Soupasana

I’m so hungry I could ride a horse. I don’t get it. Well, I could ride it to the store, I guess.  -Chris Griffin, Family Guy, “Mr. Griffin Goes to Washington”

 

After breakfast we headed directly to Niagara Riding Stables. Look how nice and green everything is! There are 14 horses at the Stables, as well as a donkey, a cat, and a dog. Is that a fantastic family, or what?

As we were hanging out, waiting for a sudden pouring rain to stop, I made a friend…

This is Jackson. He is 13 years young. He gives the best hugs! I wanted to take him home with me.

Another furry friend – Jackie.

Not sure what happened with lighting here… It was actually raining, so we were trying really hard not to ruin the camera.

Kate and Jackie – both looking spiffy!

Finally, the best part! Here is Dinah, explaining to Vlad how to ride Lex, aka Sexy Lexie. He steers English, meaning the rider has to use both hands on the reins, rather than just one hand, as is seen in Western steering.

 

My beautiful Molson. Isn’t this a coolest coloring? He is an Appaloosa mix, which is a breed known for their leopard-spotted coloring. Dinah said that when he was a baby he looked just like a teddy bear. Apparently, he is also the clown of the herd – so I knew right away that we would get along. I’ve always been a class clown – as a student at first, and now as a teacher. Molson steers both English and Western.

I also thought it was pretty funny that in my alcohol-free vegan month I would get a horse with such a beer name.

We liked each other right away.

Misha and Brock.

Dinah and BB (the mare), and Kate and Earl were in front of me. Earl is a bay horse, which is a coat color when the horse’s body is brown, and mane and tail are black.

The horses always walk in certain order, and while usually Molson would go right behind BB, the mare, today Earl was feeling ambitious and grabbed that spot. Molson was absolutely not impressed – in fact, for the whole trail he kept taking shortcuts through the trees in order to try and take over Earl.

About to get off…

       

Bye, Lexie.

 

After dismounting and giving lots of love to Jackson, we snacked on the remaining crackers, and juice from last night and set out for the city. The drive to Toronto took forever. I am so used to being the driver, that I actually get car sick in the back seat. I was sooo glad when we finally pulled up at our house.

After a scaringly productive day, all I wanted to do is crash on the couch and never get up… Also, the last thing I wanted to do was cook. So the dinner was ultra lazy – whole wheat pasta with some salsa on top.

I think in the end we swapped juice, and I had Oasis berry blend, and strawberry soy yogurt for dessert:

With two flavours under my belt, and some granola on top – the soy yogurt has definitely received my seal of approval!

What an amazing weekend. And… a whole day ahead of us tomorrow! Whoo hoo!

What kind of exciting things did you do this weekend?

Despite not going to bed until 2am the night before, we were up and running (literally) at 6.30am. This was not 100% voluntary, as Vlad is doing an early rising 30-day trial along with my vegan gig. However, as a result we explored and took advantage of all the hotel amenities.

Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise… Well, at least healthy…

Up next – swimming pool and whirlpool! We were splashing around for good forty minutes. Me happy looks like this:

As the rest of our tourist group was fast asleep, we went looking for food… Vlad decided to have a little snack before the actual breakfast:

This little thing was bigger than his head. The smell was divine…

I ended up just having the fruit, not wanting to kill the appetite completely:

And soy milk latte… Wow, if these things are expensive in Toronto, you will be unpleasantly surprised by a price tag in a touristy spot like Niagara Falls. This is the first time I remember when I was actually charged extra for soy milk. It was definitely worth it though.

When we finally headed over to the local pancake house for breakfast, it was closer to lunch time.

Our lovely server Julie was incredibly accommodating. She even talked to the chef and found out what vegan clients usually order! Apparently, they ask for home fries to be cooked with green peppers, and mushrooms – essentially, a vegan version of breakfast skillet.

My breakfast consisted of a BLT sandwich (without the B) on rye toast with home fries and salad .

Always need something sweet with coffee. Oh, and the black coffee was not too bad. Maybe I WILL get used to it.

Vlad’s breakfast #2:

 

Pancake house is for pancakes:

 

I may have stolen some of those berries for my toast.

Next on the agenda – horseback riding!

Giddy up!

Birthday girl on our way to Niagara Falls…

On the agenda for tonight was arcade hall with Dance Dance Revolution. Hotel snackage included blue corn chips with salsa, lavash crackers with hummus, and pickles. That spoiled our appetite quite a bit. For those of you keeping track – no, I didn’t have beef jerky, and sweet chili and sour cream chips.

On our way to Dave and Buster’s:

Local organic and vegan restaurant… Oh, wait…

I always liked this game… You are supposed to hit the animals on the head as soon as they pop out… That’s supposed to concern me, right???

Have you seen Dolph Lundgren in Universal Soldier? Yep… Killing zombies.

 

Dancing, killing zombies, hitting animals on the head, shooting hoops… Need a break. The non-alcohol abstaining trio ordered a pitcher…

I was feeling a little left out, so this happened:

Ummm… yeah. Well, it was definitely vegan, and alcohol-free. In terms of not processed… If you see something bright blue in your food, and it’s not blueberries, it’s usually not a good sign. It tasted exactly how it looked – a mix of shampoo and Kool-Aid. Hey – my will power only goes so far.

Also nibbled on the vegan half of this plate:

I wonder what breakfast will bring!