1 YEAR!

Wow! Can you believe that Marnie and I have been married one whole year already? We can't!
We wanted to do something cheap, yet still kind of special for the occasion and had a few idea's tossing around like staying in Stratford and seeing a play, or staying in the Niagara region and going on wine tours, etc. But my friend Sarah has some pull at Langdon Hall and was able to get us a room for Sunday night at a greatly discounted rate of $125. We couldn't pass that up considering that it would have been around the same price for a bed and breakfast at either Stratford or Niagara on the Lake, plus considering the travel time and other expenses... It was a steal. The coolest part was we were allowed to bring Echo along! He did great in the new environment when left alone in the room (we brought his crate) and we were both thankful for that.
To our surprise when we got into our room Sunday afternoon, Sarah must have arranged a little something special for us. There was a bottle of sparkling wine and a tray of fruits and dips (chocolate and 2 kinds of honey). Yum! It was SO nice and REALLY good!
We decided to eat and drink the "champagne" after a walk through the many forested trails around the Langdon property with Echo before going out for dinner. He was really good staying with us the whole way - it was actually really cute because he would either walk right in front, behind or right between us as we walked holding hands. I wish we could have got a photo from behind with that scene. I don't think he would have been so good if there were other dogs or people around. We took the 2.5 km trail to tire him out before we left him for dinner. A tired dog is a good dog and he had no trouble going into his crate to lay down after that!
We decided to eat at the blackshop restaurant in Cambridge instead of at the Hotel (one look at the $menu decided that!) - it was really good food, reasonable prices and great atmosphere as there was a live 3-piece jazz band playing. We took a taxi so that we could enjoy a bottle of wine with dinner (on top of the already-consumed champagne at the hotel) -- talk about a rip off! I admit, I don't take the taxi very often so I may be out of touch with this, but it cost us $12.50 there and $13.70 back. The exact same route. For a less than 10 minute ride each way. $30, just like that! That's $90/hour. Granted driving a taxi must suck, but that's highway robbery! Are we living in NYC here?
Anyway, other than the slight annoyance with the taxi company, the night was beautiful and really enjoyable. We were really looking forward to our massages on Monday morning and spending the day dreaming that we actually belonged at that hotel ;)
To our surprise when we got back to our room, the nightly turn-down service had been there. We were told to inform the front desk when we might be there with the dog, or to tell them when Echo WON'T be there so that room service could go in and tidy up... opps, we forgot. The room was tidied up and the bed was re-made all with Echo in his crate. I can imagine the cleaner's surprise to find him there! Ah well, he would have just layed there and maybe whimpered to be let out. Possibly a little bark here and there.
Unfortunately neither of us slept very well - we're not really sure why. The bed was comfortable, the temp in the room was nice, we were both really tired... I guess we missed the Baden train blasting through at all hours of the night. lol Actually, I think it was Echo. We put his crate in one of the bathrooms with a tile floor and had a skinny blanket in there with him. Every time he moved around it clanged around and echoed loudly. I think a towel underneath the crate would have solved that, but didn't think of it at the time. I must have woken up 5 times through the night, easily, before being frustrated and getting up permanently just before 7am.
Marn also got up and we took Echo for another walk through the trails before breakfast.
After breaky we both had massages, and one last walk through the trails before leaving the dream and heading to Dad's for a visit and to check out his new place.

It was a great mini-vacation, but I wish we could have stayed one more day. I never did feel like I started to relax a little, even after the massage. I tried to get us there for the Saturday night as well, but Sarah just couldn't do it. When you consider that rooms start FROM $259-629/night, one night at $125 is hard enough to do, especially considering Saturday night is their busiest night. Thank you for a great stay, Sarah!!