Having done my civic duty and voted early, the wife and I decided to do something different this time around and be away during the elections. It’s not that I have heart problems or anything, but watching an entire night of early returns, exit polls, and the subjective opinions of men I wouldn’t trust to hold my wallet if my life depended on it, we both decided life was too short, and it would do us good to go somewhere during all the madness and just relax.

We figured life would go on with or without us glued to our television set, so why not take advantage of the few days in which productivity would be at its lowest anyway, and just take a trip?

Since the wife had never seen Niagara Falls we decided on either Buffalo, New York or somewhere close to the falls across the border into Canada.

As has become my custom ever since I discovered Luxury Link, I got on the site and after a handful of minutes ran across the Shaw Club Hotel & Spa in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario. The offer was for two nights in a classic king room, a three course meal, and a welcome bottle of sparkling wine.

After conferring with my better half, we decided on the package, and after calling and confirming it was available on the days we were considering taking the trip we booked it forthwith and with haste.

Although I had tried to prepare my wife for what she could expect to see in Niagara Falls, she was still underwhelmed by all the kitsch, and after spending the morning walking around the falls themselves, and taking in the natural beauty we drove the twenty-four kilometers to Niagara-on-the-Lake, hoping and praying it would not be a carbon copy of the touristy stew we witnessed at the falls themselves.

After following our trusty GPS to our destination, it took us a moment to get our bearings and realize that the quaint building on the corner was indeed the Shaw Club Hotel & Spa - Niagara on the Lake Hotels | Shaw Club Hotel & Spa | 4 Diamond Luxury in Ontario | Niagara's Finest Inns. After braving the wax museums, haunted houses, and cabinets of curiosities, the simple yet elegant Shaw Club was a breath of fresh air.

There was no kitsch here, and if I had to describe the town itself, it would be as a simpler version of Napa Valley. Niagara-on-the-Lake is situated smack dab in the middle of Canadian wine country, and to her unending delight my wife even recognized some of the wineries within close proximity. Wineries, which we subsequently visited, had tastings at, and purchased considerable quantities of the nectar of the gods from.

As it so happened, we had also arrived during the last week of the season, and the town itself was near to empty, which suited us to no end. It just goes to show you can have a touristy town, without being over the top, and by the clientele of the bistros and pastry shops we dined in, those in the know, know Niagara-on-the-Lake is the place to be for demure sophistication and refinement.

As far as the Shaw Club Hotel itself, the rooms were a bit smaller than what we are used to, but since a good meal will wash away much indiscretion as far as the wife and I are concerned, I would recommend the stay just for the fine meals one can have at Zees, their onsite restaurant.

As I said, it was not an issue of the rooms being clean, or the bed being comfortable, it was just the size of it that both the wife and I noticed, but all that was soon forgotten as soon as my wife saw her cheese plate, and I bit into my noodles with beef.

Overall the experience was wonderful, we got the relaxing couple days we were craving, and in four years when the madness of election season is once more upon us, we might just return to Niagara-on-the-Lake and unwind for a couple of days, bypassing the flashing lights, honking horns, and blaring music of its better known sister city, Niagara Falls.