During my research as I planned our Niagara Falls trip, I kept seeing reviews about this adorable small town called Niagara-on-the-Lake. Located 30 minutes east of Niagara Falls, Niagara-on-the-Lake makes for the perfect day trip and it’s well worth a visit.
Mom and I first stopped for breakfast at an IHOP at a nearby hotel where I enjoyed a plate of chocolate chocolate chip pancakes (IHOP does chocolate chocolate chip pancakes better than anyone). It was the perfect fuel for the road! We left Niagara Falls around 10:30 and the drive to Niagara-on-the-Lake was a scenic one. We passed winery after winery after winery! (Too bad my mom and I aren’t winos—we’d be in heaven!) Neither of us drink wine, though, so we bypassed a winery visit.
We made it to Niagara-on-the-Lake around 11 and found a great parking spot right away. The parking gods aren’t always in my favor, but they were on this day. The first thing I wanted to do was go to the cute Old Niagara Bookshop; I hadn’t stopped by any bookstores in Toronto or Niagara Falls and I was desperate to find at least one or two books to bring home. Unfortunately, when we got there, the bookshop was closed and, at first, I thought I had gotten something mixed up and the bookstore wasn’t open on Sundays. Thankfully, my mom saw a sign that said they open at 1 p.m. Okay then! We can keep ourselves busy until then!
Our first stop of the day was Just Christmas, an adorable store that was filled with Christmas ornaments, decorations, and more. I was astounded at how large the store was! It felt like I could walk forever and not see everything there. I got myself a small ornament to remind myself of my trip to Canada, and I was pleased when my mom decided to treat herself to a Christmas puzzle along with her ornament. She’s gotten super into doing puzzles lately, so how fun will it be to do a puzzle that reminds her of our vacation?
After that, we strolled around for a while, taking a trip down to the lake to enjoy the view and see the “famous” gazebo at Queen’s Royal Park.
We popped in and out of a few stores and took a moment at Exchange Brewery where my mom enjoyed a lager and I sipped on a cider.
Right next door to the brewery was an old-fashioned apothecary that was part-museum and part-retail store. I took my time strolling through the museum section while my mom beelined for the retail store (our personalities in a nutshell, ha). I loved how old-timey this place felt, right down to the original wood floors that made that specific creaking noise every time you took a step. This apothecary was an actual, real-life apothecary, established sometime in the 1820s and was restored in the 1970s to function as a National Historic Site of Canada.
Once we left the apothecary, it was a little after 1 p.m., so I was ready to head back to the bookshop and do some perusing! Unfortunately, when we got there, the bookshop was still closed. Wah! My mom suggested that we sit by a stone wall near the shop and wait and see if the store would open a little later. You know how small towns work; those open hours are likely more of a suggestion.
Our patience paid off because right around 1:30, the owner drove in and opened the store for us. She wasn’t a particularly friendly owner, but she left us to our own devices to look around and that’s all I wanted. This bookshop was so, so charming. It had old-fashioned bookshelves, chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, and lots of cute trinkets adorning every available space.
I picked out three books: Book Lovers by Emily Henry (this author is so hit-or-miss for me, but so many people are raving about Book Lovers that I’m going to give her one more chance), Emily of New Moon by L.M. Montgomery, and a new edition of Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery. I love to buy books by local authors when I travel, so I knew I wanted to select at least one book by a Canadian author and when I saw L.M. Montgomery’s name, I knew I had to snatch up her books. I would love to have a collection of different editions of Anne of Green Gables, since it’s my very favorite book.
My mom sweetly offered to buy the books I had selected, to say thank you for planning a fun vacation for us, and I wasn’t going to turn her down! When we went up to the desk to purchase, things got insanely adorable. First of all, the owner pulled out a receipt pad and hand-wrote our receipt. Title by title, she painstakingly wrote down each book we were buying. Then, just as I was wondering if we needed to have cash to pay (because there was no way this bookshop accepted credit cards if they were hand-writing receipts!), the owner took out one of those old-school credit card imprinters!!! Y’all. It was like I had stepped back in time. I wasn’t sure what decade I was in. How friggin adorable.
After our lovely trip to the bookstore, it was time to make the trek back to the United States! We took a pit stop at Tim Hortons for some coffee and Timbits (we had to!) and then we were on the road. Unfortunately, Apple CarPlay decided it didn’t want to work in our rental car and nothing we did could make our phones connect. It was really frustrating to me because I like having the GPS right on the screen so I can make sure I’m following the right path, but instead, we had to do it old-school on my phone.
Thankfully, we crossed the border without a problem and were soon checking into our hotel in Buffalo. We had originally only planned to stay in Buffalo for one night, but ended up changing that to two nights when I realized we didn’t need as long in Niagara Falls as I had originally thought. My mom booked us a hotel right by the airport, so we weren’t technically in Buffalo proper but close enough.
We had some chill time in the hotel before heading to Pearl Street Brewery for dinner. I had found this brewery while planning on trip; my mom loves trying out local beers when she travels, so I wanted her to get a chance to do it in Buffalo. She ordered a beer flight (her second of the trip!) while I had a cider, which wasn’t very good. But I did thoroughly enjoy the pizza I ordered and gobbled most of it up! Ya win some, ya lose some.
After that, we headed back to the hotel and prepared for one last day of vacation.
How did you feel, drinking all those ciders during this trip? Ha, I say “all those” only because you haven’t been drinking much! 🙂
The apothecary is so neat! Thanks for sharing all those pics!
Gah, small town hours. I am glad you finally got to go in!
I felt okay! I usually only drank half my cider, which was probably a waste, haha. But I didn’t get a reaction from any of them, so that’s a relief!
The inside of the bookstore is beautiful! I’m all about old bookstores and candy shops on vacation. It’s like finding hidden gems!
It really is! Finding an old or indie bookstore on my vacations is something I’m all about. This one took the charm to an entirely different level!
What a lovely day! I would be in heaven in that bookstore!
It was hard to leave!
That little town looks so charming. That is totally my kind of vibe for a vacation. I used to love big, bustling cities but the older I get (and the more tired I am – ha!) the more I appreciate a slower vibe of an old town. That book store sounds adorable. It reminds me of a hotel I stayed at in ND when a friend got married. When I called to make my reservation, they literally wrote it down in a book! When I called to confirm my reservation, I could hear the person paging through their reservation book!! Gah! But it all worked out.
Oh that’s a little scary to think about having your reservation written down in a book! But also makes me feel like you got married in Stars Hollow! 😉
What a lovely little town! So glad there was a bookstore – but sorry you had to wait so long! Your mother was very wise to anticipate the small-town ways! 🙂 I swear I have also had the recent experience of the credit card imprinting machine…which is even more of a contrast now, with tap to pay, and Apple Pay, etc.! Have LOVED reading these trip recaps, even so much later!
I’m so glad they were enjoyable to read, Anne! 🙂
You really did your research – what a cute place to visit. And the bookstore story was just heartwarming.