We met up and wet to the Tourist Bureau for Canada and met a young lady who was a wealth of information for the rest of our trip! She loaded us down with a ton of books and maps! She also made a great suggestion for lunch and an afternoon visit to a place called the Crow's General Store, so off we went.
Lunch was in a refurbished firehouse called Prairie Firehouse, and she was right, it was fabulous!
You just never know what you will find, or who you will meet when you set out on an "adventure". Today was one of those special occasions. Crow's General Store is unique, but even more unique is it's owner Don. When you turn the corner and first see the store, your mouth drops and words almost escape you...finally an "oh my goodness" comes out as you try and take it all in...which isn't easy. Slowly walking around, you see vignettes everywhere. From "people" setting in theater seats to old cars at a gas station to children's tricycles and toys. Farm equipment and wheels, wheels, and more wheels.
Inside is set up like an old fashioned ice cream parlor. While we were there we were pretty much the only ones inside, so we got to talking to the owner. As we shared our story, Don shared his and how he got started. He had been a landscape artist, but suffered after a severe flood that happened a number of years ago and lost all his savings. He then lost an eye, and couldn't drive his truck any longer, so that ended that as well. He looked around and decided that he had all this acreage and still needed to do something, so started collecting stuff (and friends and others have added) and opened the ice cream parlor. He works 7 days a weeks, more than he would like, but although business is good, it's not quite enough to hire another person full time....yet. He has plans to expand and add a miniature golf out back (that should do it!).
He was a delight, and certainly made our afternoon! He asked for my phone and took tons of pictures of us in various poses around the ice cream parlor...I'm not sure who had more fun, Don, or us!
Saturday, we set out for the Farmer's Market. I love local market's and always try to find one wherever we are on a weekend. You just never know what you can find. Some are small with just a few fresh veggies and things but some are super large with all kinds of food, crafts and music..you just never know until you get there! This one just turned out to be a wee little market with some baked goods, fresh veggies and a few crafts. We did pick up a loaf of freshly baked bread though, that's always a treat!
...catching up in Arizona, Marie
No comments:
Post a Comment