…interesting. Jay was not exactly jumping at the idea, not a huge fan of sweet wines and our foray into non-traditional wines has not been a shining success. After my coaxing and the recommendation of our local wine shop, we made a tour of Ontario’s wineries on the agenda. Niagara-on-the-Lake is about 15 minutes outside of Niagara. Inniskillin Winery was a fantastic choice as our introduction to Ontario wines, but now we might be a tad bit spoiled!

The grapes were off of the vines, having just been harvested for Icewine that month. We went into the Barn and started our tasting. We started off with their traditional wines and had a fantastic host. He told us of the history of the vineyard and the traits of the Niagara valley. We then went on to the Icewine! YUM! We sampled 5 different varietals, including a sparkling one, and then tried our favorite in the new Reidel glass sponsored by Inniskillin. We are not sweet wine fans, but this was phenomenal. If you get a chance to taste true icewine, take it!

We bought some wine, a book on the history of Inniskillin, and Jay a nice jacket and turtleneck as souvenirs. We hit the 401 around noon and headed to Ottawa…and got calls every 15 minutes about how bad the roads were! We made it safe and sound, thankfully, with very little bad weather, seems we were faster than the storm the whole way.

Our host, Daniel, during the ice wine tasting

When we woke up the next morning, the fog had lifted. We set off with the intent of making it to “Journey Behind the Falls.” The morning’s temperature was not as forgiving as the evening’s, however. When we got to the edge of the falls, the mist and the freezing rain were soaking us and the camera.

Yes, that is an icicle forming on his sunglasses

This was absolutely why we came here though! The mist from the falls just put a sheet of ice over everything.

Jay and I were absolutely soaked to the bone so we stayed on this side of the falls. Guess we will save the Journey for the next visit!