A New Day, Big Bay for a Swim, Ice Cream and Museum Visit

The Ridge

It was dark and cool downstairs in the room Donna in and I slept amazingly well. It was 6:50 when I first looked at the clock on Wednesday, July 31^st and Donna was up already. I never heard a thing. I joined her and Audrey upstairs and made my tea. Since my post had been started, I settled at Gayle’s pub table and finished yesterday’s happenings.

Looking out Gayle's sitting room window

Today is a new day and we have a pretty full day of plans. Once we were all cleaned up, we dressed in our yoga clothes and took our mats out to Gayle’s deck. It was a beautiful morning, around 65F/16C with the promise of sun and clouds and a high of 74F today. At 9:30 Donna started a class of yoga for all of us. Some of us have taken a few classes so a lot of it wasn’t new but we enjoyed the 40 minutes.

Donna taught us a class

Once we were completely stretched and relaxed, we prepared our brunch and pigged out. Another day of good and filling food. The dishes were cleaned up and we dressed for the day. We left Chatsworth at 12:15 and met Wendy at Keppel Croft Gardens (https://www.visitgrey.ca/business/keppel-croft-gardens)  near Wiarton. This was a great self-guided tour and 7 of us wandered at our own leisure through the 4 acres of gardens.

We truly enjoyed this beautiful place
and will return another year

We chatted with Dawn, the owner, and made a note to contact her by email so we could keep in touch and return for tea next summer. What a lovely lady! It was a great experience. 

Top L-R : Cathy, Audrey, Gayle
Bottom L-R: Donna, Patsy, Wendy & Morgan
The Mom names us, in order of birth :)

From there, we drove to Big Bay beach and had a dish of ice cream together. The beach was not busy at all and we walked across the flat smooth stones and found a spot easy enough to sit. Donna and Gayle wasted no time, even though we expected Georgian Bay to be chilly, in getting into the water.

I as is my nature, took a lot of pictures

Morgan was a good sport at the Gardens

Audrey joined and then I decided that my older sisters were not going to ‘better’ me! Once in, it was wonderful! We couldn’t go too deep as with the rocky, uneven bottom and the slight waves you could easily get knocked off your footing. I’m not great in water like that but we stuck close together and I felt safe enough. Then we took advantage of the great weather and laid out on our towels.  The swim was absolutely wonderful!

Enjoying the refreshing waters of Georgian Bay

ice cream!

A family photo (thanks to a passerby)

After gathering a few lovely rocks to paint (sssh!) we drove to the Kemble Women’s Institute site. Furry Gnome recommended a stop here and I’m so glad we did. We’d decided to eat at Mudtown Station along the water again this year so drove there for a nice meal. It didn’t disappoint and I chose Sausage, pesto, roasted pepper on toasted sourdough bread. Oh my!! Yummy and I ate the whole thing!

Morgan is waiting for service

This was a lovely stop

Lastly, together we made our way across the bridge to the Railroad Museum where Wendy is the curator. We rated an after-hours tour all on our own. We were shown ‘Gayle’s’ display of her husband’s Grandmother’s trunk that she brought across from Wales in 1917. My camera was dying a slow death and I didn’t get a picture but it was very interesting to hear my little sister talk with pride about her displays.

My sausage on sourdough bread

We said goodbye for the night and moved on our separate ways. Wendy and Morgan went home, just around the corner and Cathy drove us back to Chatsworth. It was late by the time we got home and we chatted until we were falling asleep. Bedtime at 12:30!! Good grief! It was another fantastic full day. 

Meeting at the Railroad Museum

We love the dining car

Thank you for checking in to see what we’re up to. Wait! More tomorrow!!