We Drive to Barrys Bay

 I have been sort of planning this trip to "The Bay" for awhile. I had a shopping list in my head. There are no big box stores in this small town. The biggest of the lot would be the Metro grocery store. All the rest are locally owned and operated retail outlets. I needed yarn and new shoes. M. was thinking about coffee from the local roaster and a couple of things from Metro to round out the afternoon. We planned to finish up with a nice meal at a restaurant called Vito's. 

I had spoken to my dear son on the phone just before we headed out. Mike told him we were going to B.Bay for a meal, hahah. DS told me his standout memory of B.Bay was a smash up meal they had there. I asked him if it was Vito's. Yes it was Momma, yes it was, haha.

The drive there was lovely. The distant hills have a pale green hazy over them announcing the leaves are starting to pop. We were disgusted by the amount of trash in the ditches along the way as usual. As we approached the little hamlet of Round Lake Center we saw full trash bags lined up, so a community cleanup had been underway earlier in the day.

I spent some time in the yarn shop. It was nice to visit the proprietor Teresa who I've known for some time. Their family had a tragic fire last year so we commiserated over the length of time it takes to get remediation after that catastrophe.

I thought we were going to Vito's for DINNER but M announced we were going right now for a late lunch.  We got settled into a corner booth by the window to watch the people coming and going. It was a hopping place on a Saturday afternoon. M raised his hand at one point to wave. He doesn't know to many people in B.Bay so I wondered who had caught his attention. As I turned in my seat I just about hollered, as approaching our table were my SIBLINGS! We haven't seen each other in a year. None of us are able to drive far anymore, but meeting half way seemed to fit just fine. M and my sister D cooked up this plan to help celebrate my birthday later this month. We had a great meal, a good catch up and then hit the street to do some shopping. Sis hasn't been in a Stedmans store in ages so she was chomping at the bit to get through those doors. She was just thrilled to get a big supply of a specific yarn that seems to have gone away in her community yarn shops. I bought a cute tshirt for my youngest great grandson who is turning one next week. His Da is quite a fisherman, so the design on the shirt is a week fisherman with a whopper of a fish. M got some nice RealTree shirts on sale. He isn't a retail person but he was quite pleased with his purchase, haha. Sister D and I then went back up the street to hit the yarn shop AGAIN. She and Teresa chit chatted over knitting and people they both knew back on home turf. (T is from the same area) as well as some movie many knitters are twittering over.

So that was our day. It was just so nice to spend time with my sister and brother. Thank you M for making it all happen.

Side Note: There is a best selling author named Carley Fortune who has set at least two of her novels in B.Bay. If you can read situational romance novels, check her out!