Normally, we struggle with how to fit a trip into the time available – schoolwork needs to be caught up and obligations need to be met (or set aside).
Finding the destination itself, however, is trivial. We’ll have been browsing one travel website or another and found a place we have to visit – usually at a good price – and we book it. Done.
But this summer we found ourselves with a unique and more difficult problem – we had the time, but not the trip.
It happened immediately after the kids’ summer camp, where we had two nights between when we picked them up and when we were neading to a long-booked birthday trip for our son at Great Wolf Lodge.
The main criteria for this trip? No back tracking, and it had to match those two specific days. A quick getaway in southwestern Ontario. Should be easy, right?
This proved to be more difficult that we first imagined. We first thought about visiting the Niagara Fallsview Waterpark, but we were spending three nights at Great Wolf Lodge – which meant we were already at Max Waterpark.
We then considered a Toronto city trip – but it’d been so hot this summer that we dreaded the idea of slogging about the city in peak heat.
Some sort of lakefront resort? Everything was in the wrong direction – north to Muskoka or Georgian Bay. And Lake Ontario only seemed to have mediocre bed and breakfasts and Hampton Inns.
(Apologies if anyone reading happens to have a good bed and breakfast on Lake Ontario – if so, please let us know where it is!)
The solution came from Google Maps of all places – while cursing at yet another inadequate option on the edge of Hamilton, we noticed that Lake Erie was directly south of Niagara.
“Huh,” we thought to ourselves. “I wonder if they have anything decent down there…”
And that’s how we found the Long Beach Resort.
We were immediately struck by the similarities between Long Beach Resort and Wander the Resort, our favourite lakeside getaway in Prince Edward County. Wander is more upscale and has more amenities – pool, sauna, sit-down restaurant – while Long Beach seemed to emphasize the beach. Makes sense.
There are a range of options at Long Beach Resort, including non-beachfront cabins for around $600 a night, and 2-bedroom and 3-bedroom standalone cabins. However, most of the units only had queen-sized beds, so we ultimately went with one of the three bedroom townhouse units at the centre of the resort.
Total price for the two night stay would be $2,200 – including taxes and a $200 cleaning fee.
With our plans finally in hand, the kids then went off to their respective camps – which they both quite enjoyed. We picked them up and finished loading up the car.
We’ve had some issues with our all-electric Porsche Taycan.
Some of you may remember the battery problems that arose during our trip in January. The vehicle ended up spending two months in the shop while it waited for battery modules to arrive, and then a further two months in the shop after some additional modules failed in May. Porsche eventually replaced the entire battery – and offered us a 2 year warranty extension for our troubles.
In any case, we’re glad to have it back for this extended road trip – a true baptism by fire, which will either leave us reassured that the issues have been fixed or once more stranded by the roadside as we await yet another flatbed tow truck.
Off to Long Beach – a mixture of highway and city driving that took us through some heavy stop-and-go traffic on the outskirts of Toronto before sending us out through Hamilton and out into the winding countryside. It took us roughly 2.5 hours to cover the 200 km of roadway.
Check-in wasn’t until 2 pm, so we needed to find somewhere to stop for lunch. Again, Google Maps to the rescue – we ended up picking DJ’s Roadhouse – roughly 500 metres from our resort and with a hefty 4.7 star rating.
The food was excellent, and very reasonably priced. I opted for the mixed seafood platter with shrimp and halibut:
Our son had the chicken sandwich:
And our daughter had a rare NY striploin:
We wrapped up right around 2 pm, so we headed off to the Long Beach Resort for check-in. We could have sped up this process by completing the waiver and damage deposit in advance – but they wanted us to e-mail in our credit card information, so we opted to do this on site instead.
Even so, the check-in process went quite quickly – a staff member came out of the reception building to gather our info and then hopped into a golf cart to show us to our unit.
The units themselves are renovated, but still a bit rough around the edges – there’s a fair bit of peeling paint and doors that don’t quite fit their frames. Some of the tables and counters are marked up or scratched. There are also some flies inside the unit, as well as a needed strip of fly paper. But the overall aesthetic is nice – clean and modern.
The bedrooms aren’t massive, but again clean with a nice aesthetic. The only bathroom is downstairs but thankfully our kids are old enough that it isn’t an issue.
They recommend not drinking the tap water, but a hot-and-cold water cooler is provided, along with multiple water jugs.
The unit faces out onto the beach, and we have our own picnic table, seating area, and lounge chairs – very comfortable with a truly spectacular view.
Unfortunately, I wouldn’t be able to enjoy any of this quite yet because I still had to hit the grocery store to acquire all the food that we hadn’t been able to fit in the Taycan – and to purchase the beach towels that the Long Beach Resort does not provide.
Thankfully there’s a Sobeys in Port Colbourne, so I dashed off there to pick up a few days’ worth of groceries. There is a very nice food truck named JOY at the resort so this wasn’t strictly necessary, but we thought it prudent given the quantity of restaurant food we’d be eating at Great Wolf Lodge the following week.
No beach towels at the Sobeys, but I did find some camping towels at the nearby Canadian Tire.
Once suitably provisioned, I returned to the Resort and asked for some help getting their electric car charger set up.
Unfortunately there’s only one parking space which can access the nearest charger – but the staff asked the person parked there to move, and we had our Taycan charging within a few minutes. The charger provided a healthy 10 kW so we would be back at 85% charge by later that evening.
Meanwhile, our kids had discovered the Resort’s beautiful beach.
We’d expected the beach to be crowded and noisy at this time of the summer – and it was certainly lively, but not rowdy. And there was plenty of seating.
Our kids played quite happily for several hours, after which my wife cooked up a delicious dinner of hot dogs and corn on the cob, followed by gelato at the nearby food truck.
On the way, we discovered a wide assortment of games, beach toys and play equipment.
The kids particularly loved the axe-throwing set.
We then went for a long walk along the beach, followed by a relaxing rest at the end of the Resort’s pier.
The kids went off to bed, and my wife and I stayed up to sample some wine and enjoy a lovely fire in our stylish steel firepit – built and lit by the Long Beach Resort’s ever-present staff.
Reflecting on our first day, we’ve been quite impressed by the Long Beach Resort. Yes, the units themselves are a little rough around the edges – but in a way that’s reminiscent of a treasured family cottage, rather than a mildew-y motel.
Staff were extremely active, checking in with guests to ensure they have everything they need and keeping the beach groomed and cleaned. One of the staff members was running as he brought the beach chairs back to their original spots next to the wall. The beach is stunning and there’s plenty to do.
Nitpicks? I wish there were beach towels, as well as beach umbrellas. That’s about it. (Though you can find parasol-type umbrellas at reception.)
The next day dawned bright and quiet – I brewed some coffee and went out to sit on my shaded lawn chair to enjoy the deserted beachfront, while the kids once more tried their hands at axe-throwing. I then had time enough to catch up on writing while they made use of the Resort’s many beach toys.
Yes, it really is that peaceful early in the morning.
Back to our unit for a lunch of apple and grilled cheese, then I put my head down for a bit while the kids read and played outside. We then went back to the kids play area where we enjoyed a few rounds of table tennis, followed by the toy axe throwing game which proved highly addictive for kids and adults alike.
I had a closer look at the toys and supplies there, and was pleasantly surprised to find that they have a small library. The staff member also helpfully explained how to play beach tennis if we were so inclined, though we elected to stick with the games that were closer to hand.
These games kept us busy until around 4 pm, when we headed around the corner to the Hungry Putter for a round of mini-golf. The course looked a little past its prime and there was little in the way of shade – apart from a single tree – but it was worth the $8 each we paid for it. It was a full 18 holes, and it kept us busy for around an hour – though some of the courses proved to be maddeningly frustrating, including the 18th hole.
They also have a food truck and ice cream shop there – though we decided to head home for dinner instead.
We’d originally planned to do beef Bolognese, until my wife cleverly suggested that we combine the ground beef with Kraft Dinner instead to form something like hamburger helper. The result was both easy and delicious:
I am obliged by marital contract to inform you that we also had a salad to go with it.
We then went back to the food truck to get some gelato, only to find that the truck was closed while the boat was out on the water. We played a few more rounds of table tennis / giant connect 4 / axe throwing for a bit, then went down to the water for a swim and some water tag. The boat came back, and we picked up our gelato.
My son had Nutella, my daughter ordered smoked bourbon chocolate, and my wife and I had pecan maple butter tart:
All very tasty.
We went for another walk along the beach, then it was once more time to call it an eve.
The kids went off to bed, and my wife and I once more went outside to sit by the campfire and watch the sun set with a glass of wine.
We watched the boats putter about Lake Erie:
Lake Erie – the S stands for Safety
And staff soon came by to build us a fire.
Long Beach Resort was a lovely place to stay. Highly recommended.