Oh pshaw, on Thu 06 Dec 2007 02:24:11p, Dave Smith meant to say...

> Wayne Boatwright wrote:

>> I loved the Oban Inn. We stayed there a few times, and had quite a few
>> meals there, but that was years ago. Didn't it burn down some years
>> ago? Did they rebuild and restore it? It had a lot of charm.
>
>
> By golly, you're right. I had forgotten about that fire. That was on
> Christmas day 15 years ago. Below is a home video of the blaze. It was
> pretty well gutted.

> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcD_qyfHLxA

That was horrifying! Actually, I did know that it had burned, but did not
knowit had been rebuilt. We were in NotL near the end of January, staying
at the Prince of Wales, but had wanted to have my birthday dinner at the
Oban Inn. Got a recording when we rang up ahead of time from Cleveland to
make a reservation. Then later drove by and saw the ruins.

> It has been rebuilt and upgraded. They always had a reputation for good
> food, though their old menu was basically a step or two above really
> good home cooking. It is a bit more exotic now.
>
> http://www.obaninn.ca/inn.html

It looks like they did a bang up rebuild job, but I would probably be
disappointed. I liked the age of the place, and even the old menu, which
seemed to fit the place. "Exotic" may fit the new one, but it could never
be the same feeling.

I loved sitting in the big leather chairs by the fireplace in the lobby.

>> It's probably whatever the traffic will bear. It's true of so many
>> places these days.
>
> It used to be quite affordable for American tourists when there the US
> dollar was worth about $1.50 Canadian. Now that the US dollar is tanking
> I am looking forward to them dropping their prices.
>
>>
>> > It is also nice cycling upriver from the falls to Fort Erie. It is a
>> > little tamer, but there always seems to be a head wind.
>>
>> I've only been to Fort Erie a couple of times.
>
> It's only worth it for the drive and the cheap Chinese food, though I
> recently discovered the excitement of horse racing. It's odd that I
> worked around the corned from that race track for close to 20 years and
> never went to a race. I promised to take myself to a race after I
> retired, and for some reason it took me three years to do it.

Sounds fun!

IIRC, there is or used to be some sort of observation tower structure
there. We wanted to go up, but it was closed and locked up.

>> > There are lots of bicycle wine tours going on in the nice weather.
>> > But it is getting cold here now. I made the mistake of planing a walk
>> > along that trail one day last winter. They don't clear the snow off
>> > it.
>>
>> Ow, that would be a cold and messy walk!
>
> Slippery and sloggy.
>

I can just imagine.

--
Wayne Boatwright

Date: Thursday, Dec 6,2007

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