Ontario travels

My husband and I loaded up the truck and hit the road again September 22nd.

We left Oakville about 4 p.m. which is normally rush hour so we chose to take the back roads on our way to Fergus. Straight up Bronte road (25) then a zigzag through Rockwood and we were in Fergus by 5 p.m. It was a lovely, quiet and picturesque route.

We booked into the VanGalis Cafe and Inn in the heart of town. Bought and lovingly restored by two girlfriends, Janette and Reina,  a few years back, you can see the process in their photo album and the black and white photos on the walls of the cafe taken by a local photographer (visit her studio just up the street).

There are just two rooms above the cafe. We took the large room at the back of the house complete with mini-fridge, air-conditioner, fireplace, full bath, king bed, T.V. and leather sofa. Two side windows let in lots of light but little noise. Breakfast consists of yummy baking, great coffee and smoothies among other offerings. They are open for lunch daily and dinner some evenings with monthly theme nights.

Fergus is a great place to stop to check out local food products. Best Baa Farms has their Ewenity dairy shop here for cheeses yogurt and ice cream. Fraberts in the old market building sells local meats (Harriston and Hav a Heart are two notables), produce and cheeses as well as Fraberts prepared foods and baked goods.

There are a number of pubs and restaurants to choose from; we chose the Breadalbane Inn for a beer in the pub and then the restaurant for steak frites – “Hav a Heart” beef and local potatoes – yum! They have a very good wine list.

On Thursday we drove over to Elora (about  5 minutes away) for a night at the Elora Mill Inn. We had a nice big room overlooking the river.  Their executive chef, Brian McLeod, left recently and opened his own restaurant up the street – Cork. We had dinner there and the food was very good.

Breakfast was included at the Inn, but I don’t recommend the brioche French toast – stick with eggs and bacon. The Inn has new ownership and will close for renovations in the New Year. They have the most wonderful location; they just need to put some money into it.

Elora is a touristy town, but it has its charms particularly the location on the river. There is lots of shopping to be done here, but beware of shop hours (they vary and aren’t always posted) and the possibility of groups taking over....

We ended out tour in Waterloo to visit our son.  Grabbed a basic clean room at the Destination Inn and had a fantastic dinner at Nick and Nat’s Uptown 21. Not sure that was fair for our son who had to go back to his own cooking and university options. Ah well – that’s life, Eh?