Dinner Out, Breakfast In
Aug. 31st, 2025 09:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
canyonwalkerCanada travelog #22
Back at the hotel · Wed, 27 Aug 2025. 8am.
This morning we chose to eat breakfast in the room. No, it's not some sumptuous room service spread; it's groceries we shopped for last night and/or brought from home in our luggage. We bring our own because we're leery of hotel breakfasts. They're generally either cheap crap or eye wateringly expensive. Sometimes they manage to be both. For example, the breakfast buffet at the hotel near Toronto airport was $20 for bland scrambled eggs, lukewarm sausage, and an assortment of stale breads. And will they even have much we want? We're both picky eaters about traditional US breakfast foods.
On this trip the cost factor disappears. At Hilton Garden Inns I get breakfast for two for free as an elite status perk. So those bland scrambled eggs, lukewarm sausage, and assortment of stale breads are gratis. 😂 But we thought maybe we could do better shopping for ourselves. We bought a few items at the grocery store last night. Unfortunately the verdict this morning is that the grocery food is all bland, too. 😞 So tomorrow morning we'll probably switch back to the buffet.
It's odd that breakfast is weak here at the hotel as dinner was surprisingly on point. By the time we checked in two nights we were too tired to go back out— it had been a long day with waterfalls and waterfails—so we sat at the bar for dinner. Hawk had a plate of spring rolls as her meal with a slice of apple pie for dessert. I enjoyed a Caesar salad with grilled steak and a slice of cheesecake for dessert. Oh, and I washed it down with a couple pints of a local beer, Ambear Ale, and a glass of wine.
As much as we enjoyed dinner at the hotel restaurant two nights ago it was also spendy. I mean, not like financing options for DoorDashing a burrito spendy, but the kind of meal we only treat ourselves to maybe twice a month. So last night we went cheap. Like, fast food cheap. Ontario turns out to have plenty of franchises of one of my favorite fast food restaurants from back home, Popeye's. I enjoyed a chicken tenders combo with a side of freshly made onion rings. I don't think they've done fresh onion rings in the US for years now. And the combo was cheaper in Canada than back home— by about 25%. Wow.
Well, enough chatting about food. We've got another busy day ahead. Today we're driving down to visit Niagara Falls! That's the other part of why we decided to eat breakfast in the room. We figured it'd be faster, helping us hit the road sooner to have more time enjoying the falls.
Back at the hotel · Wed, 27 Aug 2025. 8am.
This morning we chose to eat breakfast in the room. No, it's not some sumptuous room service spread; it's groceries we shopped for last night and/or brought from home in our luggage. We bring our own because we're leery of hotel breakfasts. They're generally either cheap crap or eye wateringly expensive. Sometimes they manage to be both. For example, the breakfast buffet at the hotel near Toronto airport was $20 for bland scrambled eggs, lukewarm sausage, and an assortment of stale breads. And will they even have much we want? We're both picky eaters about traditional US breakfast foods.
On this trip the cost factor disappears. At Hilton Garden Inns I get breakfast for two for free as an elite status perk. So those bland scrambled eggs, lukewarm sausage, and assortment of stale breads are gratis. 😂 But we thought maybe we could do better shopping for ourselves. We bought a few items at the grocery store last night. Unfortunately the verdict this morning is that the grocery food is all bland, too. 😞 So tomorrow morning we'll probably switch back to the buffet.
It's odd that breakfast is weak here at the hotel as dinner was surprisingly on point. By the time we checked in two nights we were too tired to go back out— it had been a long day with waterfalls and waterfails—so we sat at the bar for dinner. Hawk had a plate of spring rolls as her meal with a slice of apple pie for dessert. I enjoyed a Caesar salad with grilled steak and a slice of cheesecake for dessert. Oh, and I washed it down with a couple pints of a local beer, Ambear Ale, and a glass of wine.
As much as we enjoyed dinner at the hotel restaurant two nights ago it was also spendy. I mean, not like financing options for DoorDashing a burrito spendy, but the kind of meal we only treat ourselves to maybe twice a month. So last night we went cheap. Like, fast food cheap. Ontario turns out to have plenty of franchises of one of my favorite fast food restaurants from back home, Popeye's. I enjoyed a chicken tenders combo with a side of freshly made onion rings. I don't think they've done fresh onion rings in the US for years now. And the combo was cheaper in Canada than back home— by about 25%. Wow.
Well, enough chatting about food. We've got another busy day ahead. Today we're driving down to visit Niagara Falls! That's the other part of why we decided to eat breakfast in the room. We figured it'd be faster, helping us hit the road sooner to have more time enjoying the falls.
