Vacationing in Ontario: St. Marys

As much as I had thought that returning to St. Marys^*, Ontario, after 29 years would have been a nice detour, I think that it was my final Bacon & Ale Trail voucher that pushed me to suggest it to our friends.

Town Hall.

I wasn't interested in a scented candle from a nick-nack shop, which is one of the two participating spots for my trail. DW and Nina had the option to get either a candle from the same shop or a specialty latte at Snapping Turtle Coffee Roasters, with their Chocolate Trail vouchers, and DW chose the latter.

Nina decided to save her final vouchers to use in Stratford, where we had just checked out from the Airbnb. Nina and Brian had purchased tickets to a fourth play at the Stratford Festival, Much Ado About Nothing, so they were planning to spend more time in the town.

I had an espresso while DW sipped her large latte, and I'm happy to report that having a small cup of lightly caffeinated brew doesn't seem to make my heart race. There's hope.

We spent about an hour or so wandering the town, checking out the memorial garden next to the town hall, the old library building and checking out the parks, bridges, and quaint buildings of this old town. We even made a trek out to the old quarry, which was converted to a large outdoor swimming pool long before DW and I first visited the town.

The Quarry.

It really is a pretty little town. I'll share more photos, tomorrow, for Wordless Wednesday.

But my main goal of our visit, apart from spending time with friends, was to use my final Bacon & Ale Trail voucher at a beer tasting. And we arrived at the brewery shortly after it opened for the day.

Broken Rail Brewing is located in an area just to the north of the town, in an old railway station along a still-used railway line, in St. Marys Junction. Modern homes that were definitely not there 29 years ago made up this new neighbourhood.

Meg, who worked behind the taps, let Brian and I choose four brews from their lineup. We each received four five-ounce glasses to sample from. I didn't have a bad one in the bunch.

I ended up picking up a six pack of three brews, only one of which I picked for my samplers and another that Brian had and enjoyed. The third brew was one that I wanted to sample but the tap wasn't cooperating and was pouring only foam into the glass.

I'll share my thoughts on some Broken Rail beer in an upcoming Beer O'Clock review.

From the brewery, we had to drive straight back to Stratford so that Brian and Nina could have a bite to eat before their matinée, so we bid them adieu as we dropped them off. DW and I took a leisurely lunch and wandered the Shakespearean Gardens before continuing on to Guelph.

That's our road trip in a nutshell. I hope you've enjoyed it. I'm working on a YouTube video that will hopefully be done by the end of the month or early in November.

Stay tuned...

^* Yes, there is no apostrophe in St. Marys. I did not make recurring typos in my posts.