On this trip, we got into one of those pointless couples discussions about how often we visit the Lake Erie / Kingsville / Point Pelee area: Annually? Periodically?
There is an objective answer to this, of course, and thanks to my blogging habit, I am now able to share. We were last in this area in November 2021. And before that, we visited in August 2013, July 2017, and August 2018. Note that I did dub this 2018 expedition “annual”, but that turned out only to be true that year.
At any rate, this year we again headed to those parts for a few days, rather than to Niagara, our more recent “annual” destination.
Monday, May 4
This spring has been reluctant to get and stay warm, and this was largely true on this vacation as well, even though we were visiting the southernmost part of the province. The very first day, however, was glorious: fully sunny, with a high of 21 C. We were not able to check into our Inn until 4:00—it was one of those self check-in places, and we didn’t get the entry codes until shortly before 4:00—so we spent the time ambling around Kingsville, even though many of its stores are closed on Mondays. We were able to get excellent lattes from a local cafe, though.
Jean was pretty tuckered from a bike trip the previous day, but I coaxed him into a walk to the waterfront. It was lovely!
We then recuperated on the patio of a little pub. I had a nonalcoholic cocktail based on ginger beer, and Jean had an alcoholic one based on prosecco. We also had fries and fried Brussels sprouts.
Despite the mild inconvenience of the late checkin, our Inn, the Heart and Soul Inn, was really great. It was conveniently located near downtown, and had beautiful rooms in what seemed to be an old house. Very good coffee and some nice snacks were supplied. Each room had a theme. Ours was musical.
We couldn’t lounge too long, though, because we had a dinner reservation at North 42 Estates Winery, and we wanted to get there a little earlier to do some wine tasting. North 42 have a beautiful building on a nice property, and some pretty spectacular wines. We were especially impressed by the 2019 Cabernet Franc (not even their “estate” wine), which was so smooth and fruity. And by the “estate” Pinot Noir, somewhat bigger than Ontario Pinots can be, and very complex. But we also enjoyed their Gewurtz and Sauvignon Blanc.
It was a quiet day at the winery, and we were able to segue seamlessly from the tasting to the dinner, while sitting out on the patio again. We enjoyed our meal of shared mussels with sparkling Riesling (also shared). I then had the beet linguini, which was very creative and fresh and served with Sauvignon Blanc, while Jean had the nicely prepared pork with delicious potato puree, served with the afore-mentioned Pinot.
The pub snacks had left us too full for dessert, alas.
Tuesday, May 5
One thing I’d learned during my pre-trip research is that it was a bit difficult to find a place that served breakfast before 9 AM in Kingsville. There was one, though: Jim’s Sub Shop. This is what we tried. It offered pretty serviceable egg-based breakfast items. Jim was quite personable and fun to chat with.
Unlike our sunny first day, Tuesday was cool and rainy. We headed to Amherstburg, and stopped in at the Freedom Museum, which focuses on African-Canadian history. It consists of two buildings: a former homestead that displays items from that time, and to which a larger exhibit space has been attached, and a Black church. We got a personal tour of both buildings. I had heard of Canada’s role in the underground railroad for escaped African-American slaves, and it was interesting to learn that Amherstburg was a major point of entry on that network.
I heard not previously heard the shameful fact that in 1850, Ontario passed a Segregation Law that prevented Black children from attending the same schools as children of other races—to which the Black community responded by building their own schools. (Methinks perhaps the education I received on racial matters in my country was a bit sanitized.) I had to look up when and how that ended:
In response to the activism of Black parents, racially segregated schools in Ontario were gradually phased out. The last racially segregated school in Ontario, School Section No.11 in Colchester, closed in 1965. This was done after newly elected MPP Leonard Braithwaite pushed for the Separate Schools clause on segregated schools for Blacks to be officially removed from provincial education policy. The last racially segregated school in Nova Scotia closed in 1983 in Guysborough County.
The Canadian Encyclopedia
After that interesting but sobering visit, we had lunch at an unremarkable but adequate Italian restaurant, then went to visit Vivace Estate Winery. We’d never been to this one before. It’s small, and we were the only patrons. We did a tasting of the “Local Favourites” and the “Premium Select” wines. I found that their Vidal-based wines had a bit an off-putting barnyard scent. But I quite liked their Pinot Grigio, which was more lemony and complex than this wine typically is. Jean wasn’t sure about it at first, but was ultimately won over. We also enjoyed their Baco, Marechel Foch, and we decided to buy their port-style Cavatina without tasting it, figuring we’d enjoy it.
Our dinner that night, back in Kingsville, was at Mettawas Station, an old favourite. However, we didn’t really love it this time. The food wasn’t the issue: we shared escargot to start, and enjoyed how they served them in portebello mushroom. I had a pasta special with lovely fresh peas and asparagus—the serving was too large, but the taste was good. Jean enjoyed his smoked mozzarella ravioli. We each had a different flavor of tartuffo for dessert, and both were great.
No, the issue was mainly the accoustics: it was just quite loud in here. Though not at capacity, there were definitely enough people that it was too many conversations to overhear. The waitress did a masterful job at managing all the tables by herself, must say, but we’re still not too inclined to go back, unless we could sit outdoors.
Wednesday
We didn’t want diner breakfast again, so we decided to wait until 9 AM to have more options. We first tried a whole-food brunch place, only to find they weren’t open on Wednesdays. We then stopped in at a little cafe called La Dolce Vita, but it seemed the only breakfast they had were smoothies and pastries. So then we tried the cafe we’d been to on the first day, but they only had pastries. Figuring it would be better to have a smoothie with our pastry, we went back to La Dolce Vita, only to learn that they actually had a bunch of fancy breakfast sandwiches and sides (like fruit) as well. Yay!
It was a very nice breakfast. In a very quiet room!
Weather was also enjoyable: not as warm as Monday, but sunny. So we decided to make this our Point Pelee Park day. But before that, because it made more sense geographically, we stopped at a winery near Leamington: Aleksander. We’ve been here a number of times, and always enjoyed it; this day was no exception. We were the only patrons, and had a leisurely tasting of a few different options, along with a charcuterie board. We purchased a full complement of types: white, rose, red, dessert (late harvest)—not all of which we tried this day; some we just knew from past visits we liked. The favourite we tried was the Amarouge, a blend of Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Chambourcin.
We then went into Leamington to visit the Arts Centre. They had a few different exhibits on: a student show, Far Out show, Things That Go Bump in the Night! So, an interesting, eclectic collection.
We then made it to Point Pelee National Park. It was a pretty popular place, because this was prime bird watching season, and this is a prime bird watching area. But it was fine sharing the trails with the birders (though Jean remarked they made his camera looked puny). We don’t know our birds, beyond the obvious ones, but there’s no doubt we saw many ourselves during the hike. The big wild turkeys were pretty cool. But also the Grosbeaks, and the little yellow birds, and the brown birds, and the gray birds, and the black… (sorry; as noted, don’t really know birds!).
Dinner was back in Kingsville, this time at Wineology, a restaurant whose Kitchener location had closed some time ago, but whose Kingsville location remained a going concern, albeit at a new location in Kingsville. It was a nice room: quiet (!), with cool furniture. We were almost the only patrons; the other tables seemed to be friends of the wait staff, which was a little different, but fine. It felt like a very casual night out, but with better food.
For whatever reason, Wineology still have American wines on their menu here (for those not in the know, American wines have been banned from sale in Ontario since the trade troubles). Jean tried to avoid them, but didn’t quite manage, as he selected two different flights per course. I went, eh, and embraced having a California Chardonnay and Pinot Noir (even though I hadn’t really been missing them). The Chardonnay was part of the wine flight I had with my first course; the Pinot Noir I had on its own with my main.
The food was good and nicely plated. We shared a feta plate to start. I then had the truffle pasta (realizing only retrospectively that I selected pasta for every single dinner on this meal, although the first one was veggie and not carb-based), and it was quite lovely. Jean enjoyed his pistachio-encrusted lamb and mashed potatoes. For dessert, I think we ended up with tiramisu? I do recall that not all desserts were available, but that the one we got in the end was very nice.
Thursday
Was another beauty day, but also our last day of vacation. We had another breakfast at La Dolce Vita, then headed out.
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